animalphotography - Northern gannets at Helgoland

This May i visited Helgoland together with 2 friends of mine and we did a lot of animalphotography there. It was avery nice holiday and we had luck with the weather. Nearly Every Day we visited the northern gannets breeding at the hills of Helgoland. There are several thousand of these birds on the rocks. Because they are used to humans and know that there is no danger form them you can get pretty close about 1-2 Meters distance is no problem. With getting this close you can pretty easy make some stunning pictures. Even without a 150-600mm lens.

DSC_0452_00371.jpg
Northern gannets at their Sex Game. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera usedNikon D500
Lens usedSigma 150-600mm lens
Filter usednone
Exposure Time1/250 Seconds
Aperture usedF8
Focal Lengh150mm
Time05:12 pm
ISO100

When we got there in May the birds where preparing their nest for breeding. You could easily watch the birds trying to mate and having sex with each other nearly all the time. It looked pretty violent when the male bit the female in the neck to get a better grip for sexual activities. Before having sex most couples had a habit to greet each other with thier peck. While the female protects the nesting site, the male search for nesting material in the sea. A lot of seagrass and small branches where collected to prepare the nesting spot. Because of a lot of wind blowing there on the hills it looked pretty exhausting just to land on the correct spot.

DSC_0558_00477.jpg
greeting ritual of the northern gannets. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera usedNikon D500
Lens usedSigma 150-600mm lens
Filter usednone
Exposure Time1/500 Seconds
Aperture usedF5
Focal Lengh150mm
Time05:32 pm
ISO100

DSC_0720_00631.jpg
Northern Gannet landing on the breeding spot. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera usedNikon D500
Lens usedSigma 150-600mm lens
Filter usednone
Exposure Time1/320 Seconds
Aperture usedF6.3
Focal Lengh292mm
Time06:07 pm
ISO100

DSC_0721_00632.jpg
Flying northern gannet. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera usedNikon D500
Lens usedSigma 150-600mm lens
Filter usednone
Exposure Time1/500 Seconds
Aperture usedF6.3
Focal Lengh150mm
Time06:08 pm
ISO100

DSC_1842.jpg

Camera usedNikon D500
Lens usedSigma 150-600mm lens
Filter usednone
Exposure Time1/800 Seconds
Aperture usedF6.3
Focal Lengh277mm
Time05:44 am
ISO100

DSC_2157.jpg

Camera usedNikon D500
Lens usedSigma 150-600mm lens
Filter usednone
Exposure Time1/500 Seconds
Aperture usedF6.3
Focal Lengh225mm
Time06:22 am
ISO100

DSC_0594.jpg

Camera usedNikon D500
Lens usedSigma 150-600mm lens
Filter usednone
Exposure Time1/800 Seconds
Aperture usedF6.3
Focal Lengh290mm
Time05:43 pm
ISO100
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Einfach tolle Bilder!

Danke, ja war ein sehr schöner Urlaub. Ich freue mich schon auf die Papageientaucher sollte ich ein Mal Island oder Irland besuchen.

Schön geworden...besonders die Vögel beim Vögeln ;-)

Haha, ja vögelnde Vögel. Die haben es da ganz schön oft getrieben. War lustig mitanzusehen. Das schöne daran war dass man wirklich sehr nahe an die Tiere rangekommen ist ohne sie zu verschrecken.

Sind auch ein paar wirklich schöne Fotos dabei entstanden!

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