When 5 Dolphin are in the same strand feeding it is loud and explosive. This is the most I have seen in a single chase though I think I have sen photographs of 6 at the same time. Both are unusual.
I’m due to go back out soon now that the weather is changing and hope to have out of town wildlife photographers join me.
This is one of the more ‘challenging’ birds to photograph in flight. When they fish low and in the surf like this one though it’s much easier.
In the past I only tried to follow these birds in the marshes. They shift and turn at full speed following the small fish out there so good images are rare.
On the shore you can focus on the water line and know the bird will likely follow that path.
Some photographers just look and instinctively see images like this. Not me, which is why I appreciate these photographs when I am able to recognize them.
When I first took this shot I had assumed it was an adult with her calf. While it still might have been they are very close to each other in size.
Just a few moments later a group of Dolphin circled and chased a school of fish so I think it more likely they were starting to herd fish together.
Another in the series of Dolphin strand feeding.
In this photograph I was able to capture them pushing a school almost in front of me.
When picking my spot to shoot the first consideration is the shoreline and how steep the incline is. Just as important is being far enough back from the water line and off to the left of where I suspect they will land.
Far enough away is to respect their need for space, they are wild animals. Being on my left allows me to capture them facing me, they prefer to be on their right side.
The fish were right in the middle, no place to go.
I have tried to describe a Dolphin charging just under the surface of the water. It’s like the water swells around them. The photograph above does a better job than I can.
These Dolphin hit the shore and the Pelicans were landing at the same time. They must have a great view from above to know where and when to appear.
This day Dolphins were strand feeding on the far side of this small inlet, away from my usual spot. It was later in the day and a group of people were standing too close to the waters edge.
Above the Dolphins were rolling to their right side and pushing back into the water. It’s always a right side roll.
This is a Dolphin feeding that I only caught at the last minute. Depending on the depth of the water I only have a few seconds to zoom and focus on the ‘suspected’ landing spot.
I find with most hunts like this I can watch the surface and see the Dolphin begin to circle the school. At times it’s like an amazing whirl pool. However typically it’s a changing of the water flow.
In this case I either missed the signals or it was all a deep water chase.
This Dolphin pod moved their fishing spot away from the usual shore. There are times (more than there should be) people are on shore and the Dolphins need to herd the fish in a different direction.
This inlet narrows at the mouth of a river and we were able to capture some strandings from new locations, and angle.
This was a relatively calm charge. I did not see any schools of fish so perhaps they escaped at the last minute.
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