Canon 5D mIII, 22mm, 1/100 @ f/16, iso 200
Start of Spring – Abruzzo; Part 1
Canon 5D mIII, 22mm, 1/100 @ f/16, iso 200
Author: Tim Hofmeester
Canon 5D mIII, 22mm, 1/100 @ f/16, iso 200
Social interactions
Doing research with camera traps is a lot of fun, because you capture things that you would not have expected beforehand. Last month my fieldwork started with the placement of cameras in different forested areas in the Netherlands to look at the interaction between species diversity and tick densities and the infection of ticks with Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., the causative agent of Lyme disease. I do not use any bait or lure to draw the animals towards my camera, as I want to use the number of photos I take from each species as a measurement of their density. Therefore, the animals that walk in front of my camera display ‘regular’ behaviour and most of them just walk by.
However, some of the animals show special behaviour, like the roe buck in this picture. It is marking its territory with the scent glands on its head at 7:34 pm, and walks on. About 45 minutes later, a red fox walks past, it stops, and it sniffs the tree, which was just marked by the roe buck. Apparently, these scent cues are not only to let other members of your species know that you are there and that this is your territory, but it also works to let the neighbours know you are there. Even if the neighbours are from a different species.
Photo of the Month April 2013
Back to basics
Last month was a very busy month for me, with the start of the first field work season for my PhD, and the conference in Weimar, which resulted in only one trip to the outdoors with my camera. In the last weekend of March, I went to the Hatertse vennen with some fellow members of Natuurfoto Rivierenland, a nature photography group based in Randwijk. Unfortunately, the weather forecast wasn’t to good (but it wasn’t bad either), so we were anxious to see what the weather gods would bring. It was rather cold for the time of year, which resulted in frozen water and no mist. Not the ideal circumstances I needed for the picture I had in mind. Optimistic I went searching for other possibilities to photograph and ended up photographing these geese. Canada geese are not native to Europe, and therefore I have always refused to photograph them. In this situation, however, I was ‘forced’ to work with them, and they appeared to be willing models for my picture.
Lately, I find myself going ‘back to basics’, focussing once again on the animals in their environment, and trying to tell a story, in stead of focussing on creative photography, which is depicted in this picture. The Canada geese swimming in the bogs they inhabit. The ultimate picture for me would of course be a creative picture, telling a story of an animal in it’s environment, but that one still has to be taken. So my good intention for next month will be going out with my camera more often, which won’t be too much of a problem, as I will be going on a holiday to Abruzzo NP in Italy in about a week!
Canon 5D mIII, Canon 70-200, 1/6 @ f/8, iso 100, tripod, cable release
Poster
I have put the poster I presented during the XII International Jena Symposium on Tick-borne Diseases online. So if you are interested in reading it, please click on the following link: Jena Poster
Weimar
Last week I went to the International Jena Symposium on Tick-borne Diseases in Weimar, where I presented a poster about my PhD project. I had expected that it would be mostly European researchers that would visit the conference, but there appeared to be researchers from all over the world! It was a very inspiring conference where I met a lot of new people, some of whom I hope to meet again in the future.
Photo of the Month March 2013
Due to a performance with my band, and preparations for my field work, I did not go out to take pictures a lot during the last month. Fortunately, I did go on a photography trip with my father to Flevoland, of which I already showed some pictures. This picture is my favourite from the trip. It depicts a group of greater white-fronted geese flying over the Markermeer in the early morning light. They are flying from the area in which they have slept, to the area where they are going to forage.
The combination of the soft light and the pattern made by the geese, makes this picture stand out from the rest. I hope you enjoy it!
Canon 5DmIII, 200mm, 1/320 @ f/8, iso 400
Busy times, and no internet at home
Due to a breakdown, we don’t have any internet at home.. At least until Monday. Furthermore, it has been very busy at the office, as next week the first field season for my PhD research will officially start with a week full of field work. A lot of fun, but also hard work. So I am afraid that it will be quiet on this site during the coming weekend. Hopefully I will be able to post a new picture of the week somewhere next week (when the internet is fixed).
Cheers!
Early morning geese
Canon 5DmIII, 135mm, 1/400 @ f/8, iso 400
Another picture from last weekend. This one is from Sunday morning. After photographing the sunrise, we (my father and I) went to the Oostvaardersdijk in search for some waterfowl to photograph. We saw a reasonable group of tufted ducks, but in the end I decided to focus mainly on the overflying geese, which contrasted nicely against the soft early morning sky caused by the sun shining through the clouds.
Sleeping ducks
Canon 5DmIII, 200mm, 0.6s @ f/16, iso 50, tripod, cable release
Last weekend I went out towards Flevoland on both days to photograph whatever I would encounter. The first day was very cloudy and rainy, which resulted in some pictures of tufted ducks in a seemingly endless area of water. As can be seen above, the water seamlessly dissolved into the air (or vice versa).
On Sunday, I went out together with my father, and the day started much better with a very nice sunrise and a beautiful sky until around 9am. We used the light and sky to photograph mainly waterfowl (tufted ducks, great-crested grebes, and several species of geese) which spend the winter in and around Flevoland in huge numbers. I was especially overwhelmed by the sheer amount of geese flying past us. We drove a little bit further, but the sky had turned grey and we didn’t have much good opportunities for photography. Around 1pm the sun was coming through the clouds again, giving us wonderful opportunities to photograph the sleeping tufted ducks, which we encountered along the dike.
All in all, two great days (photography wise), so I hope to share some of the pictures in the coming week(s).
Dutch nature, is it a zoo?
Interesting documentary (Zembla) about wildlife management in the Netherlands, with different views on the reintroduction of beaver, otter, black grouse, European bison, and European hamster in the Netherlands. Unfortunately for English speaking people, the documentary is in Dutch.