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Birding trip to Germany |
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Hezu 
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Joined: 13 October 2007 Country: Finland Location: HKI/KSNK Status: Offline Posts: 3795 |
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 Topic: Birding trip to GermanyPosted: 11 December 2022 at 11:32 |
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In Tuesday morning it was time to leave Hooge, although it might been nice to stay there for slightly longer.
73. Dawn  Sony RX10 IV @ 8.8 mm (35 mm eqv. 24 mm), f/4, 1/60 s, ISO 500 74. Our ride to the mainland arrives  Sony RX10 IV @ 14.2 mm (35 mm eqv. 39 mm), f/4, 1/60 s, ISO 125 75. Our destination: Schlüttsiel  Sony RX10 IV @ 9.6 mm (35 mm eqv. 26 mm), f/4, 1/1600 s, ISO 250 76. Tractor pulled carts are used to transport luggage (and mail) to/from Halligen on this ferry route  Sony RX10 IV @ 16.3 mm (35 mm eqv. 44 mm), f/4, 1/1600 s, ISO 800 Once we got our luggage from the harbour into the cars in the parking lot (which are separated by a dike), it was time to start the birding on the German mainland. And given that Schlüttsiel is in the middle of a causeway, we would not need to go far to see some waterfowl as there is water on both sides. We didn't get further than the first roadside parking place, when we met a German birder that informed us that there has been sightings of a rarity in the area and it didn't take too long to search for the New World species in question... 77. Two long-billed dowitchers (Limnodromus scolopaceus) and other birds  Sony RX10 IV @ 220 mm (35 mm eqv. 600 mm), f/4, 1/1600 s, ISO 200 78. One of the bird hides in the area  Sony RX10 IV @ 8.8 mm (35 mm eqv. 24 mm), f/4, 1/2000 s, ISO 200 From that hide, we saw two raptors: 79. Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) and white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS + 1.4× TC @ 840 mm, f/9, 1/1600 s, ISO 800 Interestingly, when we first reviewed the list of potential birds we might see in Germany, it was said that white-tailed eagles are not that common (especially when compared to coastal areas of Southern Finland, where it is pretty common these days). However, we ended up seeing these eagles fairly often, at least five birds or so. 80. Pink-footed goose (Anser brachyrhynchus) among greylag geese (Anser anser)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS + 1.4× TC @ 840 mm, f/9, 1/1600 s, ISO 800 81. Northern pintails (Anas acuta)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS + 1.4× TC @ 840 mm, f/9, 1/1600 s, ISO 400 For a lunch, we went to Hamburger Hallig, which is no longer a true island as salt marshes and a causeway road connect it to the main land. Thus, if you are willing to pay the small fee and sheeps grazing on the salt marshes do not block the narrow road, you can drive there. 82. Hamburger Hallig, Hallig Krog on the right  Sony RX10 IV @ 8.8 mm (35 mm eqv. 24 mm), f/4, 1/2000 s, ISO 125 83. I managed to take a picture of all the birds commonly found in Nationalpark Wattenmeer  Sony RX10 IV @ 8.8 mm (35 mm eqv. 24 mm), f/4, 1/3200 s, ISO 125 After the lunch, we headed to our next accomodation at Nordsee-Hotel Arlau-Schleuse, checked in and after settling in our rooms, we did little walk around the surroundings as they offered quite nice environment for birding. 84. Little further away there was a bird hide  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 32 mm, f/11, 1/200 s, ISO 160 85. The red vegetation was typical for the coastal salt marshes  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/13, 1/200 s, ISO 125 86. Shallow coastal waters  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 34 mm, f/13, 1/200 s, ISO 125 87. Not that many birds around, but at least few  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS + 1.4× TC @ 840 mm, f/9, 1/1600 s, ISO 800 88. European herring gull (Larus argentatus)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS + 1.4× TC @ 840 mm, f/9, 1/1600 s, ISO 2000 Moving back towards inland, one field proved to be a decent place to observe birds... 89. Common buzzard (Buteo buteo)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS + 1.4× TC @ 840 mm, f/9, 1/1600 s, ISO 4000 90. Common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS + 1.4× TC @ 840 mm, f/9, 1/1600 s, ISO 2000 And as we got closer to the sunset time then came... 91. Common starlings  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS + 1.4× TC @ 815 mm, f/9, 1/1600 s, ISO 12800 92. Lots of starlings  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS + 1.4× TC @ 815 mm, f/9, 1/1600 s, ISO 12800 93. Large number of starlings  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS + 1.4× TC @ 823 mm, f/9, 1/1600 s, ISO 4000 94. Large flocks of starlings continued to fly past us as we started to head back to the hotel  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS + 1.4× TC @ 280 mm, f/9, 1/1600 s, ISO 2500 During the day, we also got some bad news: our ferry from Büsum to Heligoland was cancelled as the weather forecast expected high winds for Thursday. We did attempt reserving alternative ferry connection from Cuxhaven, but the next day also that ferry line informed that the service is cancelled due to the weather conditions. That meant no Heligoland visit for this trip and we would spend the remaining days on the mainland, although some other wild ideas like train to island Sylt did pop up. And obviously is not yet the end, little more to come... Stay tuned! |
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Hezu
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Joined: 13 October 2007 Country: Finland Location: HKI/KSNK Status: Offline Posts: 3795 |
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Posted: 26 November 2022 at 18:58 |
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We started the Monday morning by taking a walk around Hanswarft to look for birds, especially small ones that might be hiding in the bushes.
