Sunday, March 28, 2010

"Come in Dr. Lobkova!"


At our ranger station in Valley of Geisers in Kronotsky Nature Reserve I was always the first to wake up way before sunrise. That way I could get to my shooting place in morning twilight. My dear friend and colleage, reserve ranger Volodya Zlotnikov, on the other hand, liked to stay in bed until 9am, when he had to radio reserve headquarters. Before leaving I usually had enough time to light the fire in the fireplace, to make coffee, and sometimes I even had time to write something to my journal. The same routine was going one morning, when I heard someone’s footsteps on the porch outside as I was sitting down to drink my fresh coffee and work on a laptop. “Come on in Dr. Lobkova” – I said aloud inviting a guest.
Couple of days earlier Dr. Lyudmila Lobkova, a well known biologist, has arrived to the Valley of Geisers research center. For several decades she has been studying how the insects have adapted to use the natural heat sources here in their life. Last night Dr. Lobkova, Volodya and I were having a tea party at our cabin – and Lyudmila brought a frying pan with some food. When she was going home, Lyudmila left it with remaining leftovers for us and said that she will come back in the morning to get the pan. So now I could not understand why she was still hesitating outside. “Come in, we are awake!” I repeated, but Lyudmila remained outside. The wooden floorboards were gently squeaking as she was shifting her weight from one foot to another, apparently feeling shy to come in.
I thought that maybe she did not hear my invitation, so I got up holding a laptop in my hands and pushed the door open with my foot. The door rammed into something soft so I have started to apologize... but stopped short when I lifted my eyes and saw a bear on! He looked quite peaceable and even embarrassed that he has violated our privacy. But who knows what is going on bear's mind!! I immediately grabbed the door handle and closed the door, noticing that both rifles, my friend’s and mine, were hanging on the wall by the entrance behind the bear.
When I put the laptop on the table inside, I heard “Dr. Lobkova” starting to turn apparently intending to leave. But the porch was quite narrow for such an “outstanding” visitor so household objects started falling down from the walls as he was turning. The rattle of falling firewood, metal buckets and empty boxes has wakened Volodya up. “What’s happening?” he asked sleepily. “Oh, it’s Lyudmila Lobkova: she looking for her frying pan on the porch.” I answered with perfectly calm intonation. Volodya jumped out of the bed, grabbed the pan from the table and rushed outside... But the door forcefully hit the bear’s bottom pushing the animal outside. Volodya instantly understood the situation and slammed the door closed.

We were listening to the snow crunching under the paws as our "Dr. Lobkova" went outside. In a second the animal appeared on a snowdrift next to our window. He was staring at us; our noses were not more than 2 feet apart separated only by a thin glass. Worryingly close we were studying each other. The bear’s nose and lips were silently moving as if he was trying to say something. “What could he be thinking?” I wondered in my head. And Volodya, as if he could read my mind answered: “He is inviting you outside to wrestle!” At this moment the bear probably understood that nothing useful can be found in our cabin and turned to walk away from our window towards the valley…

This photograph, that I took when just before our visitor left, is my first win in Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in 2006 in a category “Urban and Garden Wildlife". And I hope, not the last :)

You can view the original post in Russian here.

Friday, March 26, 2010

The White Storks: we are waiting for their return...

Originally posted by at Белые аисты, ожидание...
 

Где бы я ни жил в Брянском лесу, всегда приглашаю к себе в гости белых аистов. Сделать это несложно, поскольку аистам всегда не хватает безопасных и удобных для постройки гнезд мест. Достаточно затащить на высокое дерево или столб гнездовую платформу. Раньше для этого использовали негодное колесо от телеги или старую борону. Теперь же приходится сколачивать деревянную раму. На будущем гнезде закрепляют проволокой несколько сучьев, а края сооружения полезно обрызгать белой краской или известкой, имитируя пятна аистиного помета.
Несколько лет назад я притащил с лесосеки сухое сучковатое дерево, прикрепил на вершину гнездовую платформу, поднял дерево лебедкой и закопал комель глубоко в землю всего в нескольких шагах от своего дома в лесной деревне Чухраи рядом с заповедником "Брянский лес". Аистам гнездо пришлось по вкусу и у меня появились замечательные соседи, за которыми я никогда не устаю наблюдать…

После самой суровой на моей жизни зимы, Брянский лес накрыла волна весеннего тепла. На опушках появились первые проталины.  Каждый день появляются новые виды птиц: вовсю ликуют скворцы и жаворонки; снуют трясогузки и горихвостки, уже видел пролетающих цапель и чибисов.  
Но более всего я жду момента, когда на гнезде рядом с домом забарабанят клювами мои соседи-аисты. Если с ними все окажется благополучно, читатели моего журнала будут в курсе дел аистиной семьи.

А пока несколько весенне-аистиных снимков прошлых лет. (Извините, чуть позже пришлось добавить сегодняшние снимки - весна не стоит на месте!)
 












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П.С. Около семи вечера, ответив на первые комментарии к этому посту, в уже синеющих сумерках вышел на улицу и ахнул: семерка аистов бродит по оттаявшей кромке озера у моего дома и ищет пищу. Это явно пролетные птицы, они голодные и не обращают внимания на пустое гнездо. В ста метрах от них пасутся на оттаявшем выгоне серые журавли, чуть в стороне от журавлей перерывают проталину десяток кабанов. Прямо брянский Серенгети! Вернулся за камерой и успел сделать несколько непритязательных снимков аистов - в кадр попали только шесть. За моей работой и за аистами внимательно наблюдала Рыська - главная героиня предыдущего поста. Снял заодно и ее - она теперь знаменитость!








Monday, March 15, 2010

I started a blog!

Originally posted at Я уже в ЖЖ!

Welcome!In this blog I will tell you about the everyday life of a photographer-naturalist. I will be sharing my thoughts about photography, nature conservation efforts and life. And of course, I will be publishing many photos here, both recent and the ones from archives.