Eastern Carpenter Bee On Yellow Wildflower

It was fun to watch this Eastern Carpenter Bee buzzing around the wildflowers and it was a Large Bee, easy to photograph.

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Osprey Flying In WIth Fish for the Family

At the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge there are many Osprey Platforms along the Wildlife Drive. If you watch one for a while you will see a lot of photo opportunities. Either the adults flying in & out with food or the young ones growing and interacting. Also you get closer flight shots as they fly in to feed the young.

Glossy Ibis Through The Grasses

I saw some Glossy Ibises feeding in the water to the right of the Heron & Egret Trees. There were a lot of tall grasses in the way, so I tried shooting through a few small openings in the grasses. There was a lot of strong contrasty light on them which helped on the dark colored birds.

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Red-winged Blackbird before Sunrise

Osprey Nest on Osprey Platform Panorama

We went to the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ to see what we could find. In the Summer there are lots of shore birds, Herons, Egrets, Ibises, Gulls, Terns, Ospreys, an occasional Bald Eagle, etc.  It is also great for dragonflies and small birds. Along the Wildlife Drive there are many Osprey Platforms which are a good spot to wait for Ospreys to fly in with a fish for the younger Ospreys & other interactions with the younger birds. I liked the symmetry of the two adult Ospreys on the arms but did not want to use a wider lens to get them both in because I wanted to retain the detail. So I shot a series of 2 shot sequences with a 400mm with a 1.4X teleconverter for a panorama showing the whole platform. I liked these 2 the best out of my series.

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Tern Hovering

We found quite a few Common Terns at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Brigantine Division. They seem to work an area for food, then move on.  This one was hovering before diving into the water. I liked the head on angle of the Tern, with the wings in more of a vertical upright position, before it dove into the water. Usually they are so quick it is hard to get a shot, especially in focus.

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Common Tern exiting water with small fish

 

Two Trees Panorama

I liked these 2 trees with the reflections of the sky & the trees in the early morning. The calm water, colorful sky and the calm water in front of the trees just made it look like a tranquil peaceful scene.

Alternate wider view did not have the right “feel”.

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Great Egret Breeding Plumage

This time of year the Great Egrets are showing their Breeding Plumage. They are great to photograph showing the feathery feathers, long plumes in the back and colorful lore with green around the eyes. Depending on their position, the plumage shows up either more or less. Wait to get interesting angles, which usually does not take long as they are active birds. Also if it is windy, the feathers blow in the wind and spread out more for more impact. They are also large birds which helps fill the frame.

 

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Lowest Osprey Nest I Ever Saw

We found this Osprey Nest along the Wildlife Drive, along the shoreline by the water. It probably was only about 4 feet of the ground in a small tree. I have never seen an Osprey nest this low to the ground before.

 

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Great Egret Reflection

The Great Egret is a great photo subject, large to photograph & lots of stately poses. Especially when they are in the water with interesting reflections. They are also great to photograph in flight. This day there were Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets all around the Refuge, probably the most I have ever seen here.

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Great Egret & Snowy Egret in early morning. Quite often you see Great Egrets in a group along with Snowys and Little Egrets interacting with each other.

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