Roaming in Romania - Day 3: Dawn on the Danube

The alarm went off at 4:45 a.m, I rolled out of bed and the first thing I did was to look out of the window. We had arrived in the dark the evening before and I just want to get a view of the surroundings. As I peered out into the approaching dawn it looked like the weather would be good for the long awaited morning photography session ahead. A small group of Pygmy Cormorants passed, as I gazed out with bleary eyes, and flew rapidly upstream. 15 minutes later I had joined the rest of the group for our 5 a.m breakfast of bread, hams,cheese and tomatoes. Now bearing in mind that Romania is 2 hours ahead of the UK I must confess it was a struggle to eat when my body clock was still tuned in to it being 3 a.m! However, the hot freshly brewed coffee was very welcome.

At this point you should note for this series of blog posts on Romania, some days will be contained in a single post, whilst others that were particularly productive, like this one will be spread over two. Typically our days in Romania were split into two daily sessions with the camera, 5 - 11am and then 3pm to about 8pm. We would have a break in the hot middle of the day when the light was to harsh and the air wobbled with haze neither of which are conducive to good photography. The midday break took in lunch and also allowed time for both camera and people 'batteries' to recharge after the early start.

After boarding the hide boat we headed off upstream and quickly swung off the main river in to a small reed lined side channel that was chocked with various water plants. Progress was relatively slow as we would periodically have to stop and the boat reverse to clear the accumulated vegetation from the propeller. After about 30 minutes travel along the narrow winding channel it suddenly opened out into a small lake. The edges of the lake were again reed fringed and crystal clear water was covered in large patches of yellow and white flowering water lilies and beds of Water Soldier. A beautiful and tranquil setting in the rapidly rising sun made all the more attractive by good variety of birds going around their early morning business and the rising chorus of frogs singing. Here is a photograph of a typical view on this lake from the boat to give you an idea.

My first thoughts were that the boatman had a difficult task ahead of him to try and navigate us through the dense vegetation into the right position in terms of the light and distance for photography. The first bird we encountered was a Squacco Heron which had been one of my favourite birds from a trip to Hungary last year.

These small herons were dotted all around the lake and were gently glowing in the soft dawn light. The first of many more encounters with this species over the next couple of days as they proved to be the bird we most frequently encountered on a travels around the Delta. The bird was busy looking for prey which included the larvae of what would have been a very large water beetle.

Our first bird encounter taught me a quick lesson that when the boat had got into position the movement of four photographers slightly adjusting their positions to get the best angle on the bird from would cause some rocking of the boat. After a while I actually found it was much easier for me during these moments to dispense with the tripod.

The next birds we encountered were  two White Pelicans which are a new species for me. They are visually such appealing birds with their large colourful beaks and some lovely textures in their feathers. Our time with these birds was brief but it gave chance to get the first few portraits of these huge birds.

Next stop on our journey around this small lake was close to a colony of Whiskered Tern. This was a bird I had seen last year on my journey into Eastern Europe but of which I had failed to get any photographs. Failure was not going to be an option this time though as numerous birds flew past in close proximity to the boat as they gathered nesting material and searched for food to get their day started or perched on nearby lilies.

The end of another water beetle larvae

Time to move on once more and this time the boat slowly a colony of noisy Blacked-headed gulls that had built a nesting colony on a large patch of lilies in the middle of the lake.

I was quite glad that we were not here to photograph the gulls but another species that often associates with them and apparently uses the gull colony as an early warning system of approaching predators, the Black-necked Grebe. It has been a few years since I have photographed this small but beautiful bird and I was only thinking earlier this year it would be good to find some more in the UK where they are fairly thin on the ground. Those thoughts all seemed a bit irrelevant now with the dozen birds drifting around close to the boat and going through an early morning bathing and stretching routine.

These proved to be the main photography subject for the morning and we stayed with the birds for quite a long time having been put in to a very good location with the boat that was carefully manoeuvred and positioned to  steer a wide berth of any nest sites.

A Great-crested grebe drifted through its smaller relatives as we sat their soaking up the atmosphere of the wonderful birds in front us whilst being serenaded by a constant chorus of frogs.

