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.

Just few days ago Great Grey Owls came out from the forest in Oulu area. This is probably due to heavy snow fall and not so good situation with voles here. At the moment it looks like Great Grey Owls could be photographed out in open this winter. Finnature´s principle guide and wildlife photographer Harri Taavetti will go out on Monday to look out for the owls and if he is succesfull with photography, then I think it is good idea to come as soon as possible!

At the moment I am in Greece for Wild Wonders of Europe commission for Dalmatian Pelicans, but do not hesitate to contact me if you would like photograph Great Grey Owls in Finland this winter! Also our Golden Eagle feeding site is still going on well and there has been many eagle coming at daily basis to the baits offering some good photo-opportunities!

First part of February I will be in Northern Greece at lake Kerkini where my mission is to photograph beautiful Dalmatian Pelicans. Please read the blogs and follow how my mission is proceeding at this blog and Wild Wonders of Europe website. This project is revealing Europe´s amazing natural treasures to the world! Now you can also join and enter to the Photo Competition!