I went to our summer-place some weeks ago with my family (9th of sept to 11th of sept). It´s still spring in Peru and the pacific coast in the south is still cold. But it´s always lovely to feel the sea air. My girl, who was playing outside told me that she saw a nest in one of the trees. I went out and found a female vermilion flycatcher brooding on her eggs.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/4.5, 1/250 sec, ISO 320

When I saw the brooding mom I decided that I had to go back and see. I was lucky to have the chance to go back this Monday and I found two, big baby-birds in the nest. It was a nice sight.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/4.5, 1/250 sec, ISO 320

It was a bit hard to find good information on this bird on the internet (maybe I don’t know where to look), but if you are interested you can check out this page on WIKIPEDIA

 

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/2,8, 1/4000 sek, ISO 100

I went to the north of Peru for my vacation last week and was lucky to get together with some old friends. When I went to Phatagonia in february I was able to see humpback whales for several days. One of the scientists who is working with the humpback whales in Patagonia in the summertime is also in Colombia in the wintertime working with the same whales. That means that these whales are traveling along the coast of Peru two times a year. I didn´t know when, but one of the guides where we stayed, close to Tumbes, told me that they where able to see a humpback whale the day before, so I went together with some people for a boattrip and I was lucky to see these big whales once more.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/2,8, 1/4000 sek, ISO 100

I don’t know, but I think they were together with their newborn whales, and therefore didn’t put their tails as high as normal, but I will send some of these pictures to the scientist and ask if he has registered these whales in Patagonia or Columbia.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/2,8, 1/4000 sek, ISO 100

This time we had a quite small boat so we were able to get close. It is magnificent to be that close and see it start with the bubbles before this 30.000 kilo big body breaks the surface and blows up an air column until finally its several meters wide tail makes an appearance and then goes down for a longer dive. Powerful.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/2,8, 1/4000 sek, ISO 100

 

Canon 40D, 200mm, f/3.2, 1/1000 sec, ISO 320

In a narrow inlet south in Chile we were lucky to find a quite rare bird. According to Wikipiedia  this Striated Caracara (Phalcoboenus australis) bird is near threatened, but you can only find it in Patagonia and in the Falkland islands.  When I’m traveling in the Peruvian highland it´s easy to find the Mountain Caracara which is a lot more white with a red first part of the beak. But this Striated Caracara was a new sight for me.

Canon 40D, 200mm, f/3.2, 1/1000 sec, ISO 320

You can see the article in Wikipedia if you want more information. It was a nice experience to see this bird. We had an expert with us, and he told us that we were lucky to have seen this bird.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/400 sec, ISO 200

 

Canon 40D, 200mm, f/3.2, 1/1250, ISO 320

The greatest thing about having a blog is to get feedback. I would appreciate it a lot if you have time to write some words. If you want to write in Spanish or Norwegian you are welcome to do so.

 

Canon 40D, 200mm, f/3.2, 1/640, ISO 320

I still have a lot of photos from my trip to Chile which I haven’t been able to publish. So today I want to tell you something about an interesting nice bird we saw several times on the trip.

The Latin name is Megaceryle torquata. My Latin is quite bad, but I can understand mega. Like Wikipedia says, this is a large, conspicuous and noisy kingfisher. Since a great part of my readers are Norwegian I think this bird is a rare sight, but you can find the bird from the southern part of Texas in US to the very southern end of South-America. This bird isn’t threatened. In my photos you can see the bird sitting in trees. That is what this bird is doing most of its time. They are sitting waiting to see a fish the correct size, and then they go for the hunting.

Canon 40D, 200mm, f/3.2, 1/3200 sek, ISO 320

I saw that one of the photoblogs I’m following celebrated 50.000 page views some days ago. My photoblog will soon celebrate 6 months, and if 45 people are going to visit my blog in the next few days I will also celebrate 2000 page views. So it’s not the most famous blog in the world, but I’m very glad that you will use some of your time to see my photos.

Canon 40D, 200mm, f/3.2, 1/8000 sek, ISO 320

Moho is a part of Puno, but almost as far from tourism as you can come in Peru. This is an area of Peru where the oldest part of the population only speaks Aymara. Moho is located north of Lake Titicaca. It is known as the garden of Altiplano. This part is a lot more hilly than the rest of the Altiplano in south of Peru. You can find a lot more forests also. I was working and the sun was hard so it wasn’t the best day for nature photography, but I got one I want to show you.

Canon 1D mk III, 17-40mm, f/22, 1/80 sek, ISO 125

The photo is taken between Rosaspata and Pomaca at a little salt lake.

If you have followed my photoblog for a while I guess you know that I went to Patagonia some months ago. It was the best trip I have ever had. It was a trip for photographers, but I also had my video-camera with me. I have made a 4-minute long video from some of the things we were able to see. I hope you will enjoy the video.

