The right angle gave me this dark background, it was a bright sunny day.
Great Blue Profile, Heron
Tag Archives: wildlife
Ladies And Gentlemen, Place Your Bets
From our black and white site
A Strand Feed, Herding Fish, Dolphin
This article is actually about 2 strands done at almost the same time, team work.
This is large, with many photographs so I will add several galleries for easier reading.
The hunt starts with a Dolphin(s) churning and splashing water off the shore, working their way closer to herd the fish. Some of the splashing can be a Dolphin raising up and throwing large amounts of water with their tail.
A Strand Feed, Herding Fish, Dolphin – click to enlarge
A Strand Feed, Herding Fish, Dolphin – click to enlarge
A Strand Feed, Herding Fish, Dolphin – click to enlarge
A Strand Feed, Herding Fish, Dolphin – click to enlarge
When the fish are pushed right up to the shore a Dolphin may follow close and catch them, or quickly attack stranding them on the shore.
When the fish hit the shoreline, the Dolphin will follow right up on the sand. Any fish are quickly caught and the Dolphin rolls over, back into the shallows, and swims to a deeper location, but not far since fish are still there.
A Strand Feed, Herding Fish, Dolphin – click to enlarge
A Strand Feed, Herding Fish, Dolphin – click to enlarge
A Strand Feed, Herding Fish, Dolphin – click to enlarge
A Strand Feed, Herding Fish, Dolphin – click to enlarge
As this stranding ended my luck held out because another was happening right here, probably to the same school of fish.
Above you can see a Dolphin looking up (from under the water) as he started to create a huge whirlpool. This completely confused any fish and the swirling water forced them ashore.
A Strand Feed, Herding Fish, Dolphin – click to enlarge
A Strand Feed, Herding Fish, Dolphin – click to enlarge
A Strand Feed, Herding Fish, Dolphin – click to enlarge
In this case a Dolphin again followed them to the sand.
Several times this same day a Dolphin repeated the herding but did not come ashore, the fish were caught a few feet out in the water.
Strand feeding is done by only a few Dolphin, in a few locations. The South Carolina and Georgia lowcountry has several Dolphin Pods. It has also been reported in Mexico and Portugal. There may be other areas but I couldn’t find any.
Because strand feeding is taught to juveniles within a pod, who may leave to join another, the number of Dolphins feeding this way looks to be growing…as long as they can find a place without people and cell phones.
At The Office
Sometimes it gets a little drafty, but we do have a nice view.
Bobcat, Doesn’t Like Cameras
Watched us for a minute, than decided he had enough.
Note: This Bobcat is in captivity. Not sure why he is with animals that no longer live around Charleston. His friends are probably in the next woods calling him.
Fence Posts, Sparrows
The exposure here was taken from the bright background. I wanted to keep the foreground dark. It was an experiment to see how a new lens would handle contrasts.
When I shot the photograph I only knew of one bird, the second on top was pretty much hidden.
Ultimately I finished the image much lighter than planned, which gave this odd flat look.
Not really sure how I feel about the photograph overall, but I did learn a little more about the lens.
Great Blue Heron, Winter Sun
Mid December you can usually find the Great Blue’s in a sunny open spot in a marsh. It makes it easier to find them, but they can see you also. So depending on the bird is just what kind of shot you get.
The older adults know when they need to leave. If I walk slow, keep some space, all is good. They go back to sleep and I get some images.
Red Wolf
This is probably the only one you will ever see.
By size it is half way between a Coyote and a Timber Wolf and is native to the eastern US. It is also one of the most endangered animals in the world. I think last count was perhaps 75, all reintroduced to the wild after being declared extinct (except for breeding pairs in captivity, this may be one).
When they were released to the wild the first location was an island off the marshes near us. Having been there photographing raptors I guess these animals are tough…the bugs there are unbelievable.
This is one of a pair in captivity where we were testing new gear.