Marco Nef

Lurking River Kingfisher

I never got closer to a kingfisher (Alcedo atthis). Starting at twilight, I was waiting under the camouflage net for its appearance. Suddenly a male sat only approximately two meters away on this branch. Again it was not impressed by the clicks of the shutter. That allowed me to take about thirty pictures before it left again.

Eisvogel

Nachdem ich per Zufall den Nestbau eines Eisvogelpaares im Rohrer Schachen bei Aarau entdeckt hatte, verbrachte ich zweimal mehrere Stunden in dessen Nähe. Alle paar Minuten sah ich jeweils einen Eisvogel, aber er mich leider auch und verschwand sofort wieder. Nach der Anschaffung eines Tarnnetzes und eines Tarnüberzugs für mein Teleobjektiv musste ich nur noch wenige Minuten warten und die beiden Eisvögel präsentierten sich in nächster Nähe und liessen sich auch durch den Einsatz des Blitzes nicht verscheuchen. Im Bild ist das Weibchen abgebildet, erkennbar am roten Streifen unten am Schnabel. Übrigens ist es ganz einfach zu merken, wenn ein Eisvogel im Anflug ist: Sein Pfeifen ist sehr leicht erkennbar.

Eisvogel mit Futter für seinen Nachwuchs

Mein kürzlich angeschafftes Tarnnetz ist ein Segen: Bereits wenige Minuten nach dem Einrichten in der Nähe des Eisvogelnests kam das Weibchen mit Futter angeflogen. Es bliebt trotz des Klickens des Verschlusses an Ort und Stelle auf einem Ast. Wahrscheinlich prüft es von dort jeweils, ob es die Nesthöhle gefahrlos anfliegen kann. Es schien ihm aber doch nicht ganz geheuer. Ich entschied mich deshalb nach dieser Aufnahme, den Ort zu verlassen, denn ich möchte nicht schuld an einem allfälligen Verhungern der Vogelbabies sein.

Good bye, little blue diamond

After I had observed two kingfishers at a new location in the forests nearby, I decided to take a morning off and spend that time on only that most beautiful of all birds. I was in that area for about three hours and had the luck that the bird came back four times and I could observe it. Again and again it returned to the very same branches in the stream and also next to it. It seemed to come there to relax from hunting. This allowed me to take a lot of beautiful pictures.

River Kingfisher

Almost two years after my latest viewing of a river kingfisher in the area of the Rohrer Schachen near Aarau I was riding my bike home when I discovered a kingfisher about to change its seating place along the Aare river. So I stopped and got off my bike, got under the camouflage. Shortly after I realized that there were three kingfishers who dived into the river almost non stop just in front of me. Just after each dive they retuned to some branch nearby. Once that branch was just above me. That is when I took this picture.

Red Kite

It is an interesting fact that the number of Red Kites is growing in Switzerland in contrast to most other countries. It is nothing unusual to see one of these raptors in the sky. Still it was quite special when I could see about ten of these animals flying in circles above me. The reason was a farmer who was cutting the grass and by that probably made available some food that they were diving for. I could even observe as one of the birds caught a big dragonfly in flight.

Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)

Once again the English name for a bird is much more descriptive than the German one. Nonetheless, this male blackcap was obviously on the search for a female partner as it was singing at full force.

Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)

On two days I visited my old home county, the canton of Thurgau in Eastern Switzerland. Besides foxes, deers and rabbits I found this Red-backed Shrike. This beautiful bird is quite famous because it spears its prey - mainly large insects - on spines. This strange behaviour serves in food storage for times with bad weather when the hunt for insects is not so fruitfully.

Moonlight Sonata

In this picture the scene seems very peaceful. But those who have ever witnessed the thousands of crows taking their stands for the night in Aarau and the noise they make, they will probably not think about Beethoven. The moonlight allowed the reduction to the silhouettes of the animals.

Morning song

Colorful autumnal light surrounds the song of this Great Tit.

Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

You can see the great cormorant almost anytime in the city of Aarau along the river Aare. In the nature reserve nearby I haven't seen them often, usually just flying by. That morning I sat next to the shore of the Aarschächli in the early morning and in the fog. Suddenly two cormorants swam along quite close. In the early morning light the don't appear black, but rather shiny.

See you later...

Together with its male companion this mallard invaded the carved out territory of a coot in a pond at the Rohrer Schachen near Aarau, Switzerland. After some minutes of loud twitter the coot started an attack and the mallards took their heels.

Insufficient Privacy

Along the steep coast line of the british islands there are various free standing rocks that are full of birds. This picture shows a rock of that kind, located at Farne Island, Northumberland. Just before the main breeding season I'm sure it got even denser the following weeks.

Guillemots

Guillemots are among the most common sea birds along the coast of Great Britain. On Farne Island they breed in huge numbers. A intersting visual mark of this birds is a color variation that can be seen at about every eighth bird in this area. It is a white ring around the eyes. So the two birds on this picture are the same species.