The sun was rising rapidly now and the light growing increasingly harsh. We spent a short-while with some Common Terns but then started to make the voyage back to the hotel at Mila 23.

En route we had our first encounter with a Night Heron, in one of the narrower channels that would return us to the main river stem together with some more of the ubiquitous Squacco Heron.

Overall it had been a memorable first morning in the Delta and as you can see a very busy one for the four photographers on the boat. The beauty of this type of roving photography is that you never know what is waiting round the corner in the channel or on the next lake you enter. They way I have described this first session you may think the photography is easy due to the abundance of bird life but you do have to work for your images, think about composition and position and backgrounds. It was this aspect of the trip that was going to make this adventure all the more rewarding than just waiting for  birds to appear on pre-arranged perches in front of a permanent hide.

Roaming in Romania - Days 1 and 2: Long Journey to the Delta

Following my trip to Hungary last year, I was so impressed with the abundance and diversity of bird life, that I decided to make a return visit to Eastern Europe for my main overseas trip this year. This year I decided I would head a bit further east into Romania with the main attraction being the Danube Delta, known as the last true wilderness of Europe and noted for its amazing diversity and abundance of bird life.

There will not be many bird photographs for this post which mainly recounts my long journey to Delta but I did manage to get a couple of photographs en route including a new species.

The trip had been booked for many months so it was with excitement that I departed from the house on Friday lunch time for the 50 minute drive across to Manchester Airport. For this trip I decided to fly with British Airways which proved to be a much more enjoyable experience and removed any worries in terms of heavy camera hand luggage due to their allowance. All my kit was safely packed in to the Gura Gear  Bataflae bag and for those interested the basic camera kit for the trip was a Canon 1DX and 1Dmk4 combined with a 300mm F2.8 and 600mm F4 lens and the two teleconvertors.

My first flight was a short 'hop' down to Heathrow and then the hassle of having to swap from Terminal 5 to 3. By the time I had reached Terminal 3, dragging my heavy hand luggage, I had felt like I had walked half-way to Romania! In Terminal 3 I met up with Rene who was one of the other three photographers on the trip that had been organised by Saker Tours.

My trip last year to Hungary was also booked through Saker Tours. However, this trip was to be quite different. The Hungary visit was based around a number of established fixed hides and you could also predict what images you would home with, even down to the settings. The Romania trip was based on a much more mobile approach and birds encountered which would result in different images on each tour. This really appealed to me together with the fact the most of the photography would not be through glass as it was in Hungary.

We boarded the 3.5 hour flight to Budapest and lost a further 2 hours to time difference and so arrived around 11:15pm. We were not due to be collected until the following afternoon and so had booked a night in the accommodation in the Mogosoaia Palace. We managed to get ripped off by the taxi from the airport and getting into the Palace at midnight seemed a bit like trying to gain entry to a secure facility as we had to negotiate our way around several sets of security. We had chosen this accommodation as it is surrounded by parkland that may offer some opportunities for photography the following morning while we were waiting for collection.  It was a nice looking hotel but I was starting to have doubts!

I did not sleep well mainly due to the fact that huge spotlights, lighting the historic building, lit up the room as if it was daylight and this was accompanied by a constant howling and barking or packs of feral dogs that seemed to be roaming the grounds. After a couple of hours restless sleep I woke around 5:30am to an unfamilar dawn chorus of nightingales and cuckoos. Further sleep seemed pointless so I thought I would head out with the camera for a couple of hours as the sun was rising to see what could be found.

I wandered down the edge of a large reed fringed lake and immediately heard the loud song of the Greater Reed Warbler. This is a bird I have always wanted to photograph and after a short wait this giant warbler was in front of me singing. A good start.

Bursting into its very loud song in the early morning light.

I spent the rest of the time trying to photograph some cuckoos that were constantly flying around calling and managed to get a couple of photos before the light became to harsh and it was time to retreat back to the hotel for breakfast.

