Spring birdwatching
Spring birdwatching has started well now. Last evening got the first crane, lapwings, skylarks, mixed flock of geese and of course common residents. Also went to check 3 pygmy owl spots and got positive reply from all of them. Was a good evening! (sorry for the poor image quality, subjecte were far away and it was getting dark, my intention was not to get images but just do some birding). If you need a guide for birding, click HERE for our daytrips
Lynx photography
So I made myself a Christmas present and updated my trail cameras to 4G ones to get finally live information about observations. It took some time and finally last Sunday being semi-illish I managed to set them up at two spots in the forest. The first spot has been success for elks already for couple of years. So on Sunday there were lot of fresh moose footprints and droppings, so it was just matter of some climbing and testing. But the first visitor for that camera was lynx. Although I spend bit more time in the forest than avarage hobby photographer, I have not had any luck so far to get even miserable photo. I have had couple of lynx observations every year, but those have been short and unexpected. So it’s my lucky day then, even i didn’t press the shutter button i’m still happy to see that image.…
Winter in Estonia
This winter in Estonia has started slowly. I really hoped that Christmas would have been white, but no. On the 27th finally there was some snow outside of Tallinn. But it was a very thin cover. On the 28th Lahemaa National Park looked much better and there was even few degrees below zero. Viru bog looked awe and fresh snow and unfrozen bog pools are nice combo. Then had my usual stop at Nõmmeveski and around Palmse… On the way back to Tallinn went to check the Jägala waterfall but its clearly too early for the ice formations there. Today we are back to 7C and rain & wind. Same forecast for tomorrow. I ususally go for the last sunset of the year, if the conditions will be the same… hmm… I might skip that this year… and I wish there will be proper winter in Estonia at least for…
Mute swans
I agree, that mute swans are not on the top of anyones birding list or main subject to aim with camera. But they are still lovely majestetic birds that always get my attention. Close to my home, there is a place called swan bay. When we had cold winters then they gathered to that bay, but now lately there has been just few couples and most of the pairs are spead all over the coastline. Lets see, how winter is progressing, if the sea freezes, they might gather there again.
Slow winter
Winter has stated slowly. Well, okay, November is mostly foggy/cloudy/grey so nothing new there. Sunday evening it dropped for few hours down to -7C but bounced back to around-zero again and there is a heat wave somewhere around Irland and UK on it’s way to east so it will be warmer again. I just wish to have a white ground . First because I just like snow, second I need to film some stuff. Third, I would like to have white Christmas. To think about it, it was white Christmas last year!? (I’m getting old, i don’t remeber things). But Sunday I had a half day outdoors with my friend Peeter and the evening was just beautiful compared the usual grey s….t in the sky. Just few people who have had tour with me have had a chance to see that spot. It’s a public coastline but i keep it…
Fox on the roof
Last Friday went to photo assignement to the Museum of Coomunist crimes at Patarei prison in center of Tallinn and found a fox on the roof. It’s a 3 floor limestone building. Semi-abandoned, museum is just part of the building. Clearly it found a opening to enter the building and then found it’s way to the roof through roof windows. Foxes has become fairly common animals in Tallinn as we have lot of green areas and some forest areas around Tallinn have vanished and replased by private housing areas. But the fox was enjoying morning sun and was not disturbed by the gulls and crows that felt dangered by it’s presents. If you want to do some wildlife photography while visiting Tallinn, then we can meet for nature phtography day tour (foloow THIS link for details).
Tallinn, what to do in winter?
Planning a long weekend to Tallinn and wondering what to do here in winter? Many people take a long weekend on even week trip to Tallinn before Christmas. Why? Well, first, Tallinn has highly recommended Christmas market, according to its thought one of the best one in Europe, see the article HERE. I was going through the city center this Saturday, the tree is already there and some market booths are built already. I think the market will be ready after week, maybe 10 days. I will share you the images of the market when they get it ready. I really hope there will be some snow to add dot on top of “I” letter :). I think the second good reason to be here is that it’s not crowded in winter. you can enjoy walks in the old town or Kalamaja hipster area, visit museums, enjoy dinner in Estonian…
Autumn buglife
Autumn, until some minus degrees, the buglife is relativly active and one very good place to find them is on mushrooms. There are still plenty of them in the forest but taking the photo is sometimes very tricky. Cloudy weather and location under tall trees seems like hour after sunset in the middel of the day. So small LED videolights with batteries are very handy here and offer possibility quickly to change light setup. So i saw there was fly climbing on the mushroom. Hoping that it will climb on the top placed light to have strong contra light. waited for 10 min and there it was. Patience and some luck pays off! If you want to discover the nature of Estonia check here all the nature day tours, follow the link HERE for our day tours. All day trips start from Tallinn.
Bohemian waxwings
Bohemian waxwings, those lovely nomads are typical birds to see during winter and we always try to find them during our birdwatching day tours around Tallinn (see the details HERE). This year has been good for mountain ash, so the food base is relatively good for them. But of course eating about twice of the body weight daily or 800-1000 berries a day the berries vanish quickly :). Did you know that they are called “pestvogel” plaguebird in Dutch and “Russ”- a Russian in Italy?