White Ibis with a crab in its bill – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 160, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 280mm, natural light
As the weather warms up here in northern Utah and as my fellow photographer friends in Florida share their images of Florida’s birds I find myself wishing I could get the low angle images I used to get in Florida here in Utah. Oh, I could if I tried but the birds aren’t quite as used to humans here as they were at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park and I would have to spend a lot of time under camouflage either in a portable blind or in a ghillie suit. Most of the time I photograph here I use a vehicle as a mobile blind to get close to my subjects and there are fewer opportunities to get down and dirty with the birds.
At Fort De Soto I’d slither in the sand on my belly, or sand crawl, to get low angle images or I would slip into the water on my knees and move slowly towards my subject and photograph them with my lens hood just barely above the sand or water.
I was laying flat on my stomach while half in and half out of the warm water of a tidal lagoon when I photographed this White Ibis with a crab in its bill and that is what gave me the very long reflection in this image. I couldn’t have gotten a lower angle without digging a trench at the edge of the lagoon to stick my whole body in. I loved the crab in the ibis’s bill and the out of focus sand dunes in the background in this photo and the beautiful blue water too.
White Ibis in lagoon – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 160, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 280mm, natural light
I was able to take a nice series of low angle images of this White Ibis in the blue lagoon by staying still as it hunted for food with my lens about an inch or two above the water. Sure I got pretty dirty to get the low angle photos I took at the north beach of Fort De Soto but I never cared. It was worth it.
Life gets dirty sometimes but it is all good.
Mia
These photos were taken in May of 2009
Beautiful images, I especially like the composition of the second one.
Down and dirty is what it takes sometimes, as you show here.
Sometimes getting down and dirty is the best. And these were definitely some of those times.
Once again you offer masterpieces of color, contrast, and detail. God, these are great shots! Thanks Mia.
I was just commenting about this to a Florida birder I have met on line. They just don’t understand how jumpy our birds are. I wish we could get as close to the birds in Utah. Do you think it is because we allow hunting in all of our wetlands in Utah? And coming from the rehab view, we have many locals that shoot anything just because it is there and they have a gun.
Well worth getting all muddy for.
OK! You’re nuts…but because you are, you get some greatt shots…these prove it!
Wow! I love all your photos from there!
I can see it’s worth getting dirty and wet.