Feldberger Seenlandschaft – Day 1

The tour

We booked three days with Ranger Tours to do another session – like last year – for in-flight shooting of white-tailed eagles attracted with eels to fly close by the boat and allow amazing shots of the eagles grabbing the fish.

Besides eagle shooting, the booked session also entailed evening boat rides to have similar shootings of red and black kites.

During the day we did several hide sessions which allowed for diverse bird shootings during the three days.

Equipment carried and its usage

• Nikon D4, D800, D7200 and D2x
• Nikkor 500f4 (TC-14II), Nikkor 200-400f4 (TC-14II), Sigma 150-600 (TC-1401)

Most of the pictures were taken using the D4 and the Nikkor 200-400 while hide shootings were mainly done with the Nikkor 500. The D4’s high speed shooting sequence is really helpful for in-flight shots but also the quality of the pictures is amazing when used in the hides.

The D800 came into play when trying to grab details with it’s 36 Megapixel sensor the camera is predestinated for detail shots.

The D7200 was used to take the advantage of the crop factor when shooting from the hides while the D2x was rarely used but carried along to have another backup camera as my ordered D500 has not yet shown up.

White-tailed eagle

On day 1 we left the pier at 7am to do the first white-tailed eagle shooting. However, it turned out that the well know Aalfred was not seen at all. After a while and looking at the eagle’s aerie which appeared not in use we turned to another side of the lake where the female was sitting on a tree watching below scenery in the reed. Although she also comes by when an eel is thrown, this time she did hardly take notice of the boat and the eel. Very busily watching the scene below her.

We could hear a loud flapping of wings and thought first that Aalfred (the male eagle) was after a coot. When we came closer (very close distance which is unusual even for these birds, suddenly the female took off and 2 white-tailed eagle males rushed out of the reed. One to the left side into the woods and flew off following the female and another one to the right more jumping than really flying. After some seconds we lost sight of the second one.

We followed the pair of eagles but they were far out in the trees. Whether the male was Aalfred or another male, we could see and say.

Looks like the ancestral male is heavily involved in territorial fights with a younger bird.

Day session at the hide

First day we went to the so-called Erdversteck to catch some other raptor shots. Along with the seen common buzzard and the red kite a hooded crow showed up grabbing some bait.

Evening session

Around 4pm we left again the pier to go for another in-flight shooting session but this time for red and black kites. These birds are hard to catch while grabbing the lure thrown on the water. Very fast and unpredictable flight maneuvers giving the camera, lens and in particular the person behind the camera a hard time.

Besides the kites it was also nice to watch the seagulls trying to catch the bait but also hard to catch as well as the hooded crow which also showed up. Second day did turn out some better to catch the birds while picking up the lure.

During the boat ride I was also able to get my first  great crested grebe shots. Very nice birds.