This was the penultimate day of our 8 days trip in the fjords south in Patagonia, Chile. The plan of this last day close to the island Carlos III was to see a Humpback jumping out of the water. An expert who lives in Carlos III the most of the summer studying the Humpbacks was together with us and told us that two days before there had been 20 Killer Whales running through the Magellan Strait, but that it isn’t very common so we didn’t expect to see them. It was a bit windy this afternoon but the expert and I and were on the top of the boat when he shouted, -Killer Whales! I was very excited. The trip was a lot more than I expected every day, and to end the trip with this very nice big whales was fantastic.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/5.0, 1/1000, ISO 500

We were able to see four Killer Whales, two adults and two juveniles. Each adult had one juvenile very close all the time. Two times we saw the two adults jumping out of the see. That was amazing. The first time I wasn’t able to lift my camera, I just shouted WOW! Since I have just a 2oo mm lens I´m not able to zoom out I didn’t hit the last jump perfectly either, but I think this was OK. My family has a cabin in Hardanger, Norway and there I have seen Salmon jumping a lot in the see. But it was far more fantastic to see a maybe six thousand kilo whale jumping out of the water.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm f/5, 1/1000, ISO 500

You can find Killer Whales all over the world.Yesterday eight visited my home place in Norway, Ålesund also. The experts says that the Killer Whales are the most intelligent animals in the see. I have seen a video from California where they have seen tree Killer Whales working together to kill a White Shark. They know that a White Shark falls  asleep if it is laying upside down.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm f/5, 1/800, ISO 500

The scientists have a register for more or less all the Killer Whales in the world. You can see the reason here. The dorsal fin is different for each one, and if two are very similar you can get help from the white part you here can see in the photo to distinguish them. The dorsal fin can be up to two meters. I don’t think this was much more than a meter, and since this one had a juvenile with itself there are reasons to think its a female one, and they are smaller than the males.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm f/6.3, 1/2000, ISO 500

For three days the Humpbacks had exactly the same movement pattern until they met the Killer Whales. Since I didn’t enter the water I cant tell what was going on down there, but when the two different whales met each other  the Humpback started to act differently like you can see on this photo.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm f/6.3, 1/1000, ISO 500

They have a very solid body built for moving fast and quiet. It was very fascinating looking at them and how they where working to find food.

I visited the Colca-Valley for the first time in July 2010. It was a amazing trip, and I started to fall in love with that fantastic valley. It’s the deepest valley on earth, and from December to June its all green and very beautiful. One of the special things with the valley is the big concentration of Andean Condor. These big birds are going up and down the steep sides of the valley trying to find something to eat. I didn´t count the number of birds yesterday, but I think we where able to see at least ten.

Canon 1D mk III, 19mm, f/8, 1/800 sek, ISO 1250

When we arrived I saw a big Condor sailing close to the edge, I grasped the camera and ran down and started taking pictures. My first time I was just thinking about coming close to the birds, yesterday I tried to put them more in a “history” by giving them more space. I hope you can enjoy the photos.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f2.8, 1/8000 sek / ISO 125

I have one question. Maybe some of you can help me get an answer. I went to Patagonia in Chile in February, and also saw a lot of condors, but the condors down there flapped their wings, in the Colca-Valley they do not. Also the guides tell that they can’t do it, and because of that they suffer when smaller eagles are far better to maneuver and sometimes steel food from the mouth of the condors, and when they don’t flap it is hard to defend themselves. So I just wonder if these birds in Colca are bigger?

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/800 sek, ISO 125

Yesterday I just captured males. It’s a bit hard to see in real lift what kind of sex it is, but all my photos are males. Last time I had captured more females. You can easely see the difference in the color of the eyes and that the males have a mohawk.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/800 sek, ISO 125

The place where it’s possible for people to take pictures is 3800 meter over sea level, and the birds are floating up with the help of streams of hot air so they are not out flying early in the morning when the ligth still is soft. Last time I had lots of problems, but I think my new Canon 1D mk III is doing a much better job of finding a correct light. Yesterday almost all my photos were OK in light.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/800 sek, ISO 100

The bird pictured over is very interesting. When the condors are more or less 8 years old they mature. Its very easy too see because they get the white circle around their neck and their body turns a lot more black. This young male is starting to get this white neck, so I think we can say this bird is more or less 8 years old.

Canon 1D mk III, 17mm, f/8, 1/1250, ISO 1250

Canon 1D mk III, 23mm, f/8, Iso 50

Det er ikke bare Norge som har fine fjorder og flotte fjell. Å se de flotte breene som speiler seg i fjordene var nydelig. Jeg våknet opp til små slag mot skråget på båten, og lurte egentlig litt hva det her var. Når jeg kom meg opp på dekket og så innover den fantastiske fjorden var iveren veldig på plass. Denne dagen skulle vi inn i ikke mindre enn tre fjordarmer for å se på flotte breer.

Canon 1D mk III, 37mm, f/7.1, Iso 50

Solen kom så fort på himmelen at det var ikke til å unngå at lyset ble i sterkeste laget, men de flotte blå-grønne fargen strålte frem fra breene.

Canon 1D mk III, 37mm, f/7.1, Iso 50

Mitt kjære reisefølge på turen, Sverre Hovda, stirrer inn gjennom fjorden og drømmer om de store flotte motivene. Sverre har laget seg en egen fotoblogg som du kan besøke på: http://sverresfotoblogg.blogspot.com/

På bildet under kan dere lett se at Sverre som er en ganske gjennomsnittelig høy nordmann blir ganske liten når de store ismassene stiller seg opp.

