Walking in Qinghai in winter, looking for birds and beasts in the forest—Olympus Ecological Photography Notes

Zhao E

In early December, the weather in the south was already cold, not to mention the temperature in the north. In such a winter, I would not have gone to the wild to take photos. However, work reasons required me to go to the Marco River Forest Farm in Qinghai Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve to investigate wild animals. I checked that the local temperature was about minus 10-15 degrees and the altitude was about 3500-4500 meters. If the temperature is low, you need to bring photography equipment that can withstand cold and frost; if you have to climb mountains at high altitude, you need to bring lightweight and convenient photography equipment to save energy. The first thing that flashed in my mind at that time was: "Olympus"!

In the end, I brought Olympus equipment. This equipment is very simple. It is a set of telephoto lenses and two extenders for various combinations: EM1X, M.ZD 300mm f4 IS PRO , MC-14 extender and MC-20 extender, and used this set of equipment to take many photos of various birds and beasts in fifteen days, and share them with everyone.

Let’s first talk about the wild birds we photographed!

On the plateau at an altitude of 2800-5000 meters, ground tits are the most abundant bird species and one of the most common birds. They can often be seen in shrubs, grasslands, rock piles, etc. It is active and its calls are also very clear, loud and distinctive, which is unforgettable.

(Photo by Zhao E, ground tit)

(Photo by Zhao E, ground tit likes to jump and "walk")

(Photo by Zhao E, ground tit foraging)

As the saying goes, one chicken is worth ten birds, but some chickens are so common that seeing them is less difficult than others. The blue-eared pheasant is an example. Because the local Tibetan compatriots protect it very well, a group of blue-eared pheasants will come down from the mountains from time to time in front of and behind some Tibetan houses, allowing you to take pictures. But you have to It’s difficult to take photos up close. Unless you take photos from a car or in disguise, the blue-eared pheasant will keep a safe distance from you.

(Photo by Zhao E, the blue-eared pheasant)

(Photo by Zhao E, the several-hair version of the blue-eared pheasant)

After the sun rises, the sunlight will bring With the warmth, various birds followed the waves of birds and came one after another. Common birds such as White-browed Rosefinch, Dawn Rosefinch, Rock Pipit, Brown Rock Pipit, and Gothier's Rock Pipit keep appearing, and their calls come and go, like a morning song. Olympus has given full play to its advantages in photographing forest birds. It is easy to find and chase birds when held hand-held, and it is even easier to change angles without any worries.

(Photographed by Zhao E, a male white-browed rosefinch)

(Photographed by a female rosefinch, Zhao E)

(Photographed by a white-browed rosefinch " "Cute" version (photo by Zhao E)

(Environmental version) (Photo by Zhao E)

(Dawn male Suzaku bird photographed by Zhao E)

(Dawn Suzaku male Front view of the bird (Photographed by Zhao E)

(Photographed by Zhao E, male Rock Pipit)

(Photographed by Zhao E, male Brown Rock Pipit)

(Goshi Photo by Zhao E, Rock Bunting)

There are also some very beautiful birds mixed in the bird waves. The Pied Piper Warbler and the Black-crowned Chickadee are two of them. , but it is unforgettable. The black-capped chickadee is also pretty. It hangs upside down on a branch to feed. Especially when jumping from one branch to another, the black-capped chickadee will open its wings to maintain its balance. The whole scene gives people a startling glimpse.

(Photographed by Zhao E, the colorful bird and warbler)

(Photographed by Zhao E, jumping in flight)

(Photographed by Zhao E, the black-crowned tit)

(Photo by Zhao E of the Black-crowned Tit spreading its wings)

The Great Noisy Babbler is the noisiest bird, with a loud voice. Sometimes two or three can make me dizzy, but the Great Noisy Babbler She is so beautiful, like a noble lady dressed in pearls, with a very good appearance. Olympus has also taken advantage of the fact that it's easy to shoot in the forest, and the photos taken are really worth the money.

(Photo by Zhao E of the Great Noisy Babbler)

(Photo by Zhao E of the close-up version of the Great Noisy Babbler)

Magpies are most common in Tibetan areas, but some Ornithologists discovered that the magpies in Qinghai are different from magpies, so they separated the magpies in Qinghai area and called them: Qinghai magpies. So I reluctantly got close and took a standard photo.

(Photo by Qinghai Magpie Zhao E)

There are many pigeons in pagodas and temples in Tibetan areas, all of which are rock pigeons. Rock pigeons, temples, and monks constitute the habitat of the species. A harmonious scene of survival. After taking a close-up of the rock pigeon with my Olympus, I started snapping various photos of it flying between temples. The focusing performance and continuous shooting speed of EM1X meet my needs for shooting flying editions.

