You sit at about seven meters distance to the end of the pond and it is close! Which means that you have to be very careful with sound and movement, especially it is movement you have to be careful with.

It's nice to be able to use a powerful tele. I myself use Olympus' 150-400 4.5, which is equivalent to 300-800 mm in full format. A 200-400 mm, a 500 mm or 400 mm will be nice focal lengths if you have full format. In the photo hide there are two Gimball heads and two ball heads with archa swiss mounts that you use, these are the most common mounts for lenses.

As an Olympus photographer, I also use Olympus 40-150 2.8. That lens has a wide range and is bright. Compared to full format, we are talking about a focal length of 80 - 300, which means that for example a 70-200 2.8 could be a good alternative to house number two. Should the northern goshawk decide to take a bath, you will only get the head of the hawk with a powerful tele. Or if it were to land on the ice in the winter right in front of the photographer. That is the reason for having a house two, in case something unexpected should happen.

To get the very best pictures, I have placed the camera low, exactly at the height of the water surface or the ice in winter  It gives a wonderfully low position and lovely close-ups with an nice intimately to the subject. With a camera placed low, you also have the best opportunities to place the window in the shed at perfect eye level when sitting, so that you get a good view of the entire space. I myself use the camera screen twisted out to the side when I take pictures I sit well in the chair and only use the screen on the camera to see the subjects. This will probably be unfamiliar to those who have not used the technique before. But like I said, all my photos are taken this way and it works brilliantly!