In Poland, there's always the danger that you'll spend the entire Christmas holidays eating and sitting in front of a TV. So I'm glad to report that I have another option for you, perfect for a cold and hard winter like this one - bird feeding. You're certain to get some exercise while hanging and filling the feeders, and then have a lot of fun watching a variety of birds which come to visit - they're are ferocious eaters! And of course it's a perfect opportunity for some bird-hunting with your camera - here are a few shots which I took during the weekend preceding Christmas, while visiting my grandparents. Cute, aren't they? And who would've thought that even woodpeckers will come to visit! :-)
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If there are modern trends in human architecture, why shouldn’t this creativity spill over into, e.g., bird feeders’ architecture? ;-) Continuing my series of posts about birds, today a few creative, modern and slick bird feeder designs by the Danish brand Eva Solo – just take a look, original, aren’t they? I’m not sure if the birds will also truly appreciate their style, but I certainly do! And here is another out-of-the-ordinary feeder, this one is a bit UFO-shaped ;-)
Tempted as I am to keep writing abort Austria, I realize I probably shouldn’t keep rambling about my holidays in every new post I publish… ;-) So today we’re in for something entirely new: bird feeders’ architecture. After all, now that September has started the Autumn is officially coming, and so is the season for feeding birds. Some people treat it as a hobby, some as an obligation and some – as a creative way to decorate a garden and attract interesting bird visitors. I think especially the English have a soft spot for birds in Winter, and for putting up all sorts of feeders in their gardens – I do applaud their creativity in this regard. Want a proof? Take a look at this selection of cute bird feeders from shopping.rspb.org.uk , and visit the RSPB’s website for even more creative bird inventions ;) Have you ever heard about the Jacana? They’re a species of birds which is a perfect illustration of the saying “to grow into one’s shoes/feet.” Since these tropical birds tend to run on all kinds of water-covering foliage, such as water lily leaves, Mother Nature fitted them with really big feet. This by itself is not so strange of course, but bear with me for a moment longer. This is how an adult Jacana looks like: The adults are not very big, but the young ones are really, really tiny – their body has maybe 5cm in height and 3cm of circumference, except…they’re already born with these enormous feet! And I guess later on they “grow into them” – take a look, they seem to be a small ball of feather balancing precariously on feet 3 times their size! Nothing can be as creative as Mother Nature ;-)
For me, the best way to cheer me up and make me happy is to discover a new great place which is worth being photographed; if a few days pass and I come across nothing worth reaching for my camera, my high spirits plummet and I get restless. Now, in Holland it was quite easy to feed my inner need for photo-hunting and beauty and adventure – there were lots of beautiful and original places to explore, parks where birds could be hunted down, towns to visit, gardens bursting with amazing flowers, the sea-side changing throughout the seasons, cycling routes to explore – and so much more. In Warsaw, this is not so easy – I’ve looked really hard, and I keep looking, but it’s extremely difficult to find anything which even comes close to satisfying my exploration-and-photo-hunger. So when it got really bad, I went to visit one place when it is guaranteed you’ll find something photo-worthy – the zoo.