(Photo by Zhao E, close-up of Rock Pigeon)

(Photo by Zhao E, Flying Edition 1)

(Photo by Zhao E, Flying Edition 2)

(Photo by Zhao E on Flying Edition 3)

There are still waterfowl in the Marco River in winter. I didn’t have time to add a magnifying glass, so I took a photo from a distance. After cropping and enlarging it, I can still see it. The eyes of common mergansers are not as detailed, but there is nothing wrong with the recording photos.

(Common Merganser photographed by Zhao E)

There are streams in the ravines in the forest farm, which merge into the Marco River. The weather is freezing and cold, but there are still birds flying, diving, and hunting in the streams. This is the river crow. The river crow is very beautiful, at least much more beautiful than the common brown river crow in the south that I have photographed. Of course, there are also birds in the forest farm. The brown river crow, but my attention was attracted by the river crow and I couldn't move my feet. The river crow on the ice and snow also cooperated very well and posed very beautifully.

(Photo by Zhao E, Hewu)

(Photo by Zhao E, Hewu visiting)

Birds of prey will always be the overlords in the vast world of Qinghai, and the most common bird of prey is the The vultures are very beautiful. When the weather is good, you can take pictures of them flying in the blue sky. The unique "Oba Blue" is pleasing to the eye. However, the Bearded Vultures I encountered later, especially the sub-adults, all flew very high. I only managed to record a flying photo of the sub-adults. Olympus can easily capture this kind of flying version with a pure background. Even if the background is complex, it can be adjusted to a more precise five-point bubble focus for accurate capture.

(Photo by Zhao E, the "Obalan" version of the Hu vulture)

(Photo by Zhao E, the background version of the Hu vulture)

(Photo by Zhao E, the sub-adult version of the Hu vulture) Photo by E)

In addition to the Bearded Vulture, the Alpine Vulture is the most common here. Like the Bearded Vulture, this species eats carrion, but in terms of appearance, the Bearded Vulture is much better than the Alpine Vulture. To use a common saying , that is, "one in the sky and one on the ground." There are more opportunities to take photos of alpine vultures, so I picked out one photo each without a telescope and one with a telescope. If you don’t use a teleconverter, the angle of view is large, and you can take environmental flying shots in harmony with the surrounding environment; if you use a teleconverter, the angle of view is too small, and you can take close-up flying shots. Unfortunately, the weather was not good during the days of shooting.

(Alpine vulture environmental version photo by Zhao E)

(Alpine vulture photo by Zhao E)

(Alpine vulture panning photo by Zhao E)

Giant buzzards are rarely seen in the Mako River Forest Farm. You can only see a few sporadically in the broad alpine pastures and meadows. This is just what I encountered on the way to Goluo Prefecture, Olympuska The distance of the 2x teleconverter is still very far, but when I looked at the video after taking the shot, I was satisfied with the bokeh and the sharpness of the shot.

(Photographed by Zhao E, the giant buzzard)

On the way after taking the photo of the giant buzzard, I encountered an adult prairie eagle. The distance was much closer. With the help of the 2x teleconverter, Take it steadily, the details and image quality are not bad.

(Photographed by Zhao E, an adult grassland eagle)

The vertically striped little owl is the only owl I photographed this time. It stopped on a telephone pole in a daze, and I After locking it with Olympus, a car was coming from a distance. I thought it was going to fly, so I quickly changed the shooting mode to low-speed professional shooting mode and set the focus to continuous tracking focus. When the car passed by and it was flying, I pressed the shutter and picked two of them. One was the moment when it was about to fly and spread its wings, and the other was the moment when it was flying into the air and was about to change direction and fly away. Olympus allows me to capture great moments with ease.

(Photo by Zhao E of the little owl with vertical stripes on its belly)

(Photo by Zhao E when it spreads its wings)

(Photo by Zhao E when it flies into the air)

Let’s share some photos of animals.

Before sharing photos of animals, let me first introduce to you the difficulty of photographing animals in their natural state. If it could be summed up in one word, it would be "difficult", in two words: "difficult", in three words: "super difficult". Animals are different from birds. Animals can detect you through hearing, smell, vision, etc. when you are hundreds of meters or even kilometers away from them. If you want to get close to take pictures, you have no choice but to do so. A species of beast allows you to get close to it, or you encounter a beast that is curious about humans in the wild, or you are lucky enough to encounter an individual beast that is not afraid of humans.

(Pictured at Pass 1 with a cell phone, photographed by Zhao E)

(Pictured at Pass 2 with a cell phone, photographed by Zhao E)

(The author’s own photo of Olympus in a harsh environment It is more suitable for portable shooting)

(The wind and snow poured in, and the Oba lens was used normally. Photographed by Zhao E)

It is also difficult to meet the beasts in the Marco River Forest Farm, but everything is there Exceptionally, the more you climb the mountain, the chances of encountering animals will increase exponentially. No, we encountered the national first-class protected animal tufted deer, which is called "black deer (elder deer)" by Tibetans, and that day We also saw two different individuals. The first one was really curious. We took pictures of it and it looked at us curiously. At that time, I thought, in the era of illegal hunting, you must have been there for a long time. Died violently. Wild animals should remain wild, this is the safest way for them. Olympus played a key role again at this time. It was snowing heavily when I was hiking up the mountain. Olympus was not only very light and easy to carry, allowing me to run in the mountains without feeling strenuous, but it was also very good at resisting severe cold, wind and snow, and the snow poured into the front of the lens. After clearing it off, there were no issues with use. The battery capacity of EM1X is also very high. I used it for a whole day and took more than a thousand photos.

