Black-tailed Godwit

Here's the last part of the report from the bird island of Texel in the Netherlands. After sunrise, photographing the Sandwich Terns, I had less than two hours before I had to leave. This was actually too short a time, but I quickly found an area with Black-tailed Godwits that were close to a road. Two family groups with newly hatched chicks were wandering only 10-15 meters away from the road, even though I was sitting on the roadside with my 600mm lens. Usually, the best way to photograph birds is from a blind or a car. For photographing birds in flight it's better done out of the car.

3 to 4 of the Godwits were combative with the two family groups and there were skirmishes on the ground and in flight. Strangely enough, this happened close to this busy road. I tried also to shoot birds in flight with slow shutter speeds, but my time was limited. Before I left I also shot a Montagu's Harrier that snatched a young rabbit approximately 15 meters from the road. The rabbit was so noisy and maybe too heavy, that the Harrier dropped it after only a 15 to 20 meters of flight.