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European Bee-eater Expand text

Another gallery which was created during the workshops in Spain as a break from photographing from the Bustards' watching booth. Gallery was created though I feel deficiency in presented pictures. Once you know where the Bee-eaters' colony is , I assure you, taking pictures is just a matter of time and the final effect depends on the positions of the booth and sticks on which the birds sit, light and of course reflexes. First attempt was utterly missed. Position of the booth and sticks and the mean farmer nearby wrecked every chance to take any pictures. Why mean? As he saw us in our watching tent he would always do the field work couple of meters from us and the colony, and he would stop the noisy tractor as close to us as he could. He always had something to check in it. Simply, it was a complete misundertanding to place the workshop at this spot. Second time around was better, but still not the thing. Taking pictures of a bee-eater on a stick is not the height of my dreams, plans nor art when it comes to photographing this bird. Pictures of the bee-eater in flight, made from the top presents the beauty of this bird the most. I would add bee-eaters flying to their sand nests with the insects in their mouths, that is my plan, clearly, for the future. Bee-eaters build their colonies on a sandy precipices in which they dig holes/hollows. The place in which I photographed was indeed a big colony. Problem was that as a result of a landslide the metal fence which was previously at the far side of the colony was now up in the air and was a great spot for bee-eaters to rest. Having such a convenient place to sit they resigned from the sticks situated farther from the nests. I place some of the pictures of bee-eaters on the fence as you could photograph them there without any limits. But the scenery – wire with offsetting sky? There is no worse scenario for a bird with such a colorful feathers. Fortunately, on the left side the fence with a stick was still in the ground, instead of hanging in the air like on the right. Backgrounding – green and violet flowers, it was much better. Without deluding myself I would be able to take any interesting pictures on the right side I moved my tripod to the left and - a surprise again. Pictures of a bee-eater are really interesting but I am too close for any dynamic takes. So I discreetly raise the whole tent and the gear and step away from the previous spot. I check the birds' reaction every couple of seconds but they haven't even left the stick. I have backed out about 6-8 metres and thanks to that I have couple of dynamic shots, unfortunately far from the nests, as I could not even see them from the place I was standing in. However, I do not regret it as thanks to that I was able to create a different gallery, which would be very difficult to make in Poland – of Little Egret. But, getting back to our outdoor. The stick was the highest point in the colony's surrounding so the birds always dived down and I saw them do it nearly 1 meter from the ground, and as they would turn back from the bottom. Let's hope that there will be another opportunity to photograph this colorful bird . Bee-eaters are very dynamic birds. They feed with insects which they catch in flight. Bee-eater's mass is around 50 grams with a wingspan of nearly 0.5 meter. The whole colony makes a specific sound, with its intensity resembling a hive. I hope there will be an occasion to expand the gallery, as such galleries like Bustard's are most likely a close chapter.
Last minute news 05-2014
I've added some pictures of European Bee-eaters taken this time in our country. Pictures taken again thanks to the human kindness (Peter thank you and best regards). Unfortunately, the colony consisted of only two pairs of birds and behaved quite differently from the large colony I encountered in Spain. There, the birds ignored the human presence. Here, we had to keep quite a distance to be able to take pictures. It was quite a strange place, because it was located near the road. Not many photos were taken, but observations of this characteristic flight of the Bee-eater, beautifully colored glider will remain.
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