(Photo by Zhao E, a curious crested deer)

(Photo by Zhao E, another crested deer that ran away timidly)

Then I met Tibetans The other national second-level protected animal "red deer" mentioned is actually called sambar. This kind of deer is very beautiful, but it is also very wary and not easy to get close to take pictures. I added a 2X telescope at that time to take pictures. I took many photos of it. Since the focal length reached 1200mm and the shooting sharpness of Olympus was amazing, I used my mobile phone to connect the EM1X to directly take out the photos. After zooming in, the details were better than those taken by the survey team members using Canon 640 and 856. better. The photo of eating and defecating at the same time fully reflects the behavioral characteristics of the sambar deer.

(Photo by Zhao E, a female sambar deer)

(Photo by Zhao E, a sambar deer pulling while eating)

There is another kind of deer that Tibetans say The "big deer" is the red deer, a national second-level protected animal. I photographed this deer at a pass at an altitude of 4,300 meters. At that time, the car could only drive to an altitude of 4,000 meters due to icy roads. At that time, we We saw red deer half a kilometer away, but they ran very fast towards the pass, so we followed them on foot. Thanks to the compactness and lightness of the Olympus, if it were a SLR camera system, I would never have been able to climb up quickly. Go to an altitude of 4,300 meters and take photos of red deer. Thanks to Olympus. Although I used a 2x teleconverter and the distance is far, the picture quality is not good, but I am very satisfied.

(Photo by Zhao E, a red deer on the hillside)

(Photo by Zhao E, a red deer preparing to cross the ridge)

They say that wherever there are pikas and rabbits, there are There are Tibetan foxes, and sure enough, the plateau pikas over there have me fascinated by the photos. Each plateau pika is very cute, with nice coat color, fat and big size. No wonder Tibetan Fox likes it. Some Tibetan foxes in Qinghai are very afraid of people, and some are not afraid of people. It depends on your luck when shooting. Unfortunately, I encountered an individual who was extremely afraid of people, so I could only enjoy taking two record photos from a distance.

(Photo by Zhao E, the plateau rat rabbit)

(Photo by the cautious plateau rat rabbit, Zhao E)

(“Cute” plateau rat rabbit, Zhao E (Photo by Zhao E, the Tibetan Fox)

(Photo by Zhao E, the Tibetan Fox)

(Photo by Zhao E, the Tibetan Fox who turns back three times in one step)

I have already seen the Tibetan Fox, how could I There is no red fox. Compared with the square-faced and honest Tibetan fox, the red fox is more like a fox. However, red foxes are not common in the forest area. After leaving the forest area, on the way to Goluo Prefecture, the encounter rate is not low. It takes two hours to drive. , only 4 were seen. I used Olympus to record several photos of red foxes in the snow from a distance.

(Photo by Zhao E, red fox in the snow)

(Photo by Zhao E, looking back covertly)

What is the "white butt" of the Tibetan gazelle? I met by chance on the road. I’m really not afraid of people. Of course, wolves will also like the places where there are Tibetan gazelles. The food chain is always present in nature. The group of wolves I saw walking one kilometer away , I first took a few record photos with Olympus, then drove over to get closer to take pictures, but who knew that in the blink of an eye they disappeared, leaving only this record photo, but I finally captured the wolves.

(Photo by Zhao E, Tibetan gazelle)

(This male has bigger horns, preparing to cross the road. Photo by Zhao E)

(Photo by Zhao E, wolf pack) )

(Photo by Zhao E, the monkey king who scratches the itch)

(Photo by Zhao E, the macaque picking the sea buckthorn fruit)

(Photo by Zhao E, the macaque who picked the sea buckthorn fruit)

(Photo by Zhao E, the macaque in the forest)

(Photo by Zhao E, the macaque is still quite alert)

After taking the photo of the senior brother, it was natural for the second senior brother to appear. As a nocturnal beast, the encounter rate of wild boar during the day is really low. Fortunately, my senior brother led my second senior brother, so I was able to photograph this species in the wild, which is very difficult to photograph. When I took the photo, this wild boar was digging into the soil. Our conversation while filming caught its attention, and it stared at us while we were filming. Finally, it gave up the attack and walked away leisurely.

(The gaze of the "Second Senior Brother" wild boar, photographed by Zhao E)

(Endemic species in China: Tibetan mountain stream salamander, photographed by Zhao E)