End of August

The last days of August I had some freetime to pratice a bit painting and drawing, here are the results:

 Common Crossbill

 Whiskered Tern feeding a juvenile with a fish (inspired by a foto recently made by an austrian birdwatcher at lake Darscho/Seewinkel)

 Honey Buzzard (About a week ago I visited the 5th Carinthian Raptor Migration Camp in Arnoldstein. Just at the two days I was there the people in the camp could count 728 migrating individuals of this buzzard species. All in all we could observe nine different species of raptors)

 Juvenile Masked Shrike

water buffalo

Seewinkel, once again

The last two days finally I could visit the Seewinkel again, without doubt my favourite place for bird watching in Austria. A friend once told me, when he was going there as a child, every time when he had to leave he was crying. Another friend once said: "Its like paradise". I can really agree with that. Although, I also have to say that I'm quite critical of the behavior of some of the inhabitants of the area, many still haven't understood that nature tourism is a boon for their region's economy and are busy destroying and disturbing what is left of this unique environment. The following picture for example shows a so-called "star-fighter", a small plane which should dispel starlings from the farmer's vineyards. Unfortunately, they do not respect the boundaries of the national park, here one was flying over the lake "Oberstinker":

 Anyway, I still could make some nice observations and also paint, the following pictures show a Pygmy Cormorant, a Caspian Tern and a juvenile Whiskered Tern:

 I also visited the exhibition in the national park's information center with my caricatures (see http://christoph-neger.blogspot.com/2011/06/exhibition-abgetaucht.html) which seems to be quite successful:

 And finally, once again a picture of the beautiful landscape of the Seewinkel, here a view from Geiselsteller in Illmitz to the Schneeberg:

Antalya and Istanbul, July 2011

In July I've been in Turkey for about three weeks. It was mainly a university trip, so I didn't go to any specific birdwatching area. However, I could make some nice observations, and watch birds like Rufous Bush-Robin, Masked Shrike, White-Spectacled Bulbul and other species in the park around the University of Antalya, one immature Gannet quite close to the beach in Antalya, Rollers in Belek as well as several Scopoli's Shearwater (and even dolphins) at the Bosporus in Istanbul etc.

The following pictures are showing juvenile Masked Shrikes and a Laughing Dove in Antalya:

Of course, I didn't forget to bring my painting and drawing materials too. These are the pictures created during my journey:

At the beach in Antalya

 Drawing in the university park during lunch break

 Mosque in front of a bridge over the Bosporus

 Istanbul (View from Ortaköy to Kiz Kulesi)

 Sultan Ahmet Mosque