October 2016 – Zanzibar
We spent two really nice weeks on the island of Zanzibar. You might think, that two weeks on the island would be rather boring. But the Island is an overflowing pot of different cultures, history, spices, food and natural and oceanic beauty. So if you are not just there to sit on the snow-white beaches, but stick your nose into the unknown and venture into that pot, it is quite an amazing and interesting part of the world.
The trip was at first hand just a travel/holiday-trip. Non the less, I took the camera every now and then with me to photograph the impressive and old doors of Stone Town with its lovely, friendly and very helpful people. And as a birder, I allways held an eye open to have a look at some of the waders, that were on the tidal-flats infront of the hotels.
Enjoy the pics.
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August 2016 – Dolomites
What a contrast to the african savanna. Unfortunatelly, my friend couldn't join me on this 5-day-hike through the Dolomites due to pneumonia. This are some impressive and rigid looking mountains with a lot of history, as it was the war front between the Italians and Austria/Hungary in the First World War. There still is a lot of evidence, tunnels and bunkers from this bitterly faught mountain setting war.
The weather was a little too cloudless for really nice pictures. But it wasn’t a photography trip after all and the great food, a mixture of italian and austrian causine made up for the warm and sunny weather! ;o)
Enjoy the pics!
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July 2016 – With my Sister in South Africa
It has been a few years since my last visit to South Africa and boy was I exited to spend a couple of weeks there. Even more so, that my Sister joined me! It was here first time in Africa and she was anxious to know, what Wildlife we might see. I told her, that we mostlikely will see a lot of herbivores. With a little luck, we gonna see some lions and maybe a glimpse of a cheetah, wild dogs or a leopard. Oh man, was I wrong. Within those 10 days, we saw 3 little glimpses of lions – not even worth mentioning. We have ticked off leopards 12x, wild dog an cheetah once! My sister accused me of knowing nothing about African Wildlife!!
Finally, we have spent 3 days at Idube Game Reserve. What a fantastic little Safari Resort – worth every Rand we have spent there.
Enjoy the pics!
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May 2016 – Black Knights
Since my last visit to the Black Grouse Lek last year I was looking forward to go back to this place. Unfortunately, there was still a lot of snow blocking the road and once the snow melted away, the weather was mainly bad or really bad.
Still, I managed to spend one night on the Lek. As the displaying grouse woke me up at 4 o’clock in the morning, I was able to make out 6 different males very close to my tent. After about an hour, 3 of them took off and landed right in front of my hide and two of them started immediately with a little show-fight. Actually they were so close, I couldn’t fit them into the frame in the beginning of the Fight. But the slowly moved away!
Once the fight was over, the stepped up onto little rocks and started calling and displaying and it lastet a good few hours. It was great to watch and I am looking forward to next year.
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Mai 2016 – Lake Neusiedl / Neusiederlsee
One of the last field trips during my field ornithology course brought us to Lake Neusiedl in Austria. A birders paradise at the edge of the Puszta and close to the Hungarian Border. It teems with all kinds of birds… wetlandbirds, raptors and passerines.
Before the field trip started, we took a little detour to the Marchauen - a forest wetland, where one of the biggest storkcolonies on trees in Europe calls its home. But also the forest is home to several woodpecker species, passerines and wetlandbirds.
All in all, we identified 138 different birdspecies and I did learn a lot within that week. And for shure, I wasn’t there for the last time. I hope you enjoy the pics.
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March 2016 – Sudan
Once more I went to Sudan for a divetrip in the Red Sea. The aim was, to go further south to the more remote riffs. But the windy conditions made it impossible to venture far south. So we had to turn back north in search for calmer waters. It was a fantastic group on the boat with lots of fun.
Non the less, some of the known riffs provided us with fantastic encounters with Hammerhead Sharks and other marine wildlife.
As our flight back home was earlier than last year, the visit to the local market was rather short. But it still is a caleidoscop of smells, sights, cultures and ethnic groups.
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March 2016 - White on White
March is a good time to go and look for rock ptarmigan. One reason is, that the days are getting longer again and the ptarmigan males are starting to display. So, last weekend in march we set out again to find them again.
As we walked into our chosen area, we were able to observe a few pairs. But as we approached them, they took off and we were not able to take any reasonable pics. On Saturday Morning, we left still in the dark and have found a very cooperative male just before the sun came up. Luckily, the male stuck around for 2.5 hours and Stefan and me had a blast taking pics of that very relaxed ptarmigan male. Well, here is some of the pics. I really hope, you like them as much as I do!
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Winter 2016 – Golden Eagle
A friend of mine hooked me up with a keen golden eagle enthusiast. In January 2016 I was able to visit him for the first time and I was well impressed with the effort he puts into his golden eagle observation and photography. He follows this passion since a few years and has put up a fantastic hide on a great spot far above the valley. The spot is wisely chosen and the amount of different raptors visiting the spot in front of his hide is mind blowing and tells you, how much he understands about raptors in general and specially the golden eagle. Reto, thank you very much for this opportunity!
So far, I managed to visit him twice and both of the times, I was able to take a few shots of the golden eagle. On my second session, the female arrived and stayed for a few minutes before she took off again. Oh boy, what a beautiful and impressive bird that is.
Anyway, here is some of the pictures I took out of that hide. I hope you like them.
