Filming & Photographing Wildlife from a Floating Hide | Great Crested Grebes Courtship dance - video Dailymotion

George S Blonsky

Dear Friends, A few months ago I was gifted a floating hide.. after the first few attempts back in January were thwarted by thick fog and freezing conditions, I decided now that was here to give it another go.  So join me for a little wildlife photography and videography in my first proper foray in the floating hide photographing and filming Great Crested Grebes performing their courtship dances, Coots sprinting about on the water and other birds in the beautiful early morning mist on Lake Kerkini in Greece.  Hope you enjoy watching, all the best to you all g  Non-Affiliated Link to the Hide: https://www.floating-hide.com/  Please note as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases which will not affect the price you pay.  Complete list of affiliated links to my favourite gear &amp; clothing plus other resources I am happy to recommend: https://georgesblonsky.com/resources/  or... visit my Amazon storefront at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/georgesblonsky-geopictorial?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsfshop_aipsfgeorgesblonsky-geopictorial_W5WJ9NPTVZPRM87Z5QD9  Website: photography workshops, resources &amp; more: https://georgesblonsky.com/    If you&#039;d like to support my work please visit m

Transcript

00:00Thank you for joining us.

01:07So hello my friends.

01:09I hope you're doing well.

01:11This morning you find me in a floating hide.

01:19And the story of which I will do an add-on at the end of this video to tell you

01:26a little

01:26bit about the hide and how I came upon it, how I came to own it.

01:35So stay watching to the end if you're interested in that and all the details about the hide.

01:41But today, I did have a go, I've had it for a few months now, and I tried back in

01:47January

01:48to come out and do some filming of the flamingos and pelicans and what have you from the hide,

01:55from the water, low angle stuff and all of that.

01:59Three times I tried, and three times I was scuppered by intense fog.

02:06Plus it was so, so cold, spending three hours at a time in the hide in the water.

02:11I was absolutely freezing at the end of it.

02:14So, and I haven't had an opportunity to get back in it since then.

02:19Today is Easter Sunday, so it's very quiet on the lake.

02:23Everybody in Greece is sleeping off their midnight celebrations.

02:30So I have the area pretty much to myself, which is nice.

02:35And I'm going to come out here to one of the little harbours where there's reed beds,

02:41and hopefully be able to film some of the bird life around here.

02:46So I thought I would bring you that this morning.

02:50Okay, I'm going to wade out a little bit further now.

02:52I've just been sat here for a while, so that any birds that are around get used to the presence

02:59of the hide.

03:02And I'll just make my way out slowly and see what I see.

03:06It's still about half an hour before sun up, so I've got a little bit of time to get into

03:13position.

03:13So I shall catch up with you in a second.

03:25So the light is starting to come up a little bit.

03:28I'm getting a couple of shots of grebes and coots and what have you.

03:32Floating around and doing their mirroring behaviour.

03:37Diving, that sort of thing.

03:39I haven't seen much else of anything else yet, other than some loud geese flying over,

03:47which from the hide here is not so easy to get.

03:50There's a lovely mist on the water as well, which hopefully should add a little bit of atmosphere to the

03:57shots.

04:00Oh, there's a storm flying here.

04:03Flying across to the other side of the bay.

04:06So I'm just going to keep shooting here, seeing what I can get.

04:13Hopefully put a little story together of the harbour and the grebes and their mating activity.

04:20Let's try and focus on this.

04:21It's really hard to focus in the fog that I have to say.

04:25But what I'm finding useful, in terms of focusing, is actually switching on the false colour.

04:36Which is a way of making sure your exposure is correct, but it's actually helping out in focusing as well.

04:45When it's in that mode.

04:51So I'm shooting at quite a high ISO at the moment.

04:553200.

04:58Which I shall try now, to drop and see what that gives me.

05:03I think I prefer that.

05:04So I've switched to 1250.

05:08And hopefully that will get me a better quality of image.

05:12Because the 3200 on the black magic is not great.

05:20There must be...

05:211, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.

05:3118 great crested grebes in front of me right now.

