сряда, 29 януари 2014 г.

Common Buzzard photography in Bulgaria

In the middle of the week I decided to take some time off and use the snow. It's been fairly dry winter which did not offer many opportunities for bird photography. However, the snow is already here and birds are now regularly coming to the feeding sites.

Since the forecast for today suggested snow, I decided to give it a try and go to a hide for Buzzards. At this spot there are also Ravens, Magpies, Red Fox, Golden Jackal and occasionally Golden Eagle. What I wanted most was a Long-legged Buzzard but ...you never know what will turn up. Birds are wild so, let's give it a try.

I set the alarm for 5,30 a.m. The road to the place was about 1,5 hours so I wanted to be there as early as possible. So I did. Everything was according to the forecast. Snow! Well this sounds optimistic. I drove the distance in the dark and arrived just when a fox was hunting in the fields not far from the hide. This could be a good sign. I left the car by the main road and walked for about 20 min along a snowy road to reach the hide.

A Common Buzzard took off from the tree right behind the hide. Hmm, this looks really optimistic. I set up the feeding site and entered into the hide. It wasn't even 10 minutes when a Raven landed about 20m in front of me. Then a second bird arrived. Magpies started coming. One, two, three... At certain point there were ten Eurasian Magpies Pica pica. And finally there goes the Buzzard.

A Common Buzzard landed on the perch specifically set for it. Right where I wanted it. What a beauty. It wasn't a minute before it started feeding on the bait. The birds looked pretty calm. Later on a second Buzzard arrived. At certain point i had 2 Ravens, one Common Buzzard and 10 Magpies at the same time. Well, here are some shots: 

Common Buzzard Buteo buteo photography by Iordan Hristov
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo photography by Iordan Hristov
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo photography by Iordan Hristov
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo photography by Iordan Hristov
Common Buzzard photography by Iordan Hristov
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo photography by Iordan Hristov
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo photography by Iordan Hristov
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo photography by Iordan Hristov
Magpie Pica pica photography by Iordan Hristov
Magpie Pica pica photography by Iordan Hristov
Magpie Pica pica photography by Iordan Hristov
Magpie Pica pica photography by Iordan Hristov
Magpie Pica pica photography by Iordan Hristov
Magpie Pica pica photography by Iordan Hristov
Raven Corvus corax photography by Iordan Hristov
Raven Corvus corax photography by Iordan Hristov
Raven Corvus corax photography by Iordan Hristov
Raven Corvus corax photography by Iordan Hristov

неделя, 26 януари 2014 г.

The sound of falling snowflakes

Peace! Quietness! Wilderness! That's what my weekend trip was about.

After a lazy morning the road took us to a photography hide where I wanted to put some bait for Common Buzzards Buteo buteo. Some snow just fell down and it's finally time to attract these lovely birds to the feeding site at the photography hide. I intend to come back in a couple of days to give them a try. Let me keep my fingers crossed for some luck. Ideally a Red fox or Golden Jackal may also turn up.Will let you know in a couple of days.

Around the hide we did see a buzzard, a male and female Hen Harriers, a  Common Kestrel, couple of Magpies and over a hundred Fieldfares and Yellowhammers. Left some seeds for them in frond of the hide. See what happens. Looking forward to the photography session in a couple of days.


After the hide the road took us to the high mountains not far from Sofia. Lovely conifer area at the beginning of the trail and alpine cliffs in avalanch zone at its end. We arrived fairly late in the afternoon buy there was still enough light. Skiers were already coming down from the mountains after course for mountain guiding. Finally it was peaceful.No people. No sounds of cars, coaches and heavy traffic or any sort of noise. It was only us and ..... the snowflakes. Listening them falling down was a miracle. Soooo quiet... Sooo 'neat' superb relaxation :)

In an hour trekking we arrived at altitude of  1960 m a.s.l. Had a lovely tea from mountain herbs and a brief chat with the new house keepers of the chalet and started descending. The new managers of the chalet have come only 10 days ago and were still surpring themselves by the falling avalanches in the area. They were about to undertake some serious reconstruction works on the chalet. See what happens. Looking forward to seeing the changes and even helping these people promoting the place for hiking and birdwatching.
We descended in dusk and off we went. The way home was a bit risky because of the snow, low temperatures and slippery road. Anyway we finally got home after a lovely day in nature.


петък, 24 януари 2014 г.

Nutcracker photography in Bulgaria

Nutcrackers Nucifraga caryocatactes are lovely birds. Strangely enough there are very few photos of this peculiar bird. Perhaps the areas where they live are too distant for photographers.

