PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE

When the Birds are Heading South

Week 112 of the photographic documentary of my daily life

Yes, it is that time of the year. Temperatures are dropping and so are the leaves of the trees. Birds are swarming above our heads grouping up for their long migration south.

So do we, eventually. My husband and I are seasonal workers fleeing south every winter to find a place where we can still skydive. Similar to birds, we migrate around the globe.

But this year, just like every other year, we’re still not sure where to.

Meanwhile, we’re watching the birds.

On Thursday morning it was raining and when I got out of the trailer, my flowers were decorated in delicate pearls. Raindrops were sparkling in the sun.

Friday I didn’t take any pictures apparently, apart from the ones at work. Here you see me looking up watching my canopy unfold. It’s my daily routine.

I started hearing in the morning what I thought were the calls of geese. I do know they do move south for the winter but I didn’t know we lived close by a resting ground of cranes. A large population of common cranes does weeklong stopovers in nearby lakes.

The birds sleep on the lakes and fly off to the surrounding fields every morning and return in the evening back to their sleeping grounds.

While Saturday was a bust, with no work due to heavy clouds and rain, on Sunday we got up in the sky despite horrible weather predictions. Luckily, sometimes, they are wrong.

I was filming a first-ever jump of a student. Not many students book an extra camera flyer but now I can show you a bit more about the process of becoming a skydiver.

After completing a 2-day ground course, the student will go up on the first solo skydive. Two instructors will be holding onto him from the exit of the airplane until he opens the parachute.

The moment of opening the parachute you can see below. The student has pulled the chute, but the instructors on both sides are still holding on, keeping the student stable until the parachute starts to unfold.

Then all three of us (the two instructors and me as the camera flyer) fall further while creating separation between us and then only open our own parachutes.

Interesting or scary?

I love sharing bits of information about my rather unusual work with my loyal readership. Some find it just stressful to read about, others like the informative parts.

Monday is our off day and as I was walking to the campground bathrooms I saw spectacular colors in the sky. I quickly walked back to grab my camera and capture the early morning sunrise.

Later that day I headed out to the nearby lakes to find the cranes in their resting grounds. I heard many of them would be to be seen during sunset.

But before spotting the cranes I saw a white couple. The bright shining swans were peacefully gliding along the canal. This swan is possibly a year-old juvenile. To be recognized on the gray beak which only turns into bright orange once adulthood is reached.

Back to the cranes. Here they are. Covering the evening sky above the lakes.

Another day, another rainy day in northern Germany. Tuesday turned into a forced day off since the weather gods weren’t with us. Lots of rain and low-hanging clouds.

However, a friend of ours visited us to spend time together. And after sitting out the heavy rainshower while playing a round of wizard, we headed out for a walk around the lakes again.

The three of us spotted tiny frogs, pollinators on the last blooming sunflowers, countless cranes resting on the lakes, and several other birds in between. I guess the white one in this flock of birds could be a great egret.

And then the kind of wildlife I did not expect to see on this walk. All of a sudden my husband made us (the girls) clear to shut up. He had heard something in the reeds.

I asked if it was a bird. He shook his head. He also wouldn’t make a thing about spotting a bird. Unless, maybe, it’s an eagle. But this was different.

Three seconds later a deer jumped out of the bushes running on the trail ahead of us. My husband started to whistle. My friend was asking if he thinks the deer would turn around that way. Of course not. But it will stop, look back, and give me the chance to take a perfect picture.

That’s what he does for me.

Thank you.

And Wednesday I have nothing more or less for you but a tiny puddle in the gravel road with circles inside of it. Yes, those circles were created by tiny drops of rain falling down onto the earth.

It was raining all day long.

This has been my week in photographs. 7 days. 7 photographs. Anyone can join. Once. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter. We welcome everyone! Dennett started this photography challenge in 2020 and many have participated ever since.

Erika / Eileen / K. Barrett / Juan / David / Mia / Susan / LensAfield / Kim / Barbara / Diana / Barb / Sandra / Shruthi / Ellie / Pene / Olive / Gustavo / Jane / Penny / Jillian / Shell / Ivy

And these are the previous weekly photo essays:

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