My Cold Greek Week

When preparing for the photographic tour with Arthur Morris and Robert O’Toole to Greece I was sort of anticipating for a bit more warmth: where I live in Switzerland the fields were still covered in snow since end of November so I hoped for a break. How wrong I was and I didn’t pack the right clothes. It was freezing and I was freezing in Greece. Daily temperatures were hardly ever getting over 5 degrees. How these Dalmatian Pelicans managed the cold was actually a mystery to me as they are more or less a subtropic species. The pelicans find a good winter home on Lake Kerkini because they are supported by local fishermen: whatever they cannot sell on local markets is tossed to them. This has been practiced ever since Lake Kerkini was created by men in the 1930’s: a dam was built to stow water for local agricultural irrigation.

This pelican was photographed with my new Canon 70-200mm II lens at 75mm. The pelicans were following the boat as we returned to shore and tossed fish to them.

A small island in the middle of the lake was used by the birds to rest and preen. As long as we approached the island carefully, the birds would stay and let us get some very close images.

Goto the Greece photo gallery here to see more images of my stay in Greece