Roseate Spoonbills in a sea fog
One very foggy May morning I came across a small flock of Roseate Spoonbills in a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto's north beach and photograph them for about 15 minutes before they flew off to find food.
One very foggy May morning I came across a small flock of Roseate Spoonbills in a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto's north beach and photograph them for about 15 minutes before they flew off to find food.
This image soothes me because of the still water, the relaxed pose of the calm Snowy Egret and the memories of how delightful it was to be on the north beach of Fort De Soto
I've mentioned before that Great Blue Herons stay in the Salt Lake Valley over winter even though the temperatures get very cold and so do some of the Black-crowned Night Herons.
These two "Great" images were taken two minutes apart of two different "Great" wading birds in Florida.
This image has always cracked me up, I wonder if the Great Blue Heron even realized its toenails were dragging in the water.
While in breeding plumage Tricolored Herons have redder legs, darker red eyes, blue lores and blue on the bill plus a longer, white occipital plume than they do during the nonbreeding season.
Just a few images taken 4 years ago today at Fort De Soto's north beach. It was not a super busy day but I did get quite a few images that I like.
I photographed this Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) a few years ago when I still lived in Florida.
Four years ago today Hurricane Ike was out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and the waves that it generated made a strong splash at Fort De Soto County Park.
Despite having "Night Heron" in their name Yellow-crowned Night Herons (Nyctanassa violacea) are not strictly denizens of the dark, they can and do stalk their prey during the daylight hours too.
This adult Reddish Egret was going into breeding plumage, it has the pink and black bi-colored bill and the lores are turning bluish purple.
This image could have been better. I have no doubt about that. I did get the exposure right and I like the action. But there are far too many things about this photo that just don't work.
This Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) got up close and personal with me a few years ago in Florida, it largely ignored my presence altogether as it stalked prey on shore of the Gulf of Mexico.
I photographed this Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens) in October of 2008 at Fort De Soto's north beach.
I think it is great to see a bird with sea blue eyes feeding along a shoreline with water nearly of nearly the hue.
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.
Yesterday I posted a Snowy Egret hunting in early morning light and mentioned that early morning or late afternoon light can add drama to an image, in today's post I will explain a bit more about the dramatic light in the Snowy Egret image and these images of a Great Egret (Ardea alba).
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.
This Snowy Egret image was taken just after the sun had risen above the horizon in about the same location as the egret image I posted yesterday but at a completely different time of the year.
I was photographing at Fort De Soto's north beach on May 30th, 2008 when I had a very cooperative Snowy Egret start fishing in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico right in front of me.
Some images remind me of the wonderful day I had when I created a certain image, this photo of a Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage photographed at the north beach of Fort De Soto, Florida is one of those files.
Yes, poop happens. If there are birds there is poop. That is the straight poop... I mean scoop!
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.
White-faced Ibises (Plegadis chihi) breed and nest in the freshwater marshes around the Great Salt Lake. Generally they migrate south for the winter though this winter there were a few that stayed at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.
The sun had not yet crested the eastern horizon when I photographed this Great Blue Heron as it hunted in the shallow waters on the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico.
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.
Another one of the reasons I enjoy this photo is that the eye of the Great Blue Heron has a colored catchlight that is from the sun glowing yellow on the eastern horizon.
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.
The Great Blue Heron images from the series I created that blustery November morning on Fort De Soto's north beach are still favorites of mine and likely always will be.
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!