At breakfast I met another of the members of the trip Hans from Holland. There was nothing left to do now except wait for our collection in the afternoon to start our journey into the Delta. We slowly basted in the sun sitting outside the hotel which seemed to be in chaos. We watched the comings and goings of a couple of weddings, a christening and a large meeting of Masons. After some difficulty and much confusion I eventually managed to pay for my room.

Zoltan, our host for the week, eventually arrived around 3:30pm with the fourth photographer, Michael from Austria. We loaded all the luggage and camera bags into the minibus and set out on a 4 hour drive across Romania to Tulcea, the gateway to the Danube Delta. It was interesting to note on this journey that the was a marked absence of bird life compared to Hungary which no doubt was partially a result of different farming practices. Huge swathes of the country are covered in enormous prairie like mono-cultures of wheat and sunflowers which are no doubt a remnant of the large state farms from the communist era. A very different situation compared to Hungary. Our journey to Tulcea did not pass without incident as we had a rear wheel blow-out which fortunately occurred about 100m from a tyre repair garage and so did not delay our journey much.

At Tulcea we transferred on to the boat for a 2 hour journey to our final destination, Mila 23, in the heart of the Danube Delta.

Mila 23 means 'Mile 23' and refers to the distance of the location within the Delta from the Black Sea into which the Danube finally discharges. At this point I will quickly mention the boat which has been specially constructed by Saker Tours for photography and was to be our 'home' for the next few days. The boat comfortably accommodates 4 photographers and has been well thought out as a floating hide and allows birds to be photographed at near water level.

As we headed in to the Delta, darkness began to quickly descend and as we approached our destination of the Paradise Delta House Hotel we were sailing at speed through reed lined channels in the pitch dark. Our boat driver obviously knew the waters very well and must have very good night vision!

It must have been around 10 pm when we eventually arrived at the hotel which was very good and on an island opposite Mila 23. After a quick meal of fried carp, which I can't really recommend, we all headed to bed for the 5am start. I drifted off to sleep quickly while outside was the sound of thousands of 'singing' frogs under a million stars in a clear sky above. After a long journey it felt we had finally arrived. Anticipation was high for our first day out photographing birds in the Delta which will be the topic for my next post.

An Extraordinary Lark

I must admit having risen from the bed at some unearthly hour, the morning had not been very productive, with only a couple of Chiffchaff photos for my efforts, and so my thoughts were turning to a return home for some breakfast.

En route I decided to try one last place as a last ditch attempt to put some photos on the memory card and diverted off to a site close to home to look that beautiful songster, the skylark.  It proved to be a sensible decision. It is strange how small timing decisions can often make the difference between success and failure in wildlife photography. I am sure many of you, who pursue wildlife with the camera, have witnessed your subject appear where you have been sat as you have decided to walked away due to inactivity.

As I walked up the small grass slope I spotted a skylark and the next 90 minutes turned into an incredible encounter with an unusual bird. I crept into position and the bird seemed completely oblivious to me.

In fact as I approached, the bird decided to walkover towards me until it was standing about 30cms away and far too close to photograph. Strange. I was then left with a dilemma  should I try backing slowly away so I could take some photos, with the risk of the bird departing,  or wait for it to move.  

The bird was going nowhere and after a while I backed off, only for it to come trotting through the long grass to stand right next to me once. This was repeated several times before the lark headed skywards in vertical song flight. Up and up it went in full song, only to descend once more and land right next me.

Two dog walkers were coming along the path which I was convinced would see the departure of the bird but as they got closer it just casually walked around and hid behind me, to re-emerged next me once more after they passed. This was all very odd the bird just seemed to like being next to me. It was obviously on its own and still looking for a mate and seemed to content to spend some time with me.

Many people associate skylarks with their song flight when they almost disappear from sight in the blue yonder above, before slowly descending with their liquid song and finishing off with sudden plunge back to earth.  However, they also have a ground display when they go up on extended legs, raise their tail and appear to 'dance' and bob on the spot while in song. This is what the bird was now doing right next to me. To have a skylark stood singing and displaying literally right next to you, I can only describe as a sublime experience.

