January is when our winter bird season really gets going, & it’s a month I’d point almost any photographer towards if dramatic light & big flocks are what you’re after. Here’s what’s actually running.
Why is January the best month for Lake Kerkini’s pelicans?
Both our Pelicans of Lake Kerkini & Dalmatian Pelicans of Lake Kerkini departures run this month, & January is when the mist sits thickest on the water at dawn, exactly the conditions that make a Dalmatian pelican lifting off look genuinely dramatic. Common cranes & great white pelicans work the same stretch of lake, so a single boat session can turn up several species in quick succession.
Photograph the world’s largest flying bird in freezing mist
Dawn boat sessions timed for the moment Dalmatian pelicans lift off water still cold enough to hold its mist.
Explore Lake Kerkini in winter
Why is Białowieża Forest worth photographing in January?
Wildlife of Białowieża Forest puts you in Europe’s last remaining lowland primeval forest, straddling Poland & Belarus, & January is when wild European bison are easiest to find moving through snow-covered clearings in search of food. It’s a slower, quieter trip than most on this list, built around tracking rather than hides.
Do I need tracking experience for a trip like Białowieża?
No, our guides do the tracking. What helps is patience & a willingness to move quietly through snow for a few hours at a time, since bison & the forest’s other residents don’t reward a rushed approach.
Why is January a strong month for eagle photography in Hungary?
Eagles of the Hortobágy is built around one of Europe’s largest wintering concentrations of eastern imperial eagles, alongside wintering common cranes & common buzzards, all across the open grassland of Hortobágy National Park. The scale here is what surprises most photographers, dozens of eagles working the same stretch of puszta at once.
Which of these January trips should you choose?
Choose Kerkini for dramatic, hide-free boat-based bird action in mist & freezing dawn light. Choose Białowieża for quiet, patient tracking of wild bison in a genuinely primeval forest. Choose the Hortobágy for sheer scale, more wintering eagles in one place than almost anywhere else we work.
Three very different disciplines for the same cold month, mist & motion at Kerkini, patient tracking at Białowieża, & scale at the Hortobágy. Whichever one you choose, January rewards photographers willing to be out at first light.
What You Could Photograph in the Next Twelve Months
- What You Could Photograph Over the Next Twelve Months with NaturesLens
- Why You Could Be Photographing Wildlife in July
- Why You Could Be Photographing Wildlife in August
- Why You Could Be Photographing Wildlife in September
- Why You Could Be Photographing Wildlife in October
- Why You Could Be Photographing Wildlife in November
- Why You Could Be Photographing Wildlife in December
- Why You Could Be Photographing Wildlife in January
- Why You Could Be Photographing Wildlife in February
- Why You Could Be Photographing Wildlife in March
- Why You Could Be Photographing Wildlife in April
- Why You Could Be Photographing Wildlife in May
- Why You Could Be Photographing Wildlife in June
