TomKal foto

The last representative of the Rallidae family nesting in Poland has its gallery on my website at last. I had many attempts of searching for little crakes and reading information that might be helpful while photographing these birds (I attach two links at the end of this text). I have seen them twice, nay, once I was so close to a little crake when I was sitting camouflaged in a reed field, that the bird peacefully walked by in front of my lens. Of course, I wasn’t able to take any pictures, which is a pity as it’s a beautiful and exceptional bird, in its own way. It is unusual among other rails as its characteristic feature is sexual dimorphism. So far I have managed to take pictures of a male little crake. I hope that’s not the end and a complement to this gallery will be photos of a female little crake and her raven black young at the initial stage of their development. In the place where little crakes occur, if you sit peacefully in water, you can see little crakes searching for food and completely ignoring the human’s presence, even if he/she is not camouflaged. They are of tiny posture. As I looked at some photos of somebody else’s beautiful pictures of little crakes I didn’t really realize what size they are. Only a one to one encounter with a little crake gives you amazing impressions and makes you aware how tiny these birds are. The weight of a little crake does not exceed 70 grams with a wingspan of 40 centimeters. They are a little smaller than starlings. The male little crake approached my lens a number of times at a distance of about a meter, sometimes it would sit down nearby looking at the strange figure sitting in the water, and sometimes it would make its quite characteristic sounds, similar to the sounds of a water rail. I did not have any difficulties with recording its voice. The male sat down on my right and that’s how a good quality recording of its sounds was made – I encourage you to listen to it. Everything was possible thanks to the courtesy of Jacek, who knows so much about little crakes. It is hard to describe how much it takes to know about little crakes, how much time and energy one must devote to create such possibilities to photograph this bird. Jacek, thank you very much for the possibility to encounter little crakes and take the photos presented here. Thanks to your knowledge and work on the little crake outdoor photography site my starting gallery of the little crake is, at least for me, impressing and I will be coming back to it often. I wish it would be similar with other species, but as it often happens in nature photography, one must match many things in just a fracture of a second in order to be able to take a good picture. But such moments happen, and that’s why we photograph…

http://nowy.foto-ptaki.pl/ptaki/jak-fotografowac-ptaki/jak-fotografowac-zielonki

http://www.jestemnaptak.pl/na-bagnach-i-nad-woda/zielonka

Last minute news-05/2020
After four years and four days, I went to Jacek again for the Little crakes. Jacek thanks for the invitation and excellent preparation of the place to take photos. This time, in front of Little Crakes’ shelter a most active was Water rai. And well, because for years the pictures were not added to the Water Rai gallery and the gallery of Water rai much to be desired. It favour a bird, light and after the old gallery there are only a few pictures remained, shows mainly young Water Rails. This morning must absolutely be included as successful. the meaning transformation in the Water Rails gallery, are big enough that they are shown in the news on my website. The changes in the gallery of Little Crake they are also not small. Unfortunately, this time, the female of Little crake did not show up in front of the lens. There is still a vacancy in the gallery. But both galleries now present a radically different level and go to the news. The family of Rallidae are a grateful topic for photo shoots, and I hope that I will be able to return to them again, although without effort will not happen. A few hours of sitting in trousers-shoes in the water exhausted me, but for such observations and photos I assure it was worth it. This text is mutual to the Water Rai and Little Crake gallery.
Last minute news-05/2022-Hungary