Snow, freezing temperatures, a winter landscape out birding with the X-T3 and 100-400mm
Full screen gallery below
Well it finally happend, after the temperatures dropped the first time now the temperatures dropped significantly with ice and snow as the final cherry on top! I guess The Netherlands wasn’t the only country in Europe to have massive snow and ice weather and forecasts. I can tell you the crazy dutch ice skating lovers where everywhere! As was a beautiful snow filled landscape, a real treat after grey rainy days and lockdown. Finally snow, ice and sun! Real winter!
So with the real winter here, it was time for some birding and snow photos. Unfortunately the roads where very icey and with a new car with no winter tires I didn’t push my luck. Hence I was back at backyard birding, well sort of. As I live in a area, which to be frank is busy but not a metropolis, we still have areas with trees, meadows, little creeks and rivers. So enough “nature” where you can find birds if it’s not too crowded.
Well there I was! It was nice and quiet so I was lucky to get some bird photography on the way! This would change when the ice was thick enough to skate on. A few days later it would be the exact opposite. Still I managed to get some lovely shots.
Arriving at the the area I started my walk, but before I could start there was a Wren (Winterkoninkje - Troglodytes troglodytes) on the path, skittish, fast and exploring the area and looking for food between the trees and snow! A nice welcome! And right after that little Wren a Robin (Roodborst - Erithacus rubecula) came to say hello! Wow, this was a really nice start. Well I wasn’t even started.
Oke! Again, I started out at my regular walk where you can find Kingfishers, Tits, Robins, Blue Tits, Long Tailed Tit and even a Water Rail. The last two I did not encountered before, so I was in luck! Especially with the Water Rail which is a very scarce bird and shy. It hides in the reeds and you really need to look for it. Other enthusiastic birders notified me when I was in the area, which I was really grateful for! Because without them I would have never seen this specific bird! Still it was really far away but I managed a shot!
That out of the way it was time to continue my walk. Well after that I thought I was out of luck, but not before following a Robin foraging through the snow. A really nice site to behold. This small bright bird in the white snow and golden reeds. A truly nice shots which I like very much. It even took the time to really pose, on a stick of course, before wandering off. But there would be even more in store for me.
Walking back, not having that much time to spend, I was treated with two really playful Long Tailed Tits. Talk about skittish birds, but how beautiful they are with their long tail feathers and the black, brown/orange/pink colours. Sadly I did not have enough time to really get a great capture, still pretty proud on this shot of this cute little bird against a beautiful blue sky!
For now all the photos of that morning! And don’t hesitate to leave a comment or an e-mail. All photos are taken with the Fujifilm X-T3 and the Fujinon 100-400mm, some with the 50-140mm. Click to view larger in a light box and navigate with mouse or arrow keys. Enjoy!