Canon 1D mk III, 31mm, f/8, 1/125 sek, Iso 50

Canon 1D mk III, f/8, 1/125 sek, Iso 50

Med dette bildet vant jeg faktisk førsteplass i en intern fotokonkurranse på båten. Alle vi som var med kunne sende inn fra 1-4 bilder, og mannskapet som stemte. Jeg tror nok det var de sterke fargene som ble avgjørende. Bildet ble tatt uten stativ og det har nok skylden for at det ikke er så skarpt som jeg gjerne skulle ha sett. Men jeg er veldig takknemlig til mannskapet som sørget for at jeg fikk meg en fin jakke.

Canon 40D, 200mm, f/8, 1/1250 sek, ISO 400

Noen av de som var med lurte litt på hvorfor vi ikke kunne gå helt opp til isbreene med de små båtene. Litt senere fikk de svaret. De bølgene dere ser her kom fra en kalving av en isbre som lå ca 300 meter fra der båtene lå, og den kalvingen var ikke spesielt stor. Ramler det en skikkelig blokk med is ned i fjorden blir det noen solide bølger, og man skal være litt forsiktig.

Canon 1D mk III, f/13, 1/80, iso 125

Jeg har sett flere isbreer i Norge, både på Folgefonna og Jostedalsbreen. Likevel var det spesielt å se disse breene som gikk helt ned til havet og du fikk kontrastene til fin lauvskog, hav, himmel og bre.

Canon 1D mk III, 40mm, f/11, 1/30 sek, Iso 50

Som dere ser her så er det ikke slik at Sunnmørsalpene har fått alt av flotte tinder. På grunn av ganske grunt vann måtte Forrest ligge ganske langt utpå å vente på oss mens vi suste rundt i de små gummibåtene. Isbreene hadde laget mange små sanddyner som lå rundt omkring. Dette laget mange flotte vann og tidevannsstrømmer.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/6400 sek Iso 200

Her kan dere se litt nærmere den mest snøkledde tinden fra forrige bilde.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/5, 1/1250 sek, ISO 500

Det begynte å skumre og vi var ganske spente da vi gikk i gummibåtene. At Sørlig Klippehopperpingviner (Eudyptes chrysocome chrysocome) befinner seg i dette området er ikke sjokkerende, men denne kolonien var ikke oppdaget før i desember 2010 av den ene guiden som var med oss. Gleden var derfor stor når vi begynne å se noen staskledde skapninger på klippene fremfor oss. Pingviner er noe spesielt. Nydelige dyr. Jeg har rett og slett sansen for disse spennende dyrene. Dette er en av de mindre pingvinene, og den minste av de som på latin starter med Eudyptes. Normal størrelse er 45-58 cm og fra 2-3,4 kilo. Den blir til tillegg til Sørlig også kalt for Vestlig- eller Sør-Amerikansk Klippehopperpingvin.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/5, 1/1000 sek, ISO 500

Navnet sier ganske mye om det som er spesielt ved denne arten. Til forskjell fra de fleste pingviner så liker altså disse å hope i klipper. De er ikke redd for å hoppe over sprekker. De hekker også i slike områder, ofte i samme områder som Albatrosser. Her jeg tok disse bildene er ikke nevnt på internett over plasser der det er vanlig å hekke, men utenom hekketiden kan de bevege seg over ganske store avstander. I likhet med Kongepingvinene så var disse nå på land for å skifte pels. Da kan de stå der oppe på klippene uten mat i lange tider. Jeg like godt bildet over der alle var opptatt med å nappe vekk gammel pels. En artig detalj er at de hekker som regel i store kolonier, gjerne på 100 000 par. Men de glemmer ikke hvor deres hekkeplass er. Når hekketiden er over putter de steiner eller kvister for å skjule stedet, for så å komme tilbake neste år..

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/5, 1/250 sek, ISO 500

Denne arten blir sett på som en sårbar art. Det sies at det finnes omtrent 1 million par, og at disse sørlige står for 2/3 av alle Klippehopperpingviner. De sier noen om hvor truet Humboldtpingvinene er når det bare finnes mellom 5000 og 12000 individer.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/3.5, 1/2500 sek, ISO 400

I akvariet i Bergen døde en slik Sørlig Klipperhopperpingvin i oktober 2003. Da var den 29 år og 4 måneder. Det er den den eldste Klippehopperpingvinen, og muligens den eldste pingvinen man vet om.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/3.5, 1/2500 sek, ISO 500

Den vanligste føden er Krill, Blekksprut, plankton og krepsdyr.

Canon 1D mk III, 200mm, f/3.5, 1/3200 sek, ISO 400

Etter 30 min med en rekke flotte bilder padlet vi oss litt tilbake, startet motorene og satte kursen for varm nydelig middag på båten. Nok en stor naturopplevelse og fotoopplevelse var lagt bak oss. Jeg kan vel ikke si annet at det var nok et høydepunkt. Et høydepunkt jeg heller ikke var forberedt på! STORT.