41. Nationalpark-Seminarhaus Hooge  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/6.3, 1/200 s, ISO 6400 42. Sunrise  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 105 mm, f/10, 1/125 s, ISO 100 And eventually we found some birds... 43. Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1000 s, ISO 12800 44. European robin (Erithacus rubecula)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1250 s, ISO 12800 45. Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 3200 46. Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1000 s, ISO 500 There was also couple ponds within the village: 47. Common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1000 s, ISO 12800 48. Hooge landscape  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 105 mm, f/11, 1/160 s, ISO 125 Later in the morning, closer to noon, started the most memorable part of whole trip: a hike to Japsand, a sandbank island in middle of Wadden Sea. This obviously needed a low tide as we were going to wade in the sea. 49. Wadden Sea  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/13, 1/160 s, ISO 100 50. Hallig Hooge  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/13, 1/160 s, ISO 100 On our way to Japsand we did see some birds: 51. Wigeons  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 400 52. Dunlins (and wigeons in the background)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 400 53. Mudflat hikers  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/13, 1/160 s, ISO 100 54. Almost there  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/13, 1/160 s, ISO 100 55. Japsand  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/13, 1/200 s, ISO 100 56. View towards the direction where we came  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/11, 1/200 s, ISO 125 57. Japsand beach  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/13, 1/320 s, ISO 125 We did make few wildlife observations on Japsand: 58. Dead seal  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 49 mm, f/13, 1/200 s, ISO 250 59. Living seal heading towards sea  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 500 The background of the previous photo proves that there was few birds on the shoreline, but the bigger masses were clearly at sea between Hooge and Japsand. Perhaps in summer there might been more birds on Japsand as I understood that there would be a tern colony. Although, I think that then it would be also prohibited to go there to protect these birds. But in early October, all terns had already migrated away. So, after spending about hour on Japsand, it was time to start the journey back to Hooge. 60. Mudflats  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 29 mm, f/13, 1/320 s, ISO 320 As I said the bird masses were at sea... 61. Wigeons flying over Wadden Sea  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 105 mm, f/13, 1/320 s, ISO 250 62. Eurasian wigeons (Mareca penelope)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 200 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 100 On the left side behind the birds, you can see Hallig Norderoog, a tiny island with just pair of buildings that in summertime house the bird counter whose task is to keep count on the birds that nest thereabouts. And yes, the easiest way to go there is by hiking thru the mudflats. 63. Brent geese (Branta bernicla)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 640 64. Dunlins in flight  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 200 65. Dunlins  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 400 So, after quite exhausting hike I finally made back to firm land. In retrospect I think this passion ornithological tour might been slightly less demanding if I had had different (= lighter) equipment: rubber boots were not the best choice of footwear (some sort of neoprere socks/boots might been better) and perhaps I also had slightly too much clothing on, especially as while hiking I had rather heavy camera backpack in my back. And obviously while hiking on mudflats, you can't take the backpack off as there is no dry surface to place it. On way back to our accomodation I found few photogenic subjects: 66. Chickens  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 3200 67. White sheep  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 404 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 1250 68. Black sheep  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 379 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 4000 69. Sheep  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 362 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 1600 70. At least from this view point it looks like the ships at sea on the other side of Hooge did collide...  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 426 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 200 71. Clouds over Hooge  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/11, 1/320 s, ISO 160 After spending the rest of the afternoon recovering from all the hiking, we had a dinner at T-Stube near our accomodation and after finishing the evening meal it was already dark. As there is little light pollution on Hooge, you could easily see stars in the sky. Thus I decided to take my chance on astrophotography... 72. Nightsky  α7R IV + Sony FE 1.8/14 GM @ 14 mm, f/2, 20 s, ISO 3200 My original idea was to take a picture of Milky Way, but sadly the moon happened to be in the same direction! Despite this I think the result was quite interesting. The moon would have set down in few hours later, but somehow I didn't want to stay up late as we were going to take the morning ferry back to the mainland at 8 am. Stay tuned for the next installment... |
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mariuszlo
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Joined: 17 December 2007 Country: United States Location: Jersey City Status: Online Posts: 2537 |
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Posted: 24 November 2022 at 23:30 |
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Those oystercatchers in #36 look like a 19th century army. very nice!
