Today is my birthday and my last full day at Lake Kerkini. The weather was grey to start with and got even more grey during the day and it started to rain. Good reason to get indoors and finish the text ”featured photographer” for the Wild Wonders of Europe website. I have really enjoyed my stay here in Greece and I am happy with some of the images which I produced (I hope my bosses like them as well ;). Now I am in love with the Dalmatian Pelicans and this beautiful species deserves all that we can do to stop its declining! I hope my images will help with this work! Anyway, Dalmatian Pelican is a truly wonderful piece of European nature; the bird with a bad hair day!

You can see a collection of my photos of Dalmatian Pelicans at http://finnature.fi/photo_album.html.14.html

Today was only my second bright morning at Lake Kerkini! The night was cold and there was frost on the ground in places. I managed to find just some fairly distant Pelicans as a foreground for my sunrise images. Drove around the lake today and saw some good birds; 2-3 Spotted Eagles, Great Grey Shrike, Smew, 12 Black-necked Grebes and a flock of about 200 dark Anser Geese, probably White-fronted Geese? I wonder if Lesser White-fronted Geese were in that flock? Lake Kerkini is a famous place where the small European population of this endangered species is spending part of their winter, before they move to the Evros delta.

Had another boattrip to the Strymonas river delta and took some more photographs of Great Cormorants and some more Dalmatian Pelicans. That river delta is a truly wonderful place for birds! The boatman was telling me that I should come back in May or June, apparently then the delta will be full of breeding Egrets and Herons! In Europe there are so many great places for wildlife and this is definitely one of those places!

In the afternoon I went to meet fisherman Tom, and this time he managed to attract many Pelicans at his shore. It was really nice to see how Pelicans, which were just flying over, immediately landed by Tom’s shore when he was throwing fish out from his boat. Today I also got on his boat, but then unfortunately the Pelicans didn´t come quite so close as last week. However, I got some nice images of fisherman Tom and his Pelicans!

It seems to be typical here that mornings are grey and misty, since also this morning there was no sunlight as such, but the day then slowly got brighter. Again after breakfast straight to fisherman Tom. There was only ONE Dalmatian Pelican nearby, but I managed to get some nice images of that bird with the help of Tom. But it seems that the big flock which used to feed close to Tom´s base is gone? Maybe they have migrated away from Kerkini already? Weather improved dramatically and it got sunny again by 9 o’clock. It has been very spring-like here, with Corn- and Cirl Buntings singing and Collared Doves flying their display flights. Also the snow on the nearest mountain tops has melted almost completely during my week here.

After somehow disappointing morning photography I made the right decision. I went to the village of Kerkini, from where I booked a boattrip to the lake. While waiting for a boatman to arrive I made some good shots of Collared Doves in their display flight. Then I spent a couple of hours at the lake, since there was a good chance for flight shots of Pelicans today with long lens! Backdrop mountain was under cloud, so there was really nice dark backgrounds for Pelicans flying in sunlight. Exposure was difficult though!

Tonight there is a bright sky with full moon and stars are also well visible. It seems that tomorrow will be the morning for sunrise photography!

Another grey morning, so no chance for sunrise images. Leisure breakfast and after that out for photography.
The weather started to improve after the early morning, and most of the day the weather was sunny with blue skies over Kerkini.
There was quite not so much acitivity with Tom´s Pelicans that I hoped for, but during the day there were some good opportunities for flight shots and for some landings. Feeding activity with the Pelicans today was low, but light was nice.

Fisherman Tom invited me today to have lunch with them, food and drink was good, but because Dimitris was not here today we didn´t have any long conversations…

The morning was grey, so there was no reason to go out too early. When there was light enough, we drove around the lake to a small fishing harbour where there are usually Pelicans to be found. Also this time there were some Pelicans, but to our surprise they were quite shy and didn´t even come to the offered fish. I got some atmospheric images of a group of Pelicans swimming in front of the misty reedbeds. It really seems that Lake Kerkini is THE place for Dalmatian Pelican photography! By midday weather started to improve and the afternoon was sunny with blue sky.

