Animalphotography - Northern gannet in Helgoland

I know i already showed you some pictures of the Northern gannet two weeks ago right when i came back from my holiday in Helgoland. But i think these are really beautiful birds so i want to make another article about these birds today.

Northern Gannet at the Cliff. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600 mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/320 Seconds
Aperture used	F8
Focal Lengh	220 mm
Time	05:02 pm
ISO	100

When they lift their beak like in the next picture they want to show their agressiveness and they prepare for a fight either with another rival or in this case maybe because we got a little to close to the bird. Because of the beautiful sea and the sun in the background i had a very nice blue bokeh in the picture. When you stay there at the birds place for several hours you can watch many different situation where thy behave different and it's pretty easy to get some nice shots.

Northern gannet trying to defend his bird's nest. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600 mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/320 Seconds
Aperture used	F8
Focal Lengh	440 mm
Time	05:04 pm
ISO	100

Male and femal northern gannet at their kissing ritual. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600 mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/400 Seconds
Aperture used	F8
Focal Lengh	220 mm
Time	05:04 pm
ISO	100

But i think the most interesting time was when the sun began to set on the sea at evening and you where able to get some nice lens flares on your picture because of the reflection of the sunlight in the sea. In this time i really did a lot of pictures and tried to get som pretty nice bokeh balls in the background of the image.

Male and female northern gannet having sex. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600 mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/200 Seconds
Aperture used	F8
Focal Lengh	150 mm
Time	05:12 pm
ISO	100

Sex looks pretty violent with the northern gannet. The male holds the female with the beak on her neck and standing with the feed on her during the sex game. Before having sex both animals peek with their beak together and scream in different sounds. It looks somehow pretty funny when the back of the girl is slippery and the male tries to stand on the female. In Helgoland it was pretty easy to get close to these birds and i wouldn't have needed the long zoom lens with 600mm focal lengh. I think about 300mm would have done it also.

Collecting gras for building the nest. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600 mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/800Seconds
Aperture used	F5.3
Focal Lengh	240mm
Time	05:14 pm
ISO	100

Flying with nesting material. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600 mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/200 Seconds
Aperture used	F6
Focal Lengh	480 mm
Time	05:42 pm
ISO	100

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600 mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/400 Seconds
Aperture used	F6.3
Focal Lengh	150 mm
Time	06:00 am
ISO	100