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Sony A99II with Sony, Minolta, Sigma, Tamron A lenses, Sony A7R with Minolta MD lenses, Sony A6400 with Sony E lenses.
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Hezu
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Joined: 13 October 2007 Country: Finland Location: HKI/KSNK Status: Offline Posts: 3795 |
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Posted: 24 November 2022 at 20:57 |
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After settling in our accomodation at the Hooge Seminar House, it was finally time to start doing some serious bird watching, although the first destination for the afternoon walk was a cafe... ;)
22. Young oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) on a cow field  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 105 mm, f/11, 1/200 s, ISO 160 23. Horses  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 83 mm, f/11, 1/200 s, ISO 160 Hooge and many nearby North Frisian islands go by term Hallig and common feature on these flat lowland islands is that the population is concentrated on the artificial mounds called Warft, which helps to keep houses intact in the case there would be a storm tide that would cause flooding on the lower parts of the islands. 24. Our accomodation was located on Hanswarft  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 92 mm, f/11, 1/200 s, ISO 100 25. Backenswarft hosted the cafe we visited  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 103 mm, f/11, 1/320 s, ISO 500 26. Ockenswarft  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 104 mm, f/11, 1/320 s, ISO 100 Ok, enough about the landscape for a while, we were there on a birding trip and on the east coast of Hooge, we did see quite decent amounts of birds: 27. Common greenshanks (Tringa nebularia)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 200 28. Snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 640 29. "Few" ruddy turnstones (Arenaria interpres) and dunlins (Calidris alpina)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS + 1.4× TC @ 840 mm, f/9, 1/1600 s, ISO 800 30. Common ringed plowers (Charadrius hiaticula)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 500 31. Ruddy turnstone in flight  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 500 32. Starling in flight  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 1250 33. More rainbows  α7R IV + Sony Carl Zeiss FE 4/16-35 OSS @ 16 mm, f/10, 1/160 s, ISO 100 34. End of rainbow  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 200 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 640 35. Gulls, wigeons, oystercatchers, cormorants  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 640 36. Some oystercatchers (+ gulls and wigeons etc.)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 640 37. Yet another rainbow  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 38 mm, f/11, 1/320 s, ISO 320 38. Gulls (and shrimp cutter)  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 640 39. One more rainbow  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 200 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 800 40. Light rays  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 268 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 3200 And as the light was dimishing it was time to retreat to our accomodation, have a dinner and head to bed. More to come... |
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Hezu
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Joined: 13 October 2007 Country: Finland Location: HKI/KSNK Status: Offline Posts: 3795 |
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Posted: 24 November 2022 at 19:53 |
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Harm vb
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Joined: 19 May 2019 Country: Netherlands Location: Gorinchem Status: Offline Posts: 1311 |
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Posted: 24 November 2022 at 19:26 |
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Nice start!
But, how many camera's did you take with you??? 
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Harm, with A7iv+A7iii plus 12-400mm glass.
