I admit that when I was getting up at 5 am in August in Swinoujście to go to the seaside with the camera I was quite skeptical about what I could photograph. The holiday season in a place like that means people on the beach practically around the clock. But without trying I will have no pictures for sure. When coming to the beach I could confess my fears proved correct, even so early you could count a dozen people. A novelty for me was that when I slowly approached closer to the plants thrown out of sea during the night I could see a cluster of tiny birds feed on the leftovers. It was surprising that they accept people walking by the sea (within few meters). Annoying thing, however, was that If I had not been there other people, particularly some older women would pass without noticing feeding birds. But if they are interesting for someone to photograph them, then they are worth taking a look at, very carefully indeed. Women passed treating me as if I were invisible and came up closer and closer, so that scared off everything that could pick up the flight. Despite my respect for the elderly, I cannot understand why they behaved like that and I do not know if it was an ordinary carelessness or malice. Anyway it wasn’t nice of them. Fortunately, the birds returned, but because of the growing number of people on the beach there were fewer and fewer birds. After 9 o’clock it was hardly anything to photograph. But never mind, the outdoors session was successful. Birds let me approach close enough to take some good photos that I could publish in the gallery. The lighting conditions at the rising sun were perfect. I was fully satisfied because of the fact that I was able to photograph the new species -dunlin, red knot, turnstone and ringed plover. Not only the new species but also of a satisfactory quantity and quality. Too bad that the ringed plovers soon abandoned this place because of the walkers. It is a long time I have not not managed to take pictures of the representative of the genre, and they aren’t satisfactory either in quality or shots. This comment will be common for photos added to the gallery in August, during that session. There are several reasons. The most important fact is that the whole session lasted several hours when birds were continuously disturbed, and as a result I was waiting and waiting for them returning. In such conditions, it is difficult to tell stories about the natural behavior of the species. Just like with the sounds of birds. Although the microphone was turned on all the time but after listening you could only wring your hands, or better ears. There was recorded everything, apart from the sounds of birds. The sounds of the port, the ships, walkers’ conversations, dog barking ... It is a pity, even far from perfection sound but recorded on my own is better to listen in correlation with pictures of the species than downloaded from another source of sounds. Short description, sound, photos, it's almost a movie, complete report of communing with nature. My diary. But it is not a market. What and how we can capture is always a lottery. This time the effect of several hours’ activity, without camouflaging, couching was stunning. Welcome to my galleries: Dunlin, Red Knot, Ruddy Turnstone and Common Ringed Plover. The weight of this bird does not exceed 90 gram, with a wingspan of about 40 cm. The Dunlin is very rare in Poland. There are many subspecies of the Dunlin. Photographed perhaps in the same manner as the Ruddy Turnstone and the Red Knot, it raises its young in the northern part of Eurasia, and winters in the Mediterranean and the European part of the Atlantic coast.
Last minute news 09/2013
Just like with the red knot gallery also this one was enriched with new photos due to the open-air shooting at the Baltic Sea in September. Red knots and dunlins are the vast majority of all birds that feed there. Little stints, sanderlings, ruffs, plovers and curlew sandpipers were appearing less often and fewer.
Last minute news 06/2014 – Iceland
I added a few pictures Dudlins made in Iceland.
Last minute news 09/2017
Working on a new version of the site took more than two years. The improvements included new technical and IT solutions, and also re-selection and image processing. Many photos have left the site, many have been better prepared, and more importantly - the format of the photos presented has been increased, which is probably the most notable among the changes that took place, apart from the new extensive search engine. Now it is time for the changes that, unlike in the past, will focus on the quality of pictures more than their quantity. And I'm starting with the dunlin. Its gallery has been radically changed and the dunlin goes to the news. In fact, the site is subject to constantly changes, but only those radical will be presented in the news. Just adding a few similar to current photos or a new soundtrack will not be noted in the news. That is it in terms of administrative information about my site, which could not be overlooked in view f the importance of the changes.
Going back to the point, there were not many dunlins, but several hours spent at the seaside was enough to make considerable redecoration of the gallery. If only so many people had not walk there and so often halfway between the lens and the birds, I would have taken many more interesting shots...
Last minute news 06/2018- Iceland
Last minute news 07/2018 – Norway-Spitsbergen
Last minute news-09/2019-Mikoszewo – Poland.
These birds were most often found on the beach in Mikoszewo in September 2019. I have added a few photos to the gallery.
Last minute news 08/2020
This time there were hundreds of dunlins in Mikoszewo. While lying down and photographing the broad-billed runners, sometimes they came up to a distance of several dozen centimeters. Some interesting shots were taken. The gallery has been rebuilt and goes to the news.
Last minute news- 09/2020 Heligoland – Germany
Last minute news- 09/2021 Heligoland – Germany
Last minute news-01/2022-Egypt
Last minute news-10/2022
Our previous attempts to photograph Eurasian Curlews were always related to dawn, in the morning. And, since the scenario of the birds' behavior always repeated itself and it was difficult to get photos in good light, something has to change in our operation. I decided to sit in the shelter from noon to dusk. I wonder if Curlews frequent the reservoir during the day and feed on it. To find out you have to watch from the shelter and check. As I planned so I did. Already on the very approach to the shelter a pleasant surprise. Several charadiiformers dabblers took flight at the sight of me. As it turned out a very short one, because they made a small circle and sat between me and the shelter few dozen meters away. The first pictures were taken just like over our sea during the autumn bird migration. This lasted a minute or two, because it is necessary to enter the shelter, because it is for the Curlews that I came here. For a few hours of waiting in the shelter, almost only the diarrheas appeared in front of the lens: the variable, the curlew and the sandpiper. During those few hours of waiting, I had a whole range of light and weather variability. From steel-contrast sunshine to a rainy downpour to, at the end of the day, a beautiful soft yellow light. In this light, the Gray heron, one of my favorite species, joined the ranks of photographed birds. Interesting photos of all these mentioned species are produced, so this text is common to all the mentioned species. Well, at a rather unusual time, a lot of interesting photos were created, introducing enough changes in the galleries to hit all the photographed species to the news on my website. For the first time in my life I photographed charadriiformes from shelter. They were almost all the time with me. Around 6:30 pm, the light was low enough that I decided to stop photographing at this point. After packing up for a while, I leave the chat room walking in the shallows towards to the car. Suddenly I hear a familiar voice, which for several days has always announced the arrival of Curlews. Birds always landed with making their characteristic sound. I turned around and they are! All seven of the Curlews, by now birds that had been observed for probably over a month. They landed on an island far away from me. A commemorative documentary photo emerged, which I added, for the time being, to the end of the Curlew gallery. The birds stay there exclusively from dusk to dawn.
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