This is not a bird we can see around New England. Earlier this year we went on a photo trip south and went out looking for the Pelicans.
These were found in a large shallow inlet on Sanibel Island, Florida.
These photographs were part of a series that never did get published. It was time.
This is something that I have little experience photographing. The saving grace here is just how hard it is to take a bad sunset in a tropical setting.
The fact that I was able to add wildlife to the shots made me comfortable. Once I had processed all the weeks photos the hard part now was which ones to actually use.
I managed to find one with only sun and waves.
I had not given any thought to photographing birds at a beach on our trip. All the plans and maps revolved around the swamps and scrub pine forests. We found a wildlife preserve right on a beach while driving and ultimately made it a nightly stop.
While I expected the usual suspects, Pipers, Willets, and the like I also found White Ibis and Snowy Egrets. Both bird types had no fear or thoughts to the waves crashing around them. They are not small but still compared to the rushing water each surge was of tidal wave proportions.
They just let the water break around them and kept searching for food. I could stand in the surf and not move to photograph the Ibis up close. They simply walked around me like I was part of the landscape.
Snowy Egrets were a bit shy, but again we could stay still in one place and they ignored us for the most part.
After spending the day walking through various woods and marshes it was a great change of pace.
For the record, these shots were taken in a Butterfly house. That is also the only way I would have had the patience to photograph them.
I tried the standard techniques used to shoot birds. Well, birds usually fly in a line you can follow. Butterfly’s ‘flit’ where ever they want or the wind blows. I needed a new plan.
Next I tried focusing where they could be expected to land. No logic in their flight that I could see. So again frustration.
Finally I just scrambled around different flowers with the shutter held down. I did get a few decent images. But not many.
How did people do this when they had 36 exposures on a roll of film?
This heron was photographed in a large inlet of very shallow water. The sun could not have been brighter and the glare more harsh.
While processing the above, and a shot of a Reddish Egret, I found pushing color settings higher than normal actually made for a nice grainy image.
No matter how many different times I photograph these birds I get excited when I find and shoot them. They never take a bad picture.
They are beautiful in flight or on the water. On land a Pelican is clumsy and can hardly walk. But still, everyone loves this big bird.
At times they are almost comical and seem to get along with everyone around them.
Every time I spotted a Pelican the camera started to take shots all be itself. I have hundreds of images and probably will never delete a single one.
Not everything we photograph has fur or feathers. Only about 99% do.
These images presented an entirely different challenge for me. Patience and planned composition. Nothing flying by at 100 miles per hour.
I did enjoy trying to capture the visual under the water as well as the plant. The still water helped me here. Typically I don’t see things like this as I photograph.
This plant captured water and held it for the flowers as they bloomed. The sun shining in the stem caught my eye.
Now that spring has come to New England I should stop and pay more attention things other than ‘critters’.
These shots were taken at Sanibel Island, Florida. Specifically at the Ding nature preserve. My impression of Sanibel came from years ago at a resort. I thought the entire area was like that. Actually more than half of the entire Island is preserved as a refuge.
What I enjoyed was no hiking required. This was the only place we could use a car. Really, drive along and pull over on the side. It was encouraged. I complied. At this point of the trip I was getting tired.
Lighting was an adventure. Blinding sun was the order of the day. All the inlets were shallow, dead calm, and bright glares.
The Reddish Egret lives along the shore line and shallow flats in the most southern part of the US. Just southern Florida through Texas. Rarely south of Texas so they have a small habitat.
The are tall birds, almost 3 feet high and can be mistaken for a Great Blue Heron at a distance. They also dance on the water similar to Snowy Egrets. This stirs up the mud, and small fish. Its great fun to watch.
When the sun hits them just right they may be the most striking of all the wading birds. At the least as pretty as a Blue Heron.
