Families: Ardeidae, Ciconiidae, Phoenicopteridae, Threskiorithidae
Wading birds are long legged, long necked, long billed birds that include herons, egrets, flamingos, ibis, bitterns, spoonbills, and storks. Many of the wading birds forage by wading in shallow water but not all do that exclusively, some wading birds forage in pastures, wet meadows, on beaches, fresh and saltwater shorelines, grassy slopes, mudflats or from vegetation in marshes.
The best light can be fleeting though so it is always best to photograph as much as you can during the "golden hours".
The Reddish Egrets I photographed that May morning were busy hunting and paid me almost no attention as they went about their daily business of find prey.
Maybe when the weather clears tomorrow I'll be able to get back out Farmington Bay to photograph more birds.
After posting Great Blue Heron images yesterday I decided to post images of Great Egrets which are also a large wading bird species this morning.
Photographing this bird brought back memories of a day I spotted a Great Blue Heron struggling because it was caught in a trotline in the Chattahoochee River in Georgia
So, is this the year that the Grinch stole winter?
As common as Great Blue Herons are throughout North America I am always happy to photograph these prehistoric looking birds.
Last December I photographed this Great Blue Heron as it hunkered down against the brutal cold at the edge of the water in a marsh.
Just a simple Tricolored Heron image this morning that I created at Fort De Soto County Park in March of 2009.
Tricolored Herons are smaller than Great Blue Herons and larger than Snowy Egrets and all three of these wading birds hunt in many of the same locations along the Gulf Coast.
These images of birds on the beach were taken at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach six years ago today on a beautiful morning.
This is another image I came across last week and wondered why I hadn't processed it because I don't have many Little Blue Heron portraits in my portfolio.
Snowy Egret at dawn next to the Gulf of Mexico in Pinellas County, Florida
Six years ago this morning I was photographing birds at Fort De Soto County Park and I wanted to share a few images and memories of that day.
These two White Ibis images were taken 19 frames apart and the color of the water changed dramatically as the ibis and I moved north
This Great Blue Heron landed briefly on a willow that was along the road at Farmington Bay but before I could get my exposure set correctly it took flight.
I missed the Little Blue Heron in Utah but I have fond memories of the day I photographed this one as the sun began to set over the Gulf of Mexico.
I enjoy watching Snowy Egrets foraging for prey and I had the opportunity to do that up close last week at Glover Pond with this egret.
There were quite a few White-faced Ibis on Glover Pond near the Great Salt Lake Nature Center and I focused on them for a bit.
Yesterday I focused on a few wading birds I saw at Glover Pond near the Great Salt Lake Nature Center and that include Great Blue Herons and White-faced Ibis.
I believe that even without what some may consider "the perfect head angle" that we can create interesting and compelling avian images.
The Reddish Egret is one of my favorite wading birds. Standing still they are a delight to the eyes and while hunting they can perform amazing turns, twists, gallops and appear to be dancing.
As a bird photographer I feel it is very important to me that my images show my subjects and the settings they are in as accurately as possible.
Tricolored Herons use many foraging behaviors to obtain their prey including walking quickly then crouching before stabbing their prey.
When I lived in Tampa, Florida the Whites Ibises were often called "Lawn Chickens" because they would feed in people's yards in big flocks.
The sky outside is cloudy and gray this morning so I thought I'd share some images with rosy colors to brighten my day and hopefully yours as well.
Great Blue Herons are wading birds that I photographed quite often at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach while I lived in Florida.
The tide was rushing out of the tidal lagoon very quickly when I photographed this Roseate Spoonbill at the "Magic Hour" and the light on the Spoonbill and the Spartina behind it enchanted me.
These Great Blue Heron photos were taken of the same bird, photographed at same location on the same day just one minute apart.
There is a quality that feels very tranquil about this Tricolored Heron image for me. It may be the still, silky texture of the water or the soft pastel color of the water created by the early morning light.