05:35So I'm a little bit spoilt for choice.

05:38But what I'm going to try and do is pick one couple and follow them around.

05:46And hope that they do their full display at some point.

05:51Because that's what I'm really after.

05:53So they do a...

05:53There's two kinds of displays they do.

05:55One is where they just face each other and do a mirroring.

05:59And the other is where they sort of drift apart.

06:02Dive down and the male comes up with some weeds, leaves and things.

06:07And they swim towards each other and they come up high on their legs.

06:11And just fluttering their legs really fast.

06:14They come up out of the water.

06:16And do the mirroring thing again.

06:19And it's quite a lovely display.

06:21So hopefully I will be able to capture that at some point this morning.

06:26Anywho, enough talking from me.

06:28I'll get back to filming.

06:30And there's a pair there right now.

06:33Just doing the mirroring behaviour.

06:38And I'll get back to you in a little while.

06:44Sun's come up nice and bright.

06:46There's no cloud.

06:47There's a little bit of fog.

06:49But this time of year the sun has swung round now behind the mountain.

06:55So by the time it does come up it's already at a high angle.

06:59Which means light gets harsh fast.

07:04Thankfully the fog is softening it up a little bit.

07:07So I'm still getting some nice shots.

07:10But none of the full display yet.

07:14I've got a few shots of them mirroring each other.

07:20But none of the full display yet.

07:26Oh, there's a pelican flying in.

07:39The other thing with filming from the floating hide is that it's not the most stable of platforms.

07:51Even though it's completely flat water this morning.

07:55There's no wind or waves or anything.

07:58But despite that the bubbling around makes it really hard to keep a steady shot.

08:03Perfect for photography though.

08:07So what I might do is actually come back again.

08:12Maybe tomorrow even.

08:15And put the stills camera on instead of the video camera.

08:18And see what stills I can get.

08:21Because I think it's going to be far more appropriate for that.

08:25I'll see if I can stabilise these shots a little bit in post.

08:30But in general I think it's going to be tough to use it for filming.

08:39Still, I mean, the little, the crested creep that's in front of me now is literally, what, 10 metres away?

08:52So it allows you to get really, really close to the birds.

08:56And I'm shooting at the wider end of the zoom.

09:07Which also helps with the stability actually.

09:12The more you zoom the more pronounced the wobble becomes.

09:23I'm just trying to catch them displaying.

09:32And so far no luck.

09:35Okay, I shall keep going with this until it becomes too, uh, too harsh.

09:41Are they going to do it?

09:45Oh, that's just a normal display.

10:00Oh my goodness, that one just came up out of the water literally a few feet from me.

10:15So shooting into the sun as well makes for a difficult exposure.

10:23Trying to follow this pair around.

10:27And they've been doing the normal type of, uh, displaying.

10:33I did get a distance shot of a different pair, uh, that I happened across as I was panning.

10:39And I saw them in the far distance displaying in the, uh, in the mist.

10:44I have no idea what, uh, that shot would look like because it was, uh, against the sun.

10:51And I hadn't changed my exposure, uh, from the pair that I was following at that moment.

11:01So fingers crossed something will come of that one.

11:05But I thought I'd, uh, invite Murphy's Law by pouring myself a cup of coffee.

11:16And no doubt, as soon as I've done that, that's when they will display.

11:24Because I've been in the water now a couple of hours.

11:31And, uh, starting to seize up.

11:48Oh goodness, don't tell me.

11:56I thought for a moment they were going to do it.

11:58Just as I had predicted.

12:01But I think he had food in his mouth, not, uh, not the weeds.

12:09There's one couple there, and I think there was another couple around here.

12:12Let me turn around.

12:15And they seem to have disappeared.

12:18Okay, there's a few squakos in the, um, reeds there.

12:22Oh, there they are.

12:24That's the couple there.

12:27So they've just been diving and feeding and what have you.

12:32So what I might try and do as well is, um, come down more regularly.

12:41Sort of every week.

12:43And follow their progress.

12:45Um, because it's difficult to predict when they will have the babies.