My Flickr |
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Fred_S
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Joined: 12 January 2017 Country: Netherlands Location: Noord Holland Status: Offline Posts: 12196 |
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Posted: 24 November 2022 at 19:12 |
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Well, the majority is with formally allowed gear
 Youcertainly had some nice skies and rainbows underway Heikki. And I know at leasst one Dutch member whow will be happy with #18 and 21 too TFS, and looking forward to the rest of your trip. |
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Hezu
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Joined: 13 October 2007 Country: Finland Location: HKI/KSNK Status: Offline Posts: 3795 |
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Posted: 23 November 2022 at 21:36 |
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Earlier this autumn I participated on a birding trip to Germany that was organized by Helsinki region's ornithological society Tringa. The main focus was in Wadden Sea coast in Schleswig-Holstein and this was entirely a surface travel trip as we would travel by sea to Germany and back and then travel the longer distances within Germany on cars. The plan included also two island visits: Hooge and Heligoland.
So, on Friday September 30th, our group of eight met in Vuosaari harbour in Helsinki and we crammed ourselves and our luggage into two cars and after check-in and fairly long wait, we drove into M/S Finnmaid, which was goint to transport us to Travemünde. In Germany, we would have slightly less cramped conditions in the vehicles as the ninth member of our group and one more car would join us there as she had only this autumn returned to Germany after spending 20+ years in Helsinki. Obviously, as birders the first thing to do after dropping luggage into the cabins was to head to... 1. Sun deck  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/10, 1/160 s, ISO 125 2. Somewhere around those islands there happened to be few birds  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/9, 1/160 s, ISO 100 Eventually the ship departed and started its about 30 hour journey towards Germany 3. The other Finnlines ship on the next pier  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/10, 1/160 s, ISO 250 4. Sailing past a small island  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/10, 1/100 s, ISO 160 5. Archipelago towards Sipoo  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 27 mm, f/11, 1/160 s, ISO 125 6. Dramatic skies  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/11, 1/160 s, ISO 125 7. Central Helsinki skyline as seen from the sea  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 800 8. Evening light reflecting on the windows of skyscrapers  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 1000 9. Silja Symphony had also departed Helsinki and was sailing towards Stockholm  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 800 10. During the dinner time sunset coloured the clouds  Sony RX10 IV @ 34.7 mm (35 mm eqv. 95 mm), f/4, 1/640 s, ISO 800 Most of the next day was spent at sea with no big events, even the weather was quite dull... 11. Sun trying to shine thru the thick cloud cover  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 27 mm, f/13, 1/200 s, ISO 160 In the evening we arrived at Travemünde and headed directly to the nearest hotel and soon it was time to go to bed since the next morning we would have an early start as we were going to travel from the Baltic Sea coast to the North Sea coast, so we could catch the ferry to Hooge at 10:00. Thus in Sunday morning we started the journey around 6:30, made a quick stop at a gas station to grab some breakfast (as the hotel would have started their breakfast service only at 7 am) and soon were driving on the autobahns in conditions that showed the weather pattern for the next couple days. 12. Already in somewhat smaller road  Sony RX10 IV @ 12.6 mm (35 mm eqv. 34 mm), f/4, 1/1600 s, ISO 400 And eventually we did arrive to Schluttsiel to catch the ferry to Hooge. 13. One of the other nearby islands  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/11, 1/250 s, ISO 100 14. Hallig Langeneß (if I'm not mistaken)  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 68 mm, f/11, 1/400 s, ISO 160 15. I wonder if there would be treasure...  α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS @ 600 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 200 16. Rainbow  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 24 mm, f/11, 1/400 s, ISO 200 17. Our destination: Hallig Hooge  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 105 mm, f/11, 1/400 s, ISO 200 We didn't take the cars to Hooge and as our accomodation was over kilometer away from the harbour and we had quite a lot luggage, there was question how we can haul those, but quickly we found some help: 18. Pferdebus  Sony RX10 IV @ 8.8 mm (35 mm eqv. 24 mm), f/4, 1/1600 s, ISO 125 Although in the end, I think 2/3 of us (including yours truly) decided to not ride the horse bus and walk to get better first look on this interesting island. The walk allowed to make some bird observations, eg. 19. House sparrow (Passer domesticus)  Sony RX10 IV @ 220 mm (35 mm eqv. 600 mm), f/4, 1/1600 s, ISO 200 20. Song trush (Turdus philomelos)  Sony RX10 IV @ 220 mm (35 mm eqv. 600 mm), f/4, 1/1600 s, ISO 250 21. Another example of the local transport  α7R III + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS @ 57 mm, f/11, 1/400 s, ISO 400 To be continued... And yes, RX10 IV is not α-series ILC, but at times, it was easier to wield than the "big guns". |
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