Rtas' wildlife pics

Hi friends !

Since we are stuck at home and need entertainment not to get bored, I am launching two new series in which I will show you my pics : one for zoos and one for animals in their natural habitats. I will try to release one picture every day and tell you the story behind it.

I have been birdwatching since my childhood, I probably started at the age of 8. My parents used to bring me on holidays in southern Brittany, in an area known as "Guérande Peninsula" where there is quite a lot of marshes. I first got interested in birds seeing herons and egrets while we were driving through the salt marshes. Soon, I began birdwatching with my grandmother. There was a lake, not far from her village where we used to go every morning when I was staying in her house. I did many great observations there, but unfortunately, the lake eventually turned into a leisure park for water sports and the birds disappeared. When I was 10 or so, I joined a birding youth club and I decided to see every single bird there was in my identitication book !

10 years later I had seen almost every species in Brittany and I started to get bored with birdwatching. So, I decided to start wildlife photography in order to give a new impulse to my passion. I started in England while I was an Erasmus student. In the UK, wildlife is much less timid than in France and much easier to photograph. I won my spurs there and when I was back in France, I was ready to move to the next level ! I got a better camera and went back to Guérande Peninsula where I took the majority of the pictures I will be showing on this topic.

Such as this black-winged stilt I choose to begin with :


I have decided to start with this species because it is probably the one I prefer to photograph.

Black-winged stilts are among those birds that are nesting more and more in the north. However, they were already in southern Brittany in my childhood when I went on holidays with my parents. As a consequence, it is a species I have known for quite a long time, a species I am deeply attached to, albeit not as much as the pied avocet. It is, nevertheless, even more photogenic than the avocet in my opinion, and that's why I love to picture it so much.

This one was photographed in Guérande's salt marshes at sunset. It took me more or less one hour to approach it carefully and get it used to my presence. As you can see, it is eating like if I was not there. This head to head while the sun was setting down and the light was perfect was really a magical moment

Lovely picture, the mirror effect in the water is so cool!

I've seen these birds several times, flying in flocks. Really impressive.

Thanks spacelab !

One of the first birds I ever saw abroad, it was zipping along the water in front of a flock of flamingos.

Great photo Rtas!

Can not wait to see more :)

Thanks Adam and Andreas !

Adam, I know stilts are still a very rare bird in the UK. Do you have any breeding pair there ?

Where I live, no we are roughly an hour - two hours away from any costal areas, but do get occasional lapwings nesting in the fields. If I ever see a stilt in the UK you'll be the first to know. :)

That's a top quality picture! That is a very graceful species, looks perfectly natural and I also love the mirror effect as well as the colors. Thanks for showing.

Thanks Roger ! I think you can see them in Portugal

Species : Common kingfisher

Spot : City of Rennes, Brittany, France
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A nice little bird every European member on this forum will recognise. That is surely a species I had quite a hard time to photograph. This particular individual is the only kingfisher living in the largest park of Rennes, the city were I live. I have known him (he is a male, since his beak is fully black) for quite a long time now, 7 years I think. Like every kingfisher, he is quite timid and flies away when you try to approach him. As a consequence, I had to study his habits for two years in order to be able to shoot him. I knew this lotus fruit was one of his favourite perch, so I waited in front of it, well hidden in the vegetation. One day, he finally came and gave me the opportunity to take this picture.

I have never seen a kingfisher, but I would certainly want to.

Really ?! They are quite common in the UK but indeed, they are quite timid and you have to find them !

I'll probably have a look down my canals to see if any are hiding

beautieful kingfisher

I live near the coast and there are a few areas of woodland/scrub not far from where I live and I have seen kingfishers on the water in these areas.

Such wonderful, beautyful, perfect, unique photos

RtasVadumee wrote:

.......I did many great observations there, but unfortunately, the lake eventually turned into a leisure park for water sports and the birds disappeared. .......

Ohhh NO

RtasVadumee wrote:

Thanks Roger ! I think you can see them in Portugal

Yes, they are very common in my country and they can be watched 3 or 4 km from where I live. I also lived my entire youth in the borders of a Natural park in the South of the country where these birds, called pernilongos here, were easy to spot.
Great picture of that kingfisher, they are very beautiful birds. :)

Sadly after my walk down by the canals (I'll be posting photos) I didn't see a kingfisher but did get some good photos of a robin it was 20cm away from me and I almost snapped a sparrowhawk but it flew up to its nest which it was building.

Thanks for your comments guys !

Adam, robins are not timid AT ALL, and the British ones are even less. Tomorrow, I will post a picture showing how fearless British robins can be

I did not know which picture I would show today until Adam gave me an idea


Species : European robin

Spot : Whiteknights lake, Reading, Berkshire, UK
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Birdwatching may not always be a very difficult and demanding hobby, as shown by this brave, facetious and friendly robin. Sometimes, you just have to wait and the birds will come to you without having to look for them. However, I have to confess I cheated a little with this one. This robin was actually a very good friend of mine and his name was Sam. He was a tame bird used to be hand fed. He had been tamed by an old guy who organised nature walks for students of the University of Reading like me. I attended all his walks and we became very good friends. He was the one who initiated me into wildlife photography and I will always be grateful to him for that. He always had a tame robin to entertain the students. When one died, he just tamed another and so on. Sam was the second one I met. Today, Sam is probably not alive anymore and a new robin may have succeeded him.

Bonus pic : Sam being fed by a student of the university
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Lovely photo Benjamin. Our robins are certainly tame, but the one I photographed yesterday is a new individual, he seemed very content with my presence and carried on singing his heart out to all the other rival males.

I have a special connection with robins, my late grandparents are remembered as two. My auntie tells me when she visits the chapel and sees my grandparents headstones she always leaves a few seeds and a drink. Every time a robin (no other bird has approached) comes down from a hawthorn tree and eats the seeds and drinks what ever palatable liquid is there. He's even taken a drink from a cup of sherry that was left.

That's a nice story ! I am not surprised no other bird approaches, robins are less timid than any other passerine and are very used to human presence. I assume a drunk robin would be even more friendly.

Certainly would

Robin Sam seems a very smart guy and he knows some teeth are not really dangerous. Thanks for sharing some more of your great pictures.