12:51And that's one of the cutest images that you can get with their little zebra patterned, uh, babies riding on

12:59their back.

13:00That would be a lovely shot to get as well.

13:02Maybe then I can put together a larger sequence with footage from today with the, um, the bonding rituals that

13:14they do, the mating.

13:16Uh, and, um, and then with the babies on the backs.

13:21That could be quite nice.

13:23We'll see.

13:28Been in the hide for about three hours now.

13:31And I'm in a kneeling position on the bottom.

13:35Uh, so it's quite tiring and, um, getting a little bit stiff in, in the water.

13:47It's not freezing cold.

13:49Um, it's bearable.

13:52Sorry, there's a male.

13:56Crested grebe is just showing some protective behavior.

14:07Um, but, uh, I think I've got a few shots.

14:12Um, hopefully enough to put a sequence together.

14:16Um, which I will show you in just a second.

14:20Um, oh, he's being protected again.

14:29You can probably hear him.

14:34Oh, and I've just been joined by a leech.

14:40Horrible things.

14:45Yuck.

14:51Don't even want to touch him.

14:58Um, I will show you also, after the sequence, I'll show you, um, if you want to hang around

15:05for it, that is, uh, a few minutes worth of video, uh, where I show you the hide.

15:11Uh, how it, um, how it works, how it goes together.

15:16The story of how I came to, uh, have it.

15:19Uh, it was a gift, as, as you'll find out in a sec.

15:23Um, it's a nice pair of grebes.

15:36Oh, and he's being protected.

15:38Let's see if it's gonna, there's gonna be an argument.

15:51No, okay.

15:52Um, so if you're interested in that, hang about for that.

15:57And I'll put a link to where you can get one if you're interested in getting one.

16:00Um, it's not an affiliate, it won't be an affiliate link.

16:03Um, it's, uh, just if you're interested in acquiring them, I will gain nothing from it.

16:09Um, and, um, yeah, I shall see you again, all very soon, hopefully, uh, in the next video.

16:22Uh, thanks so much for watching and following along.

16:25And, uh, I'll see you next time.

16:27Bye for now.

16:28Bye.

17:00Bye.

17:33Bye.

17:58Bye.

18:29Bye.

18:58Bye.

19:31Bye.

19:33Bye.

20:00Bye.

20:02Bye.

20:28Bye.

20:30Bye.

21:02Bye.

21:02A couple of months ago, an Austrian chap who had seen a couple of my videos from the lake

21:08here, uh, got in touch with me, and asked him if I'd be able to, uh, show him a couple

21:16of spots, uh, to photograph the flamingos and pelicans, um, because he had, uh, created a floating

21:26hide and he was going to drive down in his camper for a couple of weeks and spend the

21:32time here filming and photographing from the hide as he wanted to get some promo material

21:40for it.

21:41So I said of course, he came down just before Christmas in his camper and I showed him a

21:48few locations and after one location that I took him to down in one of the harbors where

21:55I had filmed the flamingos a few weeks back on that dedication to the Nook.

22:01And he said, George, come back to the camper and I'll show you the hide.

22:06So we went back, he pulled out the hide, started assembling it and I was suitably impressed

22:13I have to say.

22:14And then he turned and said, George, it's yours.

22:17And I was absolutely blown away by his generosity, it's incredibly generous of him and without

22:24any obligation for me to either make a review of it or promote it in any way.

22:31Just have it for helping him out.

22:33He said he's got a few in stock and he's been making quite decent sales.

22:39So he was happy to leave it with me, which is amazing.

22:43So go ahead.

22:44Thank you so much for that.

22:50Thinking about how I'm going to use it, I think it'll be really hard for me to actually

22:58show you me setting it up on location at six o'clock in the morning in the pitch black.

23:06So I thought I'd do a little behind the scenes setting up video to show you the hide and

23:12how it works.

23:14Talk about maybe some of the pluses and minuses of this hide.

23:21These are only guesses in terms of the advantages, disadvantages, as I haven't used it before.

