It has been some time since my last (and first) post on my blog. I have been quite busy with photographing and I have had my first two guest photographers from the Netherlands (their pictures will be online soon). 

I have been a lot at the black grouse. After the snow melted, a nice blue layer of ice became visible on the bog where the black grouse have their courtship.  

The ice is of course perfect to check if all your feathers are still looking fine.

Tango!

I was really happy with this blue layer of ice, but the black grouse did not like it that much. It is not easy to impress the ladies when you keep falling down on the ice. 

Strike!

I have been photographing with a canon 40D body over the past few years. I almost always have it with me and it has been very loyal to me. But since a few weeks it starts to show problems. It doesn't always respond anymore to all the buttons, the autofocus starts to get worse and I get sometimes an error. So it is time to find a replacement camera. I'm looking at the 50D, 7D and 1D mark III. I'm lucky enough to have friends who own these bodies, so I can check them out before making my decision. I already have tried the 50D and 7D. I took the 50D to the black grouse lek and directly noticed a huge difference with my 40D. The iso performance, autofocus (speed and accuracy) and amount of pixels is much better than on my 40D. However, the amount of detail and coloration in the pictures seems to be better on my 40D. The shots below are taken with the 50D. 

Fighting? Or two old frieds happy to see each other again?

When a female is present, the males go crazy!

This male was displaying on the road.

The autofocus of the 50D had no problems with following this incoming bird.

I also tested the 7D. The autofocus and amount of pixels is even better than on the 50D, but the iso performance is better on the 50D, which I found weird. Also the amount of coloration in the pictures is less, but this must be changeable in the settings somewhere. Sadly enough, I didn't get too much wildlife in front of the camera when I was out with the 7D. But here are some pictures I took with it.

But for now I have to use my 40D (as far as that works out). With the right light conditions and a bit of luck, I still can get quite nice shots with it... like this flying osprey.

I hope to post the pictures of my two guest photographers soon.