The Pelican Hair

The most awesome male of the pack, he stands apart and doesn't pay attention to other male and female pelicans disputing a tiny fish. he seems indeed to pay attention to not wet his hair and shows his profile proudly. This time it seems pretty opportune to publish the a colour work.

Pelicans

Pelicans share a habit with cats. Both they wander around fishermen waiting to grab some wasted fish while the men clean and repair their nets. This photograph's hi-lights are overexposed, hope to make a better one one of these days.

Introducing Izmir - Bird Paradise (ızmir marshes)

I recently post 3 pics about Izmir marshes (https://plus.google.com/u/0/107861794963671398272/posts/6gSJBNSUchG or http://etiennecalamescapes.blogspot.com/2011/10/izmir-marshes-have-beendomesticated.html), a personal work in B&W. Here is an introduction to the other face of the marshes. On one side the inhospitable salt fields and on the other side thousands of birds feeding and breeding just 500mm away.

For my gear and my experience I do not make wildlife or ornithology. My longest focal length is a 200mm boosted since. I use a APS sized body. Still the fullframe equivalent 300mm is a bit short for this sport. Anyway I tried to bring you a preview of what you may meet if you ever visit the marshes, that we call here “the bird paradise”. Over 200 species and thousands of birds stop by or permanently live here. Cormorants are common in Izmir, we often see them not so far off the coastline drying their wings at the sun. Easy game even for a non-specialist. Pelican often come in small group close to the shore where the water is not deep and fish is abundant, I saw some of them coming ashore for a walk among the table of the teashop. But in the Bird Paradise cormorants are thousands, pelicans hundreds, and we got Flamingos in flock. One can see a few herons but they are shy and fly as soon as a camera is in range. Flamingos make the point. The majestic bird stays away from the road, if too close he flies away as soon as you get in view. This is where a 200mm APS-C is a sort of short. I manage to catch only one of them, not perfect shots but enough to show you the chance we have to host these birds just 30 an hour away from the city.

Pelican

These shots are a few weeks old. Izmir's narrow gulf and the Aegean region at large lay on one of the important migration ways Between Middle East, Africa and Europe. The mild climate, abundant feed and quiet waters attire many species profiting of the land hospitality. Pelican, Stork or Flamingo are only some of them. This proud male cruised only a stone’s throw far off the shore and after giving the pose for me chased and terrorised other males and females around.