The Warsaw Zoo is not very big and the beginning of my visit was not very promising, but finally I’ve found something interesting – the Bird Pavilion, of course. So here comes the first batch of photos from my visit to the Warsaw Zoo, let’s start with a very original collection of small birds from America and Africa – enjoy! OK., so I’ve been following birds with my camera for quite some time now, but I have no idea what these great tits are doing?! I mean, sure, I can see that they’re lying on the ground with their wings extended, but why?! First I thought that maybe they’re trying to hide – as in trying to blend with the background. But it doesn’t make sense, because they kept doing it regardless of if someone was near them or not, plus in general these park birds are not afraid of humans (it happened once that one tried to sit on me, when I was taking a photo, and it gave me a scare, not the other way around!). So then I thought they might be protecting something – eggs, perhaps? But great tits do not make nests on the ground, certainly not in the open. So beats me, were they sunbathing or something?! Warming-up their wings? Anyone has an idea what’s behind this mystery? ;-) Anyway, they did look cute doing whatever it was they were doing – see for yourself! As a mood-booster, I took my camera on a walk through the Lazienki Park yesterday morning, hoping to hunt down something interesting with my camera. I’ve been to this park before, but although it is said to have a significant bird population, I’ve just kept coming across squirrels and mallard ducks, and not much else. But yesterday I hit bingo – I stumbled upon a small patch of green which seemed to be a Bird Central – I think there were at least 10 kinds of birds flying around, and some of them I even managed to take photos of ;-) So here is a photo-report from my small safari. First, a very available addition to my collection – woodpecker! I followed it around with the camera for half an hour at least, but it’s been extremely good at hiding and running – still, I was patient, so I got a few shots: Second came another valuable addition to my bird photo collection, since I’ve never come across this bird before – even though it’s apparently pretty popular. A pretty blue-orange bird with a “black eye-mask” called The Eurasian Nuthatch – if only it didn’t hid so well al the time in the darkest corners… And this, ladies and gentlemen, is a Fieldfare. I’ve already have photos of it, but no pretty ones – the problem being that this bird is honestly one of the least photogenic ones I’ve come across. I saw one in a book that it looks best not when it’s jumping (which it does 90% of the time), but when it sits cuddled-up in a fluffy roll – well, this one was…Still not a beauty, but it looks better than all the other photos of it which I've got ;-) And this is definitely not a trophy – magpies are very common after all – but this one was much less camera-shy than the others I’ve encountered, so I’ve shot a nice photo-session of it ;-) The Park seems to have a large population of Great Tits, which are quite accustomed to humans walking around (and feeding them, I guess). This one allowed me to come quite close, when it was lounging on the ground and probably warming-up in the sun… And finally something which might not be a bird, but which is the cutest symbol of this Park – fiery squirrels. They’re just soooo pretty!
I've been away for a few days, getting a much-needed portion of refreshing sea air and beautiful sea views. And of course while on the coast, I got to see a few interesting places and stumble across a few creative ideas - which means I'll have plenty to blog about this week.
But before I sort through all the photos from my trip, here are a few cute photos from a weekend bird-photo-hunting expedition to the area of Raszynskie Lakes outside Warsaw - little greylag geese. Aren't they cute ?! ;-) It's a good area for bird-watching, but you need a really long lens to get a good photo, the birds are not very cooperative and prefer to keep their distance... So it's a challenge, isn't it? ;-) The heat wave in Warsaw continues, with 34C in the shadow and the sun mercilessly baking the ubiquitous concrete surfaces. So it’s very hard to stir up some energy to do anything… But since I’m officially addicted to photography I couldn’t stop myself from doing some camera hunting even in those hellish conditions – only this time I did not wander far from home. I concentrated on sparrows – the small, greyish-brown birds which are so ubiquitous in the cities that we tend to pay no any attention to them at all. And I think that’s a mistake – they are cute, and look great in photos. Unfortunately they also seem to be resistant to the heat and these tropical temperatures do not sap their energy – they cannot sit still for longer than half a second… Here are a few shots I took yesterday – enjoy! We had another of those rare sunny days yesterday so I went on a trip to a neighbouring park to hunt down some house sparrows with my camera. These small birds are extremely common here in Poland, but not so much in the Netherlands, so I still do not have any really good shots of them. Unfortunately, the sparrows decided not to cooperate and although I could hear them, they stayed stubbornly hidden in the dense bushes. But instead I came across a duck family, and one of them was giving a really great performance. I think I should call it “ A Duck at a Spa” since what she was doing went far beyond a normal bath – there were whirlwinds, jacuzzi sessions, total immersions and more. See for yourself! |
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August 2012
AuthorA fiery red head, a writer and a photographer in love with beautiful design and all things creative |