23:28As you can see, it's a solid hull and it's quite big, quite heavy, which means that it's

23:35the type of hide that you would need access to whatever water you're going to use it on

23:42by car, because you're not going to lug this on your back across country to some remote lake.

23:49For that, I think you would need to have an inflatable hide.

23:55That being said, I think, especially for video work, I'm likely to prefer this one, because

24:02it's so much more solid.

24:05I think it's also less likely to get punctures.

24:08Well, it's unlikely to have any kind of puncture, so it's a lot more solid in that regard as

24:14well.

24:15But I think it'll provide a more solid platform from which to film rather than an inflatable

24:22one that might be bobbing around too much.

24:24I still think it's going to be a real challenge trying to get steady footage even with this

24:27one.

24:29But I think I stand a better chance with this over an inflatable.

24:35So, about the hide, so as you can see, it's made from heavy-duty plastic, the same kind

24:41of plastic they use for canoes.

24:43And it folds out.

24:45So if I take one of the legs and fold it out, and it latches into place quite solidly.

24:51I think I've just caught it, with these strong latches, so it's not going to fold up on you

25:00in the water.

25:07Oops, not bent.

25:13Try to get that on straight, there we go.

25:17As you can see, it's got a handle in the middle as well from which to lift it.

25:21If I put it down, and turn it over like this for you, you can see that it's got a

25:31depression

25:31here for mounting the tripod head, which you can actually screw into place from the bottom

25:39as well.

25:40If I turn that around, there's a screw here which you can turn to actually tighten the

25:45head down onto here.

25:47There's a couple of handles, so you can lean on it and control it with the handles here

25:53and also lift it.

25:56What else?

25:57Nice elbow pads, nice and soft.

25:59Lots of deck space for you to store stuff on.

26:02There's even a cup holder here for your flask of hot whatever, coffee, tea, whatever your

26:10preference is.

26:12And then there's these three hoops which extend out to hold the canopy.

26:20So let me show you that now.

26:28I should say actually the rear one, it also extends out.

26:33So it provides you with quite a decent head clearance.

26:39And these, this is the cover here, it's very easy to put on.

26:47On the inside, there are these Velcro straps which you tie over the, the battens here into place.

27:06That's the first one, it's cold on something here.

27:23The second one, and the last one, and then at the bottom.

27:45It actually buttons down to the, to the hull with these tough buttons.

27:57I'll just show you that now.

28:08So there's a few of these all the way around, so I can find it.

28:13There we go.

28:14There's one at the front.

28:30So that goes all the way around.

28:35And holds the canopy nice and taut.

28:40Can I do that one?

28:41Yeah, I did that one.

28:50And at the back, you can see, it closes up with a zipper.

29:11So that's where you gain access.

29:14And if you have a peek inside, I don't know if you can see much inside.

29:19But it's quite roomy in here.

29:23And like I said, lots of deck space to rest items onto.

29:29At the front, you'll have the port hole for your lens to poke through.

29:42And nice detail is that he's also added these straps to the canopy, webbing straps, so that

29:49you can actually tuck in extra camouflage to make it even less conspicuous and adapt it to

30:00the actual location that you are.

30:05So if it's predominantly reeds, you can add reeds or whatever.

30:09What else?

30:12I think additionally, I will most likely throw over a bit of scrim to add to the camouflage.

30:23I think that might help as well.

30:27I'll see how I'm going to fix that to it.

30:30In terms of actual on-location setup, you don't have to go through this whole pallava of setting the thing

30:38up.

30:38You can just have the canopy half on and it just folds over into place.

30:47Let me just show you that.

31:00So you can just fold the canopy down.

31:05Tuck it all in.

31:08And then just fold the legs over and have it ready to go in the car like that.

31:30So that's ready to go now.

31:34So in a couple of days time, when I get the weather conditions that I'm looking for,

31:43when I'm going to have likely a nice sunrise and low wind so that the water can be super calm,

31:51I'll take it out and give it a go.

31:54Let's go.

31:55Let's go.

32:00Let's go.

32:01Let's go.

Filming & Photographing Wildlife from a Floating Hide | Great Crested Grebes Courtship dance

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