A few quick shots of a Great Egret that jumped up from a pretty good hiding spot. I never would have seen him without this movement.
The photos were taken in the same general area I have seen all the Night Herons.



Knowing the flight path, or at least a vague idea, makes getting a series like this so much easier. They may not always follow the path, but when they do closeup’s can happen.
Best viewed large.
This bird was on the waters edge and suddenly decided to head over to the old ramp. The quick trip took him almost directly in front of me.
Black-crowned Night Heron, Magnolia Plantation rookery.
This Great Egret must have a nest in the back of this island. Several times I spotted a dance here.
I tested the new Lightroom DeNoise function on this image. It wasn’t overly grainy but it was a good photo to compare with my current version of Topaz DeNoise.
My first thoughts are the LR function worked well. However, it takes much more time than Topaz, does not sharpen if the noise caused a loose of details, and running multiple images may not clear all the photos.
I’ll stick with Topaz for most images.
Unfortunately I’ve lost track of the sequence of events here. Black-crowned Night Herons were stopping on the ramp for a few minutes, than moving on. I don’t think these were all the same bird, but really…they all look alike.
A few birds just made a quick jump off the ramp to soak themselves in the water. I’m assuming the bird below didn’t. That’s a gator head floating in the background.
There is a place on a trail running through a small wetlands that has all kinds of Cypress Tree Knees. Many of these roots have a hollowed out hole perfect for these visitors to nest in.
Every spring these small brilliant yellow speedsters are there. I usually get at least one chance to photograph them. No room for error.
These will be my one and only photos for 2023. They return to South America after the chicks have grown.
Black-crowned Night Herons have taken over the back swamp area in the rookery. There are two old ramps here that have become the go to spot for them when leaving the nests.
As soon as this one flies off another will take his place. There may be a lot of them here but you will rarely see more than one sitting there. They are not very sociable birds.