TomKal foto

It is the most frequently occurring heron in Poland. Unfortunately it is very skittish and hard to photograph. It probably feeds in fixed places, to which it gets used to, and any change causes several hours’ observation of the changes which have happened in its environment. Having camouflaged myself, I think, well, I photographed the black stork for several hours. In the background there stood two herons, which kept a few-meter distance from a pond. They wouldn’t come closer and wouldn’t let me photograph them. Another time, similar story. A heron landed, looked for a moment, I took just one picture, and it flew away. I believe that if I want to take good photos of this species, I will have to put up a hide in autumn in their usual feeding site, which they will accept within the following few months, and after this time I will be able to photograph them more freely. The heron is quite a large bird, as its weight can exceed 2 kilograms, with a wingspan of more than 1.5 meters. Like the stork, it feeds on everything that could be caught and eaten. From fish to mice, snakes and insects. An interesting experience is watching a heron hunting fish. The bird literally freezes, being very focused on the swimming up fish, and then it attacks like greased lightning. When I was fishing on a breeding pond, I had the pleasure to observe such an attack. For 3 hours I had been trying in vain to catch a fish myself, when I noticed, on the other side of the pond (30 m), a heron sit down. It stood still for a moment, and after a while it took quite a big fish out of the water. In times of mild winters, herons don’t depart and they can be found, freezing cold, on fields or near unfrozen water reservoirs.
Last minute news 07/2013
After a year I decided to explore a side of a wet meadow, where a year ago I managed to photograph a black stork several times. Even then flying in there grey heron were standing still faraway and warily looked at me who was camouflaging myself or at black stork which was feeding. Even though camouflage net was set out earlier and I have settled in the lookout at night, one grey heron which flew in, within an hour from down came near a few meters in a bad light, caught two fish and after that flew out. I do not know if it did not accepted my shed or just ate it’s fill. Never mind, the most important is that I have managed to take some photos which are complementary to grey heron’s gallery.
Last minute news -10/2013
As it was said earlier common heron is one of the most skittish and distrustful birds. Even when you camouflage well it can be not enough to take photos that are satisfactory. The smallest, a bit too quick movement of the lens and the session is over. A few added photos I managed to take on the open reservoir in the Malta ZOO in Poznań. There are really many herons but it is impossible to come up closer to take better pictures. They take off the ground when are observed for a moment from a distance of tens meters. Even in winter when it is below zero they did not let me reduce the distance. However several successful shots I have added to the gallery.
The latest news – 05/2014
A little patience, a little luck, hiding and the old gallery goes almost entirely to the archive. All this happens thanks to a few shots of herons from a short distance. They were to be tufted ducks, pochards, but it was possible to take the best photos pf the gray heron from a short distance. It is a pity that the weather was bad and the light bad. These same images in the color of the "warm" rising sun would be much better. The changes are significant enough that the heron goes to the new gallery. Welcome ...
The latest news – Turkey2 09/2014.
I have added a few pictures of grey heron in flight. It preyed with eurasian spoonbills, little egrets, squacco herons and ruddy shelducks. This time I took photos from the place located much higher than the birds’ flight path, so the images of birds in flight show them almost at the same level as the photographer creating an interesting perspective.
Last minute news – 04/2015
Well, I was supposed to photograph waders, but I managed to take some interesting pictures of a grey heron. A hide which was built last autumn waited all winter for its first use. Unfortunately due to a low water level waders wouldn’t show up. I was also counting on the spotted crake, which I had photographed in the company of wood sandpipers in this area, unfortunately from a large distance. By way of consolation, a few photos of the grey heron get into the gallery.
Last minute news - 07/2015
When I was on my way home after an unsuccessful attempt to photograph the common quail, after heavy rain, I managed to take some photos of the great egret and the grey heron in amazing light at sunset. Such pictures had to go to the gallery of these birds on my website. And I think it was meant to happen, because a tree taken down by the downpour made me take a detour. Without this obstacle I would not have taken such interesting pictures of the birds.