Well after having heard that a few people have photographed it, I decided to give it a try. Initially I wanted something different. A unique photo that you don't see. Rather motivated I woke up at 6 a.m. and sneaked out of the bed to arrive at first light at the Nutcracker location. The sunrise from the mountain next to Sofia was really pleasant.

I arrived at the spot right when the sunlight was coming through the conifer tree tops. Golden colour grass with patches of snow made the moment rather awakening. But... No birds. They had not yet awoken. Only a few Crossbills were calling from here and there. I walked forth and back with no luck. Then i heard the call. Nutcracker. I decided to give it a try. Threw out some peanuts and in a minute a bird was around. Then a second one, third, fourth, fifth...seven birds turned up and with absolutely no alarm, they started feeding around. I threw some more peanuts and ended up with couple of hundred shots. The only thing was, it was too dark so I might need to erase most of the shots but never mind. Here are a few shots:

Nutcracker photography by Iordan Hristov
Nutcracker photography by Iordan Hristov
Nutcracker photography by Iordan Hristov
Nutcracker photography by Iordan Hristov
Nutcracker photography by Iordan Hristov
Nutcracker photography by Iordan Hristov
Some misunderstanding between two birds had to be a subject of a dispute. I happened to be too close to get the full scene. Nevertheless, it's quite unique behaviour that I haven't seen photographed:

Nutcracker photography by Iordan Hristov
Nutcracker photography by Iordan Hristov

  Nutcracker photography by Iordan Hristov
Nutcracker fight by Iordan Hristov
Nutcracker photography by Iordan Hristov
Nutcracker photography by Iordan Hristov
Nutcracker photography by Iordan Hristov
Nutcracker photography by Iordan Hristov
In addition to the Nutcrackers, a Red Squirrel turned up. It got a cone and stood up for some 5-10 minutes eating the seeds only about 5-6 m away from my camera. Here is the result:

Squirrel photography by Iordan Hristov
Squirrel photography by Iordan Hristov
On my way home a party of passerines was feeding by the road a brief stop produced this lovely Willow Tit Poecile montanus.


Willow Tit photography by Iordan Hristov
Willow Tit photography by Iordan Hristov
What a nice way to end up the working week. Looking forward to the weekend when I hope I will have some more photography options.

сряда, 22 януари 2014 г.

Wader photography in Bulgaria

It's been a long time since I last posted something on this blog. Well here I am, hope I will manage to post more often. I finally managed to get some time from my busy schedule and post process a few images. Here they are: a few images of Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago, Dunlin Calidris alpina, Redshank Tringa totanus, Spotted redshank Tringa erythropus and Greenshank Tringa nebularia. 

Common Snipe photography
Common Snipe © Iordan Hristov

Common Snipe photography
Common Snipe © Iordan Hristov

Common Snipe photography
Common Snipe © Iordan Hristov
Dunlin Calidris alpina was the other bird species that turned up in the pond.
Dunlin © Iordan Hristov
Dunlin photography by Iordan Hristov
Dunlin © Iordan Hristov
Dunlin Calidris alpina
Dunlin © Iordan Hristov
Redshanks Tringa totanus were the most abundant birds in the pond and ... the tamest. Some were coming less than 3 m away from me.

Redshank photography in Bulgaria by Iordan Hristov
Redshank © Iordan Hristov
Redshank Tringa totanus photography in Bulgaria by Iordan Hristov
Redshank © Iordan Hristov
The other species in the pool was Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus. Unfortunately most of the time it was quite far for a decent shot:
Spotted redshank © Iordan Hristov
Spotted redshank © Iordan Hristov
Greenshank Tringa nebularia comes next.

Greenshank Tringa nebularia photography in Bulgaria Iordan Hristov
Greenshank Tringa nebularia © Iordan Hristov

The shots are done during my September session on wader photography. You can see the other images here. Feel free to comment on the images. Happy to hear any constructive feedback.

четвъртък, 9 януари 2014 г.

Landscape photography in Italy

The new year eve is time when people travel around to meet with friends, relatives or just have good time. This new year holiday took me Italy where I spend about a week. There wasn't much time for photography but the few sites that we visited were quite spectacular. The main ones are the volcano Vesuvius and Ercolano village - a settlement covered by lava when the volcano erupted in 2nd century A.C.

I do have a few images but it will take some time to process them. Here are the first ones.


landscape photography by Iordan Hristov
copyright Iordan Hristov
landscape photography by Iordan Hristov
copyright Iordan Hristov
landscape photography by Iordan Hristov
copyright Iordan Hristov