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Archive 2022 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

michal.narozny
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Congratulations to michal.narozny for winning Feature Thread of the Week with 7 votes - View Previous Winners

Hello,
this year I had a chance to spend some time and photograph two bee eater colonies. One of them was my local one, located in Northern Poland. Few years ago such encounter would be more than unusual but now I hear about bee eaters going as far as Sweden! The second one was located in Hungary, where certainly temperature is more favourable for this species. It was a very satisfying trip and I hope to present some more pictures in another topic.

Taking pictures of the local bee eater community didn’t come easy though. At some point we even had to a call up the police and local wildlife depot to stop bulldozer works around their colony, otherwise quite a number would be just buried alive. Thankfully this has not happen! Shooting them involved setting a portable hide (masking net plus some fishing rod holders) and estimating appropriate distance. Soon I learned what is acceptable by the birds and pure fun began of watching them forage, play and pose.

Hungarian bee eaters on the other hand were way easier to shoot as the colony was in my opinion enormous! 300 birds or more. Such numbers added to complexity but it was great fun even though sometimes light got a bit too harsh for my liking.

I hope you enjoy the set.

Cheers,
Michal

P.s all pictures have been resized to 2048 @longer edge

#1
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Oct 02, 2022 at 01:05 PM

Ted ellis
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Outstanding series

Voted

Oct 02, 2022 at 02:39 PM

morris
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Superb photos Michal. 10 and the last are my top picks

Morris

Oct 02, 2022 at 02:43 PM

Karl Witt
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Extraordinary imagery Michal

Perhaps my favorite of all birds but will never have the opportunity to photograph. Exceptional work with the food tosses, just superb!
You easily have earned my vote. Wonderful presentation!

Karl

Oct 02, 2022 at 07:28 PM

gregfountain
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Great set of images! Apparently, they eat more than bees

Greg

Oct 02, 2022 at 11:40 PM

aaronbor
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

These are spectacular! These birds are fast moving and you did a great job capturing them.

Oct 03, 2022 at 01:14 AM

Claude
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Wow, excellent!
Claude

Oct 03, 2022 at 05:24 AM

shibutg
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Well captured, awesome lighting too.

Shibu

Oct 03, 2022 at 08:09 AM

ElvisD
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Beautiful birds beautifully captured.

Thanks for sharing them.

Oct 03, 2022 at 03:11 PM

birdied
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Such a extraordinary set!! All marvelous and so very well done. Your efforts paid off. Also, thank you for intervening and saving the colony.

Birdie

Oct 03, 2022 at 07:29 PM

dclark
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Wow!!!
One prize winning shot after another.
Beautiful birds, amazing action, technical excellence in the shots.
I love this post!
Got my vote.

Dave

Oct 03, 2022 at 09:46 PM

michal.narozny
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Ted ellis wrote:
Outstanding series

Voted

Thank you

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morris wrote:
Superb photos Michal. 10 and the last are my top picks

Morris

Thanks, I really like them toss the food. It is hard to catch the right position of the bug tho

Waiting for the moment is the fun part!
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Karl Witt wrote:
Extraordinary imagery Michal

Perhaps my favorite of all birds but will never have the opportunity to photograph. Exceptional work with the food tosses, just superb!
You easily have earned my vote. Wonderful presentation!

Karl

Thank you. I hope you will get a chance to see them. Not so long ago I tohught I would never see them around my place or visit their nesting site.

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gregfountain wrote:
Great set of images! Apparently, they eat more than bees

Greg

Thanks! Yeah they do eat everyting that flies. But if a bug sits of a branch next to them or be on a ground ... they will not touch it. They only hunt in flight.
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aaronbor wrote:
These are spectacular! These birds are fast moving and you did a great job capturing them.

Thanks

Theyare certainly very aware of surroundings. All the tossing and passing food happens very quickly. They appear and off they go. Sometimes bee eaters stop for a while and just pose ... but no action happens.

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Claude wrote:
Wow, excellent!
Claude

Thank you Claude!
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shibutg wrote:
Well captured, awesome lighting too.

Shibu

Thanks. At home I could pick lighting better ... so in 3 months I had a chance to visit bee eaters 3 times. Either no time or bad light.

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ElvisD wrote:
Beautiful birds beautifully captured.

Thanks for sharing them.

Thank you

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birdied wrote:
Such a extraordinary set!! All marvelous and so very well done. Your efforts paid off. Also, thank you for intervening and saving the colony.

Birdie

Thanks. Thankfuly the owner of the site was very resonable too. So no fines etc. happened. I had to act remotly but I think everyting ended really well for birds, owner of land and 'universe' haha.
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dclark wrote:
Wow!!!
One prize winning shot after another.
Beautiful birds, amazing action, technical excellence in the shots.
I love this post!
Got my vote.

Dave

Thanks Dave, much apprecieated!

Oct 03, 2022 at 11:57 PM

richrwk
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Wow, can't pick one, all great. Interesting information too. Thanks for sharing.

Oct 04, 2022 at 07:47 AM

kdacharya
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Michal, love how your patience has paid off by getting the light, the angle and the action.
Superb series

Oct 05, 2022 at 12:27 AM

michal.narozny
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

richrwk wrote:
Wow, can't pick one, all great. Interesting information too. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks fro kind comment.

---------------------------------------------

kdacharya wrote:
Michal, love how your patience has paid off by getting the light, the angle and the action.
Superb series

Thank you

Oct 05, 2022 at 04:49 AM

bonnyrcl
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Outstanding set!!

John

Oct 05, 2022 at 08:37 AM

deke4774
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Terrific set of images.

Derek

Oct 05, 2022 at 01:38 PM

mjgphotoz
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Michal,

There is beauty then there is BEAUTY! These are just an absolute joy to behold! You are so very fortunate to have experienced this and your capture of these birds is outstanding!

Mary

Oct 06, 2022 at 10:25 AM

cs3is
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Killer set. 19th is special.

Oct 06, 2022 at 11:24 AM

dj_hess
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Bee-eaters - the most colourful birds Poland has to offer

Tons of great images here Michal. Earned my vote.

Dave

Oct 06, 2022 at 11:46 AM

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