Last minute news-06/2016 Mongolia
Grey herons added some variety to many hours of waiting for Pallas’s fish eagles or white-winged scoters. Once, a flock of herons was hunting with several dozen of cormorants. Apparently we chose a good place as on a little shoal of the lake there was so much going on. Unfortunately spoonbills, which also visited us, appeared only for a while and I did not manage to take any photos of them. Herons, on the other hand, were sometimes so close that they did not fit in the frame. I had a reason to rebuild the gallery of the grey heron on my website.
Last minute news-10/2018 Sri Lanka
Last minute news-09/2019
The Gray Heron's gallery has belonged to my favorite galleries for a long time. But, there is no gallery that could not be improved or supplemented with more interesting photos so I took advantage of Tadeusz's invitation, who showed me a place where I could find Gray Herons, Great Egrets, Kingfishers and, being lucky, Black Storks. Tadeusz, thank you for the invitation and best regards. This time I decided to record a video of the Gray Heron hunting. This is my first attempt to complete a gallery with a film. The film is posted on YouTube and I provide the address, which is also a link to my film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmN9utBw7yM&feature=youtu.be. Gray Heron’s hunting looks like staying still for a few to several minutes and waiting for the fish. They are very watchful despite their focus on hunting and any movement on my part ended the photo session, and actually the film. I have also added some photos to the gallery.
Last minute news 09/2021
Again, coincidence caused radical changes in the gray heron gallery. This time we waited for the Bittern to appear. The gray heron was very cautious as usual, approached closer and made raids over the hide. It was enough to take dynamic, interesting photo shots of this beautiful bird. The gallery has been radically rebuilt. Halina (link), thank you for the invitation. There was no time that there wouldn’t be something interesting to observe in your hideouts yet. There was supposed to be bittern, but there were herons, a sandpiper, a greenshank and a few other birds. Amazing day, thank you!
Last minute news 05/2022-Hungary
Last minute news-10/2022
Our previous attempts to photograph Eurasian Curlews were always related to dawn, in the morning. And, since the scenario of the birds' behavior always repeated itself and it was difficult to get photos in good light, something has to change in our operation. I decided to sit in the shelter from noon to dusk. I wonder if Curlews frequent the reservoir during the day and feed on it. To find out you have to watch from the shelter and check. As I planned so I did. Already on the very approach to the shelter a pleasant surprise. Several charadiiformers  dabblers took flight at the sight of me. As it turned out a very short one, because they made a small circle and sat between me and the shelter few dozen meters away. The first pictures were taken just like over our sea during the autumn bird migration. This lasted a minute or two, because it is necessary to enter the shelter, because it is for the Curlews that I came here. For a few hours of waiting in the shelter, almost only the diarrheas appeared in front of the lens: the variable, the curlew and the sandpiper. During those few hours of waiting, I had a whole range of light and weather variability. From steel-contrast sunshine to a rainy downpour to, at the end of the day, a beautiful soft yellow light. In this light, the Gray heron, one of my favorite species, joined the ranks of photographed birds. Interesting photos of all these mentioned species are produced, so this text is common to all the mentioned species. Well, at a rather unusual time, a lot of interesting photos were created, introducing enough changes in the galleries to hit all the photographed species to the news on my website. For the first time in my life I photographed charadriiformes from shelter. They were almost all the time with me. Around 6:30 pm, the light was low enough that I decided to stop photographing at this point. After packing up for a while, I leave the chat room walking in the shallows towards to the car. Suddenly I hear a familiar voice, which for several days has always announced the arrival of Curlews. Birds always landed with making their characteristic sound. I turned around and they are!  All seven of the Curlews, by now birds that had been observed for probably over a month. They landed on an island far away from me. A commemorative documentary photo emerged, which I added, for the time being, to the end of the  Curlew gallery. The birds stay there exclusively from dusk to dawn.
Last minute news-11/12-2022 – Botswana
Last minute news- 04/2023