Alphabetical list

If I managed to avoid mistakes in identification, seven species of francolines were photographed in Tanzania (handsome francolin, red-necked spurfowl, crested francolin, coqui francolin, Hildebrandt's francolin, grey-breasted spurfowl and yellow-necked spurfowl - a passage common to all these galleries). We joked that a day without a francolin was a lost day. They were appearing every so often and were quite skittish. Sometimes patience paid off as the birds came out of the thicket and better photos were taken.

The images that open this gallery have never been the result of cormorants photographic "ambush" or of waiting for long time in the lookouts. Portrait photos of the cormorant were taken during cycling tour along Hel Peninsula. The bird sat with a solid heavy crop, lazy so much that allowed me to come a few meters up and take the pictures. In addition, I have managed to take a few shots that are a record in fact. Great cormorant weights up to 3.5 kilograms, with a wingspan of about 1.5 meters.
Last minute news 09/2013

I had an occasion to watch a Corn Bunting on an open terrains and meadows. It sits on a branch of a bush or dried pigweed from which it observes the area. It is definitely larger than a Sparrow. Its body mass is around 50 grams with a wingspan of around 0.3 meter. I did not manage to spot it many times so the enlargement of the gallery will not be an easy matter.

The fact that I managed to photograph the corncrake is, yet again, a pure coincidence. In fact I was looking for colonies of the Eurasian penduline tit. Walking along a ditch, where penduline tits were supposed to occur, suddenly, somewhere in the high grass, I heard a strange krek-krek sound. At the beginning both I and my father-in-law wondered what this sound could be, as such a noise, even for our experience of communing with nature, seemed rare and uncommon. I sat down a dozen-plus meters from the high grass, unfolded the camouflage mesh, and waited.

In case of Cory’s shearwater I failed. My encounter with this bird was documented by only few photos. That is a pity, as in my opinion this is the most beautiful of those shearwaters photographed during my cruises, and the greatest. Its wingspan can reach up to 130 cm and it weighs less than one kilogram.
Last minute news – 05/2021 Madeira