In my two previous posts of a Snowy Egret and a Great Egret I mentioned how the early morning light and a nearby storm gave those images a feeling of drama. These white morph Reddish Egret images were taken that same morning not long after I created the Great Egret photos.
Light plays a huge part in my photography, I try to be at my location just before the sun comes up or goes down to take advantage of the beautiful light that occurs at those times of the day.
Recently I spent two days in a row photographing birds at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (aka Bear River National Wildlife Refuge) and found plenty of birds to aim my lens at.
I love the challenge of photographing white birds and getting the exposures right, I like to nail it. Snowy Egrets (Egretta thula) are great birds to practice getting exposures of the whites set correctly.
I've always liked the calm mood this image conveys partially because the stalking pose of the Great Egret (Ardea alba), the silky smooth surface of the water, the reflection and how the out of focus Snowy Egret and Little Blue Heron give the frame a depth that wouldn't be there without them.
While I lived in Florida I simply adored being able to photograph Reddish Egrets, they can be graceful or goofy looking, they twirl, dash and dance.
I had a marvelous photographic experience with Coyote with falcon leftovers along the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake last week.
This Great Egret hunting photo was taken early in the morning as the sun had just begin to touch the grasses, the bird and the water.
Little Blue Herons were a wading bird that I saw often in Florida. The day I photographed this Little Blue Heron I was sitting quietly in the shallow water of a lagoon when this bird flew in and began to hunt.
Last month I spotted this Coyote in the golden light of dawn while it hunted in the grasses on Antelope Island State Park. With light so sweet, how could I resist?
Worth the sand in my clothes, scrapes on my knees and looking like something the cat had wanted to drag in but decided it was way too dirty? You betcha!
Reddish Egrets seem to be natural born "Dancers" when they are hunting for prey, they twirl, spin, piroquette and dip.
This young Yellow-crowned Night Heron moved very slowly and it seemed to do that deliberately.
Cotton candy pink... are the descriptive words I thought of when I saw my first Roseate Spoonbill.
I love watching Black-bellied Plovers hunting. They take a few steps, stop, look and listen, then do it all over again.
Another one of my favorite wading birds is the Tricolored Heron, a bird that used to be called the Louisiana Heron. It can be found in estuaries along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, in inland freshwater marshes in Florida.
Great Blue Herons are North America's largest heron and one of the three largest herons in the world.
It didn't take long for the Yellow-crowned Night Heron to grab the crab and send the sand flying.
Each time I look at one of the images of this Little Blue Heron I have to smile and relish that amazing morning. Yes... some day are magic. I treasure each one.