Arctic Tern

I could observe two Arctic Terns hunting around a little pond in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. They were flying their circles around the pond and from time to time they plunged into the water to catch little fishes. They ignored the signpost clarifying that it was a private area and fishing was forbidden.

Arctic Tern

There are not only puffins that can be found on Farne Island in Northumberland but many other kinds of sea birds. One of the most prevalent are the arctic terns (Sterna paradisaea). They are quite easy to take pictures of just before landing. Then they use to fly quite still in the adverse winds.

Puffin, Farne Island

On a photography workshop with Alan Hewitt on Farne Island I had the focus on this puffin for quite a long time. I waited for it to start another flight. Unfortunately it was very happy there and had no intention to leave. Anyway, I think I got paid well with this picture.

Puffin, Farne Island

During our second holidays in Northumberland I joined Alan Hewittfor a very intensive, but also very successful photography workshop on Farne Island. I was hoping for beautiful pictu­res of puffins, this is one of the resulting images.

White-throated dipper

Fast, small and difficult to find they are, the white-throated dippers (cinclus cinclus). Standing along a stream and looking for them chances are quite good to see them. They are the only kind of singing birds that not only know swimming but also diving. This picture was taken at the Rohrer Schachen near Aarau, Switzerland.

Schwan

Kontrastreiche Aufnahme eines weissen Schwans an der Aare

Early morning Mallard

As it can be seen quite often along small lakes Etang de la Gruyère in the Swiss canton Jura had ground fog just above the water line. This mallard did not care, and I was happy about the opportunity. By the way, this picture is not black & white.

Entenflug auf Öl

Am Aarschächli konnte ich diese drei Enten im Flug photographieren. Erstaunlich ist für mich der Unterschied des Verhaltens der Enten hier im Vergleich zu jenen nur wenige Kilometer entfernt in Aarau. Dort kann man sie fast streicheln, im Naturschutzgebiet haben sie ihre ursprüngliche Angst vor Menschen behalten

Pool frog (Pelophylax lessonae)

Quietly it was sitting on the branch swimming in the water. As always when approaching pool frogs I had to be very careful because the slightest movement on my part would force it to jump into the protecting water of the pool. That would mean that one has to wait for a long time for its reappearance - hopefully at the very same location. I could take this picture of the pool frog from a very low position through the reed.

Pool frog (Pelophylax lessonae)

I took pictures of pool frogs in the Rohrer Schachen quite often. Usually they immediatly take flight when you approach and it takes longer telephoto lenses than there are in my possession. Or they hide in the reed. There they are very difficult to see. When I took this picture the light was a big help, the result was a study in green.

Aggressive crab

One evening on my holidays at the North Sea I was sitting on the floor at the mudflat when the sea was receding. I was hoping for some good pictures of sea birds when something rather unexpected happened: Some crabs suddenly started comming out of the water and were looking for a hide behind stones. This crab was pretty sure that I was a stone. It was difficult convincing it that I wasn't a stone and that I didn't want to be one until I started pushing it softly with my feet.

Beaver

It had been quite a long time since I went to the nature reserve Auenschutzpark Aarau-Wildegg to take pictures of beavers. Since recently the work of these animals has become ubiquitous in the area I was once again motivated to lie in ambush in the early morning hours. Successfully as it should turn out. But not at all surprising as I know very well where to find beavers. Occasionally some nutria and mallard ducks passed by as well, so it was diversified.

Marmot

Usually you only see or hear marmots from far away. This time I could approach this male and its female as close as about five meters and observe the two for a longer time. Sometimes the male wanted to tag its patch with its loud whistles. That can be seen on this picture because of the wide open mouth.

Deer

While spending summer holidays in Northern Germany, in the countryside not far from the Baltic Sea, one evening I decided to go to a forest where I thought there could be some animals. And yes, shortly after I had installed myself under the camouflage four deer approached and enjoyed eating on the lush pasture. Later they were joined by some hares. When I had decided to return home something thrilling started: An off-road car was approaching me across the pasture at high speed. As it turned out it was the local hunter to whom the ground belonged where I was just standing. We had a nice chat. As I had to learn the hunt season had already started. Means that it is somehow dangerous strolling around forest in Northern Germany.

Rehbock im Wasser

Während ich frühmorgens am Steiner-Kanal im Rohrer Schachen hockte und auf einen Biber wartete, erschien plötzlich am anderen Ufer ein Rehbock. Ohne zu zögern schritt er die Böschung hinunter und begann, den Bach in meine Richtung zu queren. Das nutzte ich durch das Gebüsch hindurch für dieses Photo. Er entschied sich dann zwar, wieder zurückzugehen, aber Angst hatte er offensichtlich nicht.

Bei späteren Besuchen in diesem Naturschutzgebiet habe ich während Gesprächen mit anderen Leuten erfahren, dass schon mehrfach beobachtet wurde, wie Rehe das Aarschächli, einen kleinen See, durchschwommen haben. Zu gerne würde ich das selber einmal beobachten.

Eichhörnchen