One of my last shots from an incredible day shooting the Brown Pelican.
The tide was going out fast, taking any fish with it.
By this time the birds had been feeding for a few hours. The photographs from here on were fly by as the Pelican left for open water.
A quick shot as we went past a sand bar.
Most of the time these birds are catching small, even tiny, fish to eat. That means a lot of hard work for a little food.
Every once in a while their luck changes.
In this case a nice size crab.
Better yet, no gulls around to steal it.
The poor Ibis were the ones the Gulls robbed most often.
But not this time.
At low tide this was the place to be… at least the Pelicans thought that.
They glide in, one or two at a time, and just drop into the group.
Considering they weight around 25 pounds (11.3 kg) this is a lot of birds.
Click any image to view full size.
Never tire of this trick…floating in the air.
These photographs were taken as Spoonbills began to gather end of day. For the most part as each came in they stood around looking bored.
Up until this time Spoonbills had stayed away from me, usually flying by. Here they flew in and landed on a nearby sand bar.
As often as we photograph these birds you would think I would let up on the shutter a little.
Not so much. Each meeting I have 100 images to deal with.
Technically it’s a sand bar… it didn’t work in that title though.
That’s a pretty impressive bunch of birds.
A Reddish Egret ‘struts his stuff’ past some other ‘star attractions’.
In any group a White Pelican or Wood Stork would get all the attention.
But the Reddish Egret is a Rock Star…so they strut.