I decided to do some ground level photo given this unique opportunity. Photographing a small bird on the ground can be tricky when the grass is even a moderate length as there often stray blades which insist on appearing in the wrong place.  It proved even more difficult on this occasion as the bird insisted on coming too close.

Having taken plenty of photos it was definitely time for breakfast. Even when I stood up to leave the bird was still standing right next me. As I walked back to the car, the bird took flight, flew straight down towards me and landed in front of me once more. It continued to do this for the next 400m before finally deciding to go off and find itself some breakfast. A very strange bird but a superb encounter with an extraordinary lark.

A Weakness for Grasshopper Warbler

Wildlife photography requires a certain amount of self-discipline, such as getting up at an unearthly hour to an alarm call when your head and body would rather stay in the comfort of your bed beneath the duvet. You need to set yourself goals and concentrate on particular species to which you dedicate your time and not become distracted. I nearly always set out from the house with a definite plan, on those days when you become distracted and decide to head elsewhere are usually when you come back with few or any photos at all.

At the start of this spring I told myself categorically that I was going to ignore Grasshopper Warbler (locally known as 'Groppers') given that I already have so many images of them. So I set out a couple of weeks back looking for some Blackcap not realising with this year's 'broken spring', which has played havoc with my mental calender, that the main influx of this migrant Sylvia warbler was yet to occur. As I looked around looking and listening for Blackcap I heard that all to familiar rapid ticking song of a Grasshopper warbler from a bramble patch. The warbler was keeping low out of the gusty wind and I just got a momentary glimpse of a very yellow looking bird. Many of you may not actually realise that Groppers come in two colour morphs with both brown and yellow variants. This was certainly the most yellow coloured one I had ever seen.

That brief sighting and sound of that reeling song was all it took for my weakness for Grasshopper warblers to kick in. When I got home I found myself suddenly checking the forecast looking for good Gropper weather! There was no turning back now, as I became fully consumed by the G-fever. The forecast showed that the relentless stiff cold wind was easing off in three days time, the temperature rising and some dawn sun was even predicted. It looked ideal.

Still conditions are important for Grasshopper warbler photography as the birds will only show themselves at the top of their bramble patches in light winds. Stronger winds see them content to sing from deep cover.  The other important factor is time of day as you need to be in position as the sun is just emerging or disappearing over the horizon. I have often seen photographer arriving as I am leaving who enquire if I have seen any Groppers, by which time the early morning performance is over. The window to photograph them is also very brief usually only a week or two, after they arrive while the birds establish territories and pair up for breeding. If you combine all these factors then they are relatively easy to see or photograph.

So the alarm was set for early o'clock to allow me to get ready and drive to be at the site just as the red glow of a new day started to tint the sky. Before the sun broke the horizon I could hear a few short bursts of the insect like warble from the brambles, the bird was warming up for its morning performance. As the first rays appeared up came the same very yellow bird, in the same place I had seen it a few days early, to broadcast its song.

This is the bird on its first appearance before the sunlight flooded across the bramble patch.

I thought for a change I would post a head crop of the above photo. I would like to point out that any image you see of a small bird's head in close up is always a large crop of the original unless the photographer as gone to extreme lengths with extenders and extension tubes attached to the lens. The reasons for showing this is are two fold. Firstly you lose a lot of detail when you reduce an image in size and to low res to post on the Internet. I always wished you could see the images that I do where you can count individual feather filaments, assuming you wanted to. Secondly I want you to look in to the eye where you can see the sun just  emerging above the horizon.

The first light of a sunny day is always a photographer;s best friend and bathes your subject in beautiful soft warm light. The performance by this Grasshopper Warbler from a photography point of view was outstanding as the bird would often pick the highest bramble arch in the low clump to perform. This allowed, with a bit of slow manoeuvring from me to achieve clean backgrounds to the photos which is always welcome for a bird that shows such an affinity for deep cover. It is always interesting when you obtain a series of images of the same bird over the period of the sun rising how much the changing colour of light affects the look of the bird.

So yes I am weak willed when it comes to these enigmatic little birds and managed to completely ignored my own advice to give them a wide berth this year, although in many ways I am glad I did :). Maybe next year I will be able to ignore them.....maybe.