© 2021 Birds in Latin
Hi, and welcome to another bird story.
Most bird photographers in Belgium and the Netherlands know/have heard of or are familiar with the work of Glenn Vermeersch, a Belgian Biologist who’s also a talented bird photographer.
Glenn is maybe even more known for renting out bird hides and providing workshops. No matter how experienced you are, Glenn will always teach you some new tricks and things you didn’t know. Recently he started organizing workshops with floating bird hides. Something I never experienced before, so when I came across this workshop advertisement I didn’t think twice and signed up for a workshop the next week. Come to think of it, it’s not true at all I didn’t think twice… the price for this half-day workshop was €200,00 so I did think seriously about it. Nevertheless, it was on my bucket list for quite some time, so I didn’t consider the costs too long.
You’ve probably, just like me, come across these gorgeous captures of Great Crested Grebes, doing their courtship on and over water. I was always stunned by these photos and I desperately wanted to capture a moment like that myself but also from that very low point of view as well so, this was a perfect opportunity for me. The time of the year was right… March, a lot of courtship is happening in the water this time of the year.
When I arrived at the meeting point I met another photographer (Johan) who also participated in this workshop. First, we had to put on special thermo wading suits while Glenn attached our equipment to the raft. After he gave us all the necessary information and instructions he installed the hides and pulled them off the shore into the water. Now it was our time to enter the 3-4 degrees Celcius cold water. The suits however kept us perfectly dry and reasonably warm, even after 2,5 hours in the cold water.
Supposingly we’ve chosen the best day of the month weather-wise because it was a beautiful clear and very sunny Friday, ideal for bird photography. Glenn told us what, where and when to expect the Grebes, therefor we were well prepared and had the time inside the hide to adjust our settings and focus in the right direction. 2,5 Hours flew by like an F1 car and I could have stayed there at least for several hours more, although the cold slowly entered my muscles so I started to cramp up. It’s truly an extraordinary sensation to be so close to these shy birds and to blend into their world.Of course, there’s in Wildlife photography never a guarantee that the species you hope for will show up or will show the behaviour you wish for. We had to wait for over 2 hours to witness the Great Crested Grebes courtship and it didn’t last for more than 2 minutes. Still, sufficient time to capture it and while we waited for it to happen, we shot Ducks, Common moorhens, Eurasian Coots and, other behaviours of Grebes. Summarizing this morning, it’s a perfect workshop to get acquainted with floating hide photography and is certainly worth the investment.
Below you’ll find some of my results from this workshop, There’s always room for improvement but overall I was quite happy with the outcome, I hope you’ll enjoy them just as much.
“A bird does not sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” (Maya Angelou)
