The Dalmatian Pelicans of Kerkini

I love wildlife photography, but I really don’t do birds.

Well, maybe there’s one exception… if they are extremely colorful, very big, or come in huge numbers. One day, I saw just one picture of a strange animal with orange around the eyes, and a sort of wild and hairy hairstyle… Shit, it’s a bird. A pelican. I just had to go and photograph one.

So I did some research. These are Dalmatian pelicans, they are the rarest of the world’s 7 pelican species, and they are BIG ! The second biggest bird species on the planet : 1.2m tall, weight 6-10kg and a wingspread of up to 3.2m. And lucky me, they are not so far away ! About 10% of the mating pairs are found in northeastern Greece, close to the Bulgarian border, on a lake called Kerkini. The name Vasilis  kept showing up in the reviews I read, so I decided we needed him too. A few months later, when everybody else was getting ready for the skiing season, we boarded a plane to Thessaloniki, Greece. 

To photograph birds…

Getting there is not too hard, but will probably take a lot of time. You fly to Thessaloniki, maybe with a stopover in Athens, if you are lucky you fly direct. Then 1.5-2 hrs by car, rent one or get a hotel to pick you up. There are lots of hotels, pensions or B&B to choose from, situated all around the lake. We stayed at the town of Kerkini in a wonderfully welcoming small 3 star hotel (that’s the best you will get). There were blazing fires in the lounge and dining room, and all the lovely rustic rooms had a private fireplace. The food was really good, and the price very agreeable. Did smell a bit smokey 😉

As for the pelicans, you don’t find them, they find you. They are afraid of people and  normally don’t even stay here over the winter. But the fishermen of Kerkini have started to feed them, and now they feel safe, and have enough food, so they stay. To cut a long story short:

just head out onto the lake and bring enough fish, the pelicans will find you !

As soon as they hear a boat the first one shows up, and soon more follow. Maybe I am imagining this, but I believe they know which boat is Vasilis, and they can’t wait for him to start throwing out fish. It’s just more fun when he comes out onto the  lake. Just make sure you do have a bin full of fish, something like 30 kilo per trip, to feed the pelicans, which will cost you dearly. Turns out we spent more on fish to feed the pelicans than on our private dinners.

Vasilis our guide and boat driver has worked here for years and really knows his pelicans. Don’t just throw the fish out and feed them, make them work for it he said. They love to fly, it costs them little effort, and to demonstrate this, he sped across the lake throwing out fish whilst  speeding along at full throttle. The pelicans followed and went for the fish, making all sorts of acrobatic moves to be the first to get to the fish, but hardly ever managed to catch one directly. Well, to their defense, fish normally don’t fly !

 

What sort of photographs you get depends on the number of pelicans, sometimes there were so many of them following us or swimming around the boat, that the photos were one big mess of white feathers and red beaks, no knowing which belonged to which pelican. The weather is a big factor too. We were lucky to experience all weather types possible, which was great, the group which arrived after we left, got 3 days of pouring rain, which is terrible. And you need a pelican whisperer, who knows how to get them to fly, when and where to throw the fish in order to get them to head up or dive down, and check for the best backgrounds whilst doing so.

The first trip the harbor was partly frozen, so Vasilis went out early to „open up“ the water so we could get out. The shores were white and cold and snowy, the light was very low. But the lake was flat like a sheet, and the birds reflected in the water as if it was a mirror. 

The afternoon trip we got a little bit of a sunset, and the light reflecting in the ice-cold water made for nice effects

The morning after that the weather forecast said clear and sunny skies. Forget it, we had a thick white fog, blending out all around us, so this was good for some high key shots and close ups. Plus we tried out the flash in the early morning hours, which added a different touch as well.

 

 

The afternoon was brilliant, and the light warm and golden. Unfortunately our super guide Vasilis was out with other guests.. Never mind, the hotel boss Yoannis stepped in to drive our boat, and the waiter Christo came along to translate. They had a ball feeding the pelicans, throwing the fish out at random, the pelicans at our heels. Which ensured us a lot of good close shots, no flying ones though, the pelicans had an easy afternoon today.

 

Our last trip was not so good, rain, wind, storm, choppy waves and dark grey clouds. No light, no reflections, but the pelicans looked funny, their „hair“ being blown all over their faces, almost in a Trump-like manner. Made for some nice close shots and as they came and sat on the roof we got some nice pics too, even if it wasn’t a natural surrounding. 

It seemed they love to fly in this weather because we had more pelicans than ever around our boat and they kept flying just 1-2m from our side, looking us, or rather Vasilis, in the eyes all the time, ready to be the one to get the fish. Honest, if Vasilis just moved his right arm they dived in !

I loved every boat ride, and at times laughed out loud at the moves the pelicans made, or when they tried really hard and just missed the fish once again.

Am I now a birder ? Oh no !

I don’t wear camouflage clothing, don’t go nuts over tiny little brown birds with long legs, don’t have a 600mm lens or a tripod ( well I have but I didn’t bring it) and I don’t drag a hide along either. But these  birds have captured my heart !

Efcharisto to Vasilis our super pelican whisperer, and Jiannis, Christo, Christos, Irene, Stavrula, Elias and all others I forgot to mention at the Oligoperdiitis Hotel. It was great staying with you guys !

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