2 am start. 5-hour drive. It was absolutely worth every lost hour of sleep. We were aiming to arrive at the lake just before sunrise. In my mind I had this vision of a pelican in the golden light and I was really keen to capture it this time around. We arrived on time, only there wasn’t much of a sunrise. Instead the whole lake was covered in thick fog. Mixed feelings. I wasn’t sure if it was a good or a bad thing yet. Spoiler alert – it happened to be truly incredible.
My dad who speaks Greek asked the boatman, Anestis, how does he navigate in such dense fog, to which he replied, I don’t, in fact, I just thought we were lost a minute ago. I laughed.
A few minutes later the boat stopped in the middle of nowhere, with the visibility being no more than 30 feet in any particular direction. Anestis then proceeded to call the birds, shoting “Ela, ela”, meaning come, come, in Greek. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to get them to come to us or trying to chase them away from us. Me and dad started laughing. To our disbelief two pelicans showed up in a matter of minutes and what followed was nearly 2 hours of us and the two birds in the middle of the foggy lake.
Photography Talk
The weather and light conditions changed multiple times in those two hours, allowing me to capture a variety of images employing various techniques. There was plenty of light available as well, more than enough to freeze motion without having to crank the ISO up too high.
I had my 180-600mm Nikkor Z lens which was a total overkill for the situation. I ended up using my wedding set up – 35mm and 85mm lenses 99% of the time and I really loved it. Those were much lighter and much faster to focus. I loved it.
In 6 years of wildlife photography I hadn’t ever had such an amazing time. I was able to get creative with light, reflections, silhouettes, and even use layering on occasions later on when more than 50 pelicans swarmed us.
When I Thought it was Over
On our way back the fog lifted off completely, the pelicans spotted the boat and flock by flock flew over from the other side of the lake. They were on top of the boat, flying by the boat, behind and in front of it. They were everywhere. Such a surprise to me and dad, as we thought it was all over and we weren’t going to see any more birds on the way back. I was so chuffed that I could capture the birds with the mountains (now visible) in the background. It was such an incredible ending to our adventure.
A Litte About the Lake
Lake Kerkini was artificially created in 1932 on the site of what was previously an extremely extensive marshland. The lake’s main water source is the Strymon River and the lake is now home to hundreds of wildlfie species. There are over 300 bird species (both residents and migratory), including pelicans (dalmatian and great white pelicans), flamingoes, cormorants, eagles, kingfishers, bee eaters and tons more.
The lake is one of the premier birdwatching sites in Greece, attracting birdwatchers, photographers like myself and nature lovers from all over the world. Lake Kerkini is surrounded by mountains on most all sides, turning the beautiful place into a fantastic backdrop for photos.
This was my second and certainly not last time visiting the lake. The weather conditions this time around turned my time around from snapping wildlife headshots with my giant lens to getting creative much like I do at weddings with my wedding photography set up. I truly loved it and I can’t wait to return. Thanks, dad, for driving, translating, and making the whole trip so much more enjoyable.