The lake around the town of Kastoria is probably the best place in Greece to photograph Pygmy Cormorants. Today I got some perched birds also with their wings open in good light, swimming birds and I also tried to take some flight shots. We will see later if there are any good ones. Pygmy Cormorant is a fast flying bird and I tried to capture them against the colourful Greek town, so it was a real challenge for the autofocus.

Bonus of the day was a breeding plumaged White Pelican which swam into the small harbour while I was waiting for Pygmy Cormorants to do something photogenic. Apparently White Pelican is a more difficult species to photograph than Dalmatian Pelican in Greece. The very first time I also realised that it is really not a white bird at all, but it should be called Pink Pelican!

Tonight I drove for 3 hours back to Lake Kerkini. Most of the main roads are really good and Greeks drive fast, so a 300 km distance can be driven in 2,5 hours! Still four and a half days left of my mission in Greece. Unfortunately the weather forecast promised rain here for the whole day tomorrow. However, I will go to meet fisherman Tom´s Pelicans tomorrow!

Today we had a long drive (3 hours) from Kerkini to the Greek town of Kastoria. Dimitris showed me some images of Pelicans swimming with a really Greek-looking town as a background and I decided to give it a try. He also told me that Pygmy Cormorants will be very common here and easy to photograph here. In Kerkini they are very difficult to approach.

We arrived after midday to Kastoria and looked at the shores. Only 2 Dalmatian Pelicans were in front of the town, but there were plenty of Pygmy Cormorants. I got some images of distant Pelicans showing the Greek town as background, but today was especially good for Pygmy Cormorants. Here it seems that they are pretty used to people and easy to approach. Some time here and I think one could make some really good images of Pygmy Cormorants!

I should also mention he Coots of the town. They are numerous and they seem to be very used to the feeding and it would be easy to make some good photos of this species here. I also tried to make some images of Coots running on the surface of the water…

Black-headed Gull is very common, but Pochard, Great Crested Grebe, Great Cormorant and Moorhen are just few around, but they are also fairly approachable here.

Morning was bright and I headed for some sunrise images of Pelicans. Activity was quite low in the morning but I got some silhouettes and some flight shots. Also some shots of Pelican a group feeding against the snow-topped mountains which was good!

Boattrip to river Strymonas delta for Great Cormorants and Pelicans. We managed to get fairly close to Cormorants nesting in the trees. Also artificial platforms built by local authorities for Pelicans were occupied. Good to see that people are helping the endangered wildllife! It can really make a difference!

Afternoon back to the ”fisherman Tom´s Pelicans”. He is a very friendly and very co-operative local fisherman. He doesn´t speak any English, but fortunately with help of Dimitris we have become as friends. It really helps for a photographer to get better shots of the Pelicans. Anyway these fishermen, like Tom, have been here for 35 years and they have established a very special relationship with the Pelicans. It is really amusing to see globally endangered species like the Dalmatian Pelican following these local fishermen like dogs! Pelicans can even take fish from their hand. No doubt that they both benefit from this relationship!

Morning of my second full day at the lake was also cloudy. That was an excuse for another fairly late departure for photography. However, we did what we planned to do. We put the floating hide together which Dimitris had built for my mission. Then I got into the wetsuit for the first time in my life and jumped into the cold water of Lake Kerkini. Air temperature was about +10 degrees centigrade and water must have been max +7 degrees centigrade. There was no problem to stay in fairly cold water for 1,5 hours. The pelicans were a little afraid of the structure to start with, but when they got used to it, I managed to swim fairly close to the birds with it! Great different angle to the Pelicans!

Weather was first very grey and when I got into the water it started to rain, which didn´t make me any wetter… Fortunately I had protection for my camera, so it didn´t get too wet and it was working alright. Then we got some sun and for the background there were dark clouds. Actually really good conditions for Pelican photography! Today I made some nice action shots of feeding Pelicans.

When I got up from the lake, the local fishermen invited me and Dimitris to have a little wine and Ouzo with them in their cottage. Naturally we couldn´t resist this attempting invitation. Beside the alcohol there was also boiled fish liver, fried fish, fermented cabbage and bread on offer. So we had a very good lunch! Actually these local fishermen are so friendly and hospitable to us, that I can´t imagine this kind of hospitality in Finland or elsewhere where I´ve been.

