Capercaillie and White-tailed Eagle

FANTASTIC COMBINATION FOR THE WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER!

First several nights in exciting Norwegian forest environment with the "tiuren", which is capercaillie in Swedish. And after that three nights and two full days at sea with the white-tailed eagles and Ole Martin Dahle.

We have chosen the time period at the turn of April-May because it is during these days that the hens usually come to the capercaillie's mating ground. In other words, great chance for exciting scenes and even for mating.

Capercaillie mating display is one of the most exciting things you can experience in the spring forest. At this beautifully located mating ground, up to 10-12 cocks can show up, and it happens that several of them meet at the hides and even clash. A capercaillie cock fight goes wild, and they can keep fighting for up to twenty minutes and then rest panting for another twenty minutes.

There are good chances that we are there when the hens arrive, which can create these fights between the cocks.

We are transported out to the hides in the evening by ATV or snowmobile, and we are assigned our respective hides in which there are sleeping mats and a Jerven bag (a kind of insulated and very warm sleeping bag).

By eight, half past eight in the evening at the latest, we must be ready. The first capercaillies come to the mating ground already at or shortly after nine in the evening.

And then it fills up until midnight. The capercaillies usually settle in pine trees around the mating ground.

At three o'clock at night they come down to the mating ground while it is still partially dark, and they start the display that lasts until nine o'clock, but it can continue for another hour after that.

Shortly after ten o'clock we are picked up and driven to Eggen farm where we eat and sleep to go out to the hides again the next evening.

"FISH IS OUT, EAGLE IS COMING" shouts Ole Martin Dahle from his position at the helm. Ole Martin operates the boat with experienced hands, he knows where the eagles are, he checks the wind direction and after throwing the fish he positions the boat so that we get the eagle either from the side, diagonally from the front or in the best case almost straight from the front. Everything depends on the circumstances: the wind's direction and strength and the position of the sun but also on which eagle it is.

In Ole Martin Dahle's eagle kingdom in Nord-Trøndelag, we're talking about more than a hundred eagles, if you count the younger ones too. The white-tailed eagles recognize the boat and Ole Martin. It's usually enough that we approach a territory for the eagles to "know" that now there will be extra fish.

Over the years, Ole Martin has refined his photo skills and his homemade technique. Regardless of which direction the eagle comes from, Ole Martin always ensures that we "shoot" on the left side of the boat. We never need to hesitate, when the eagle approaches, the boat will be positioned with the port side toward the direction where the eagle will make its dive to take the fish. The photographers can concentrate on getting the shots.

We can have special requests, we want backlight or front light. Often it can be solved for a few dives but wind and sun direction determine what is possible on each occasion (and we only want to take pictures of the dive and eagle catch from behind in exceptional cases).

We run two tours, morning and evening. We have two full days with opportunities for fantastic images, images that we may have only dreamed of before.

We are out for up to four hours at a time, morning and evening. Since the days are long, there are many free hours in the middle of the day. Those who want can then photograph from a newly built hide where birds drink and bathe and the water gives a beautiful reflection.

Frode will come in the evening when we arrive to give advice and tips, both regarding focusing and exposure, both a bit extra tricky. Same on the boat. And if you're a beginner, don't worry, you can shoot away 95% of the images and you'll still come home with pictures you might never have thought you'd get.

During the white-tailed eagle days we stay in Ørnehuset, a modern, airy and cozy house next to one of the fjords down on Ole Martin's property.

NOTE! This is partly a test trip, Brutus has photographed capercaillie nearby but not at this exact location. But we're running it because we have received such strong recommendations from other photographers. The price is reduced.

With reservation for any typos, hopefully obvious ones. :)

A trip where we combine the spectacular capercaillie mating display in fine Norwegian forest and mountain environments with two full days at sea in a beautiful fjord landscape. Four photo days and nights with unparalleled opportunities for action shots you might not even have dreamed of being able to get.

Capercaillie mating display is one of the most exciting things you can experience in the spring forest. At this beautifully located mating ground, up to 10-12 cocks can show up, and it happens that several of them meet at the hides and even clash.

Photograph white-tailed eagles in action in an environment that is absolutely wonderful. When you come out between the islands or into the fjords between the mighty mountains, it's about wilderness, or wilderness sea.

Now it's the photography that's at the center, but both the capercaillie displays and the white-tailed eagle days are fundamentally about a nature experience of the highest rank.

NOTE! This is partly a test trip, Brutus has photographed capercaillie nearby but not at this exact location. But we're running it because we have received such strong recommendations from other photographers.

But therefore the price is reduced.