Standing up

When a polar bear stands on it's hind legs, you realise how big an animal it is. This one from Copenhagen Zoo had caught the smell of the fish that the nearby seals were fed.

Mother Bear

Yesterday I showed you the bear cubs playing in the water. This one is of their mother looking at them with an almost tired or resigned expression as mothers do, when their boys have run wild for too long.

Back to the Zoo

For the next week or so, I'll take you back to the Copenhagen Zoo to show you some new photos from there from a visit a week ago. The first one is this series of the bear cubs as they wrestle in the water. It does seem like they are having great fun, as did I when taking these photos.

Three tufted ducks

The three female tufted ducks seemed almost to swim in sync as they eyed me warily.

Competition

These two water fowls, a little grebe and a coot seems to eye each other as they both seek food in a pond.

Going under

The common pochard is obviously a diving duck as can be seen here. This one was in fact diving under the ice of pond, staying out of sight for a considerably time.

Hide, there's another photographer!

These swans wasn't actually hiding from me, but rather searching for food.

Ravens

Probably some of the most photographed birds are the ravens from Tower of London. As their wings are clipped, they are not exactly here voluntarily. In my opinion it's one of the most misunderstood kind of birds as they are often portrayed as evil scavengers. In fact they are one of the most intelligent birds around.

Grey Squirrel

The grey squirrel has not come to Copenhagen in great numbers yet, but this one I found in a London park being handfed by the locals.

Getting ready for spring

The black headed gulls are shedding their winter plumage and are finally living up to their name again.

A Brambling

The brambling here kept trying to hide from me, but persistence prevailed.

How many?

If you study this photo you might notice that this mallard is a bit peculiar, as it seems to have three wings. It is, of cause, two mallards landing at the same time.

Wigeon in flight

The wigeons of yesterday's post kept circling your's truly, giving me amble time to get some decent shots of them in flight.

A flock of wigeons

A large flock of wigeons were congregating on the green lawns of the park Valbyparken when thaw came to Copenhagen.

A jay

The jay is not a bird that you'll normally notice in the parks of Copenhagen, but this one clearly liked to be in Vigerslevparken, as it kept a watchful eye on me.

A lot of magpies

The call of the magpies follow people around in the park Valbyparken in Copenhagen, as this is a favorite place of theirs.

Another greenfinch

At one of my favorite places for photographing birds near my home, a place called Tippen, I heard a lot of chattering in the shrubs. The cause of this noise were a colony of green finches, protesting my presence.

Un-known

When I'm out photographing I regularly come across birds, that I can't identify. This is one of them. Maybe you know it?

Seeking

A bit of long awaited sun brought these two blue tits out seeking for food while hopping from branch to branch and tree to tree.

"Leave me alone!

The blue tit here seemed a bit annoyed at me as I kept trying to get a good shot of it. It chatted all the time, maybe to warn me to keep my distance. But I did manage to get some decent shots of it, before it decided enough was enough and just flew away.

Syncronized Flying

The two swans here seemed like they were training for a new Olympic discipline, synchronized flying. They did make a splash at the end.

Right of way

This black-headed gull seems to think that it got the right of way as it crosses the street. It did get across safely...

The last sun

These three pigeons enjoy the last rays from the sun as it sets over Copenhagen.

Silhouette

The sunset in the background makes for a beautiful silhouette of this pigeon just as it takes flight.

Impressionisma

As I've told you before, I always (like everyone else) get home with a lot of photos that are out of focus, grainy, shaken or just plain bad. This one was not sharp and the iso was too high, so it's grainy, but even so I like it. It reminds me of the way some of the old impressionists did their paintings, so it didn't end up in the trash can after all. It is btw a blue tit leaving its branch just as I pulled the shutter.

The Eye

When out playing for the first time with a new toy of mine, a Sigma 150-500mm lens, I got the evil eye from this tufted duck, as it was drifting along the creek. The ducks should be used to the fella with the camera by now, but maybe I caught it at a wrong time.

A bit of green

This green finch added some colour in an otherwise white and grey landscape, sitting as it did high in a tree, maybe trying to get some much-needed sun-rays.

And the winner is ...

The winner of yesterdays contest for a frog was this hooded crow, a bird that is smaller than the herring gull, but it did manage to scare away the gull nonetheless.

Cuisses de grenouille

The juvenile herring gull here might be French, as it did seem to be very keen on getting away with these cuisses de grenouille or frogs leg (actually it was a whole frog). In hot pursuit were other gulls. Who the winner of this contest was, I'll show you tomorrow.

Another day, another duck

This tufted duck was photographed just a few minutes walk from my home in Copenhagen like so many other of the birds, I've shown you lately. And like most of the others, this one was a bit shy too...

The Ugly Duckling

Anyone reading H.C. Andersen's fairytale The Ugly Duckling will know that he's actually telling a tale about himself. The ugly duckling turns out to be a swan, but HCA did have a point; as can be seen on these photos the juvenile swans are not exactly beautiful compared to the adults.