Zsombor Károlyi's Photo Blog: Magpie

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2012-02-24

Downtown

From downtown Västerås.

Pintail - Stjärtand – Nyílfarkú réce (Anas acuta)

Hooded Crow - Kråka - Dolmányos varjú (Corvus corone)

I don't normally do black-and-white, but Lightroom is screwing with me, so this was the best alternative. It's an intresting area, but I don't really want to dive into it yet.

Magpie - Skata - Szarka (Pica pica)

2011-09-29

I spent an hour in Västerås harbour yesterday. That is when I saw that strange gull (it is in the blog post right under this one), that turned out to be eighter a Herring Gull or a Greater Black-backed Gull, probably the first one. I'd like to thank Karl Hammar, Ola Bäckman, Dirk van Gansberghe and Jan Jörgensen for helping me with the identification.
But there were some other gulls and, especially, geese in the harbour too. Around 200-300 Canada Geese, 50 Greylag Geese, four Barnacle Geese and at least six goose hybrids.

Herring Gull - Gråtrut - Ezüstsirály (Larus argentatus)

Barnacle Goose – Vitkindad gås - Apácalúd (Branta leucopsis)

Canada Goose – Kanadagås – Kanadai lúd (Branta canadensis)

Black-headed Gull - Skrattmås - Dankasirály (Larus ridibundus)

Barnacle Goose – Vitkindad gås - Apácalúd (Branta leucopsis)

Canada Goose – Kanadagås – Kanadai lúd (Branta canadensis)

Black-headed Gull - Skrattmås - Dankasirály (Larus ridibundus)

Of all the pictures this day I like this picture the most:

Black-headed Gull - Skrattmås - Dankasirály (Larus ridibundus)

Crows are nice:

Hooded Crow - Kråka - Dolmányos varjú (Corvus corone)

Canada Goose – Kanadagås – Kanadai lúd (Branta canadensis)

After an hour, a large boat (ironicly named "Sea Eagle") got out from the harbour and scared all the geese away. Imagine 100 Canada Geese flying just a few meters from you. I had to think fast, but I found it to be the best decision to just concentrate on one goose and see how it works out. It did great! So from now on, if a big flock of birds fly by, I will only try to take pictures of one of them and not try to get the whole group.

Canada Goose – Kanadagås – Kanadai lúd (Branta canadensis)

Found this Black Redstart while searching for Collared Doves (didn't found any this time eighter). It jumped around between concrete slabs like it didn't even notice that October is around the corner....

Black Redstart – Svart rödstjärt – Házi rozsdafarkú (Phoenicurus ochruros)

Magpie - Skata - Szarka (Pica pica)

Here is a collection of hybrid geese. There is propably some Canada Goose blood in all of them, and eighter Greylag Goose or Barnacle Goose as the other part. Or something else, I don't really know...

2011-09-25

Two productive days

The past week has been a lot about school, but Friday afternoon and evening and Saturday morning was all about birding.

Friday afternoon I walked around downtown, trying to find Collared Doves (didn't find any):

Mallard - Gräsand - Tőkés réce (Anas platyrhynchos)

In the evening I went to Asköviken. Some really nice birds this afternoon:

Pink-footed Goose – Spetsbergsgås – Rövidcsőrű lúd (Anser brachyrhynchus)

Bean Goose - Sädgås – Vetési lúd (Anser fabalis)

Greylag Goose – Grågås – Nyári lúd (Anser anser)

Bar-headed Goose – Stripgås - Indiai lúd (Anser indicus)

Greylag Goose – Grågås – Nyári lúd (Anser anser)

Magpie - Skata - Szarka (Pica pica)

The next day, Saturday, started well, with some Long-tailed Tits. Fresh and pretty as always:

Long-tailed Tit - Stjärtmes - Őszapó (Aegithalos caudatus)

Asköviken, Saturday morning-afternoon:

Dunlin – Kärrsnäppa - Havasi partfutó (Calidris alpina)

Lapwing - Tofsvipa - Bíbic (Vanellus vanellus)

Crane – Trana - Daru (Grus grus)

Merlin – Stenfalk - Kis sólyom (Falco columbarius)

This bat was flying around the Asköviken-tower catching dragonflies. Nothing wrong with that, it's just that is was doing that 11:30 am! Evereybody has seen bats in evening-time, but seeing one in sunlight is a little different. You can observe every small move and turn it makes, and that's fascinating.
Photographing it was the next step. Very hard! It was not harder than photographing a swallow or a swift when it was flying against a blue sky, but I wanted to get some pictures with dark background, and for that I had to use manual focus. 90 % of the pictures were not sharp, even though I took the picture only if i saw that the bat was sharp in the viewfinder. Here are some I managed to get: