Well, can't say it's new. Nor a obsession, actually. But when I saw that this week's SMAP contest had a free theme... these pink stars immediatly came to my mind!
They are awesome, no doubt about it; but the main reason why I immediatly remembered them is because they were the last species I was able to spot in my last vacations... and it was probably one of my best ever!
I was doing a small birdwatching session at river Mondego's mouth; the idea in this location was just beach time, but since I had spotted quite a few of them while driving, I had to try and see them up closer. Fortunately, I found out a small hiking trail could get me close to them. And true, after a few minutes, there they were, in the distance.
I took my time here to admire them and take some clicks, but since the trail continued, decided to keep on going, and I'm glad I did!
At this location, I was nearer then I would have expected, but still, these photos were in full zoom. Flamingos are normally spooky, and if they sense you too close (which is normally still far for my liking) more often than not they will flee the scene. Yet, there was still a little more trail before I was at water margin, and veeeeeeery slowly decided to try my luck: baby steps and turtle mode. And then...
My best flamingo birdwatching/photography session ever!!
I had never gotten so close to them in the wild; I was probably less than 100 meters away. Some of them raised their necks quite a few times and seemed to look at me.
But whenever I thought busted, they're sounding the alarm and off they go...
Nope, head plunged and off to fill their bellies again!
I took turns grabbing the binoculars and the camera, it was such a show that I had time to admire how elegant they are, and try to capture it on camera. Truth be told though, I had higher hopes for my photographic session; I was hoping to capture those fine details - crystal clear - national geographic style photos... but not really.
I did gt some lovely shots, but most of them didn't get the detail I was hoping for, especially on the plummage. Crapish photographer? Camera not good enough? I was photographing without a tripod, and with a bridge camera, at probably 600-1200mm equivalent; almost zero post production in these photos. If any of the pro's out there can spot some basic technique errors here, I would love to hear from you!
After countless minutes, I decided to slowly back away, and let them contine their feast; I was really glad of not spooking them! Taking cool photographies should not happen at the expense of disturbing the animals, and although I risked some proximity here, I'm glad I was able to control myself and not go even closer, and that way respecting their distance.
Have a great weekend! 😉
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