Since 2005, I have photographed 54 different kinds of birds in my ecological garden in Keerbergen.  Two small ponds in the garden are the reason for the high number.  I am after action photos : photos of wrens fighting, dunnocks displaying their courtship plumage, sparrow hawks and siskins bathing, nuthatches mating, and so on.  I have distinguished 15 different types of behaviour : feeding, bathing, courting, mating, drinking, etc.

A shallow pool, not exactly an example of a chic pond out of a book on water gardens, is just within the reach of the camera’s telephoto lens.  This has attracted some 30 kinds of birds to come and to drink, to bath, to splash in the water, or just to clean themselves.  The visitors do not realise they have no privacy, as behind the window a photographer is lurking.  Their antics are photographed through the window.  If it becomes too much for them, the birds can seek the cover of an old big apple tree, the deciduous bushes or the hedge.  There is also the wood storage of willow, birch, oak, and spruce and the bramble borders are nearby.  In the long grass and other hidden corners, they can find a soil, rich in crispy fresh tit-bits.  Material to build nests abounds everywhere.

My favourite shots have been chosen from over a 1000 photos.  It is a selection in which one can enjoy the private moments of their lives, moments that can perhaps give one goose pimples.  Every photo gives the name of the little actor and the part that it is playing.  I have accompanied each photo with a brief explanation in the hope of giving the web page an educational touch.

Or how an ecological garden can enrich the bird kingdom.