Scharhörn at its best

Within few days, Scharhörn proved to be a wonderful site, worth every minute spent.

Rugosa rose in the dunes on Scharhörn

Birds migration has started and there were amazing numbers of Sanderlings, and also some sucess while doing seawatching with Leach’s Storm Petrel and Sooty Shearwater passing by.

Sanderlings and Dunlins while feeding

The real highlight however was a Little Bunting, a very small and rare scandinavian / siberian bird, which flew by calling. Lateron, I found it again, resting in the meadow and could also watch it shortly. Well, the bird is mainly brown – but a nice combination of different brown and white tones.

Little Bunting – the photo was not made on Scharhörn but in the Ural mountains in Russia few years ago.

I hope it was able to leave the isle alive – not as this Meadow Pipit which was dinner for a Sparrowhawk:

Sparrowhawk having Meadow Pipit for dinner

Scharhörn lies next to Nigehörn, an artificially washed sand island. Over the years the two islands have almost grown together and only during the high water they are separated from each other by a tidal creek, surrounded by salt marsh.

Salt marsh between Scharhörn and Nigehörn

One of my tasks as a bird warden on Scharhörn is to count the birds that are resting on both islands. Therefore I also had to walk to Nigehörn to count the birds there. However, as the water came earlier and much higher than expected, I was cut of from Scharhörn and had to wait for 3.5 hours before I could return.

Scharhörn seen from Nigehörn – unattainable during this little storm surge. In the distance you can see a container ship on the Elbe fairway. Even at this distance it is much higher than my hut (left in front of the container ship).

Whata  pleasure to lead a life that is determined only by the sun and the tide.

Sunset on Scharhörn
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French Alps

Another short trip – this time to France. I met a friend and college, Julien R., to record and discuss Crossbills. We visited different places in the French Alps. The days started long before sunrise and we hiked through the mountains during the early morning. Here are some impressions:

Moon in the forest
Vercors, French Alps
Sunset in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Julien recording crossbills in the forest

As we hoped, we found very interesting crossbills. When I show you the photos, they look like every other Red Crossbill. You need to hear the voice of these birds to be able to recognize them. As this is the topic of my PhD, it was really fascinating to meet some of these special birds of the southern Alps, which I heard on my computer many times but not in reality.

Male Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra)
Female Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra)

Now some more photos from the trip:

Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium passerinum)
Opening in the forest, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Opening in the forest, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Alpine meadows changing colour in autumn, National Park Vanoise, French Alps
Erosion ditches in the slope, National Park Vanoise, French Alps
The last sunray in the valley, French Alps
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Photographing in central Asia

Together with a friend, I just left for a trip to Kyrgystan in central Asia to do some kind of comissioned photography. One year ago, I’ve been some hundred kilometers further north in Kazakhstan. Great country with an impressing landscape!

Attached are few photos from the first and last day in the Tianshan mountains, south of Almaty.

I hope the trip now will be as great as the last one!

Photographing in central Asia