The evening continued at the hotel with the processing of some images and trying to make my first blog submission.
Tomorrow morning is supposed to be fairly bright, so we are aiming for sunrise shots of Pelicans.

First morning was very grey so we decided to sleep little longer. Anyway yesterday was a very very long travel day! After good rest and breakfast we went out to look for the Pelicans. We stopped at one of the small fishing camps and Dimitris went to talk with fisherman. There were some Pelicans swimming fairly close to the shore. We bought a pucketfull of fish and Dimitris started to feed the Pelicans. Immediately birds came and started to eat offered fish,. We lead them to little darker water, since the sky was very white and grey, so the water in middle of the lake was just white. But in dark water there was a good chance for some nice portraits. I was laying down on the beach for the very low shooting angle with my ground pod and angled viewfinder. My clothes got very muddy and I was thinking how I will look after one week here ?

Dalmatian Pelicans are already getting in to their breeding plumage. Adult birds have a beautiful orange coloured sack (?) under their bill, especially adult males. Today when I was watching the birds through viewfinder, I was thinking that this is the bird with a bad hair day! The way how their elongated and curved head feathers are moving in wind so that most of the time they look very messy. Also their facial expression is changing when they move their heads and that is really nice to watch and photograph at the close range. Dalmatian Pelicans simply are just beautiful- real Wild Wonders of Europe!

Today we saw maybe 50 Dalmatian Pelicans and a flock of about 20 White Pelicans. There was also hundreds of Ducks and Pygmy- and Great Cormorants. Maybe the most impressive sighting for me today was (excluding those close Pelicans of course) a distant huge flock of Starlings! It looked almost unreal when it was changing it´s formation in misty air- there must have been 10´s of thousands of birds?

After two hours of refreshing night sleep I woke up at 3.00am without alarm clock! That is typically me! Always when I have an early flight I won’t sleep properly, except once when I was going to a slideshow in Italy and woke up at home, in the morning 1/2 hour before my flight was supposed to depart! It doesn´t mean that I live at the airport, but my girlfriend is rallydriver. So we jumped into her car and along the small dirtroad - she drove to the airport in only 15 minutes. I was the very last person to arrive and the gate was closed.

Although this time I was early enough at the airport, I wasn´t quite so lucky, since my suitcase weighed 29,7 kilos and a very serious looking man at the desk told me to pay 10 kilos excess package! That cost me 249 euros! Fortunately he didn´t weigh my handluggage, since there would have been 20 kilos more! I hope airport staff doesn´t read this? It is difficult to travel lightweight when you go on a photography mission!

Somewhere over the Belarus it went cloudy, so I don´t know how far south winter continued on lowland. While approaching Budapest airport we could see snow on Buda hills and I counted 6 Common Buzzards at the airport from the plane. Temperature in Budapest was +10 degrees centigrades. I don´t mind waiting at airports, since there are always plenty of nice-looking things to look at…

Arrival to Thessaloniki at 16.00, just one hour after the scheduled time. Went to get the smallest car that I could hire. Then drove for 2 hours to the Kerkini village by the Lake Kerkini and checked in to hotel Oikoperiigitis for the first part of my trip. The hotel is traditonally Greek, warm atmosphere with open fireplaces and good food and with wireless connection to the internet. However, for some reason or the other, I couldn´t connect my laptop to the internet here. Nowadays, if you are not connected to internet, it feels like you don´t exist!

Fortunately I have a good friend, Dimitris staying at the same hotel, so I could use his computer to send e.g. these blogs. Dimitris Vavylis is helping me in the field in the beginning of my photo commission. He is translating to the local fisherman what we want to do here and he is also communicating with authorities. He has also built me a floating hide and my dream is to get out with my camera amongst the Dalmatian Pelicans! Thank you Dimitris for all your help!
For the next few days I will write about my experiences with Lake Kerkini and Dalmatian Pelicans.