photoartflightImmature American White Ibises Foraging
Posted on December 28, 2019
We found a group of immature American White Ibises working an area for their morning meal. They seemed to have great success in finding their breakfast. All images were shot with a Canon 400mm DO lens.
White Ibis foraging – 2 image panorama, 400mm Canon DO lens, handheld, assembled in Photoshop
Immature American White Ibis foraging – 2 image Vertical Panorama
Little Egret Panorama
Posted on August 14, 2019
I was photographing along the Indigo Trail at the Ding Darling NWR early in the morning on this day. We finally had found a large number of birds along the trail. It was quite dark under the trees, but we managed to get a lot of images of a variety of Egrets and Herons while they were foraging for food. With this Egret, I liked it’s reflection in the water and it was just keeping an eye on me as I was photographing it. After shooting a few images of the Egret, I shot vertical images for a long panorama. I was traveling light on this walk so I only had the 400mm DO lens with a 1.4x teleconverter. It was quite dark under all the trees so I had to raise my ISO higher than I like. After assembling in Photoshop, I trimmed the left & right sides a little so the Egret would be more prominent in the long vertical image. Then removed some “noise” from using a higher ISO than normal.
Osprey Nests On Platforms At J.N. Ding Darling NWR
Posted on August 10, 2019
As we were driving on the Wildlife Drive at the J.N. Ding Darling NWR, we noticed the Osprey Platform was occupied. If you had a long lens and got fairly far down the road you could get some interesting images of them on the nest. The first few images were from closeby, looking more up at the nest. You can see they were looking at us. But I did not like how the nests looked messy and did not like the angle.
Closeup, Different Day
Views of different nest from farther away, along the Wildlife Drive. The nest looks cleaner and has nicer sky and more of a side view.
Sunrise Along J.N. Ding Darling NWR Wildlife Drive
Posted on August 9, 2019
This is a Sunrise Panorama (3 images @ 150mm) along the Wildlife Drive at J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. This spot is just a little before where I was photographing the Reddish Egret in the previous post. We got there early to get the sunrise and to be set up for when the birds start to fly in and gather in the water and on the sand dune area.
Camera setup waiting for birds to fly in. 400mm DO f/4 lens with 1.4x teleconverter and 1.3x crop camera body (effective FF equivalent 728mm)
Reddish Egret with Radio Tracker @ Ding Darling NWR
Posted on August 7, 2019
When I was working on the files of this Reddish Egret I photographed at Ding Darling NWR, there was one feather that always looked like it was sticking up and seemed strange. So on the images I was working on I just cloned it out because it looked odd. It was not til I was working on the last image I saw it was a radio tracker, not a weird feather sticking up. I was surprised how large it was. I was going to go back and leave it in, but decided to stay with a “cleaner” look for most of them. I have seen tracking bands on their legs, but it was a first time I saw a radio tracker on a bird at Ding Darling NWR. Especially a tracker that large. This Reddish Egret was working this area from early morning with cooler light and gradually I got some warmer shots as the sun got higher in the sky. You can see the progression of cooler early morning images, then to the last warmer with the sun higher in the sky.
Early Morning Light @600mm
Earlier morning light before sun warmed up the area. With Tracker antenna showing.
Same Reddish Egret in Warmer light
Immature Little Blue Heron Foraging For Breakfast
Posted on August 5, 2019
We saw this Immature Little Blue Heron looking for its breakfast. It was just working an area around us and seemed not to be bothered by the many people around. Just kept searching for a meal. After a few bugs it did finally find a small lizard.
Immature Little Blue Portrait – 400mm f/4 DO with 1.4x teleconverter. Two images stacked and blended in Photoshop.
Great Egret FlyBy Series At Ding Darling NWR
Posted on August 3, 2019
I am still working on my files from our Florida photo trip a couple of months ago. Here is a series of a Great Egret flying low and slow by us early in the morning at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. I was using my backup camera, Canon 1D MkIV with a 400mm f/4 DO lens with a 1.4x teleconverter.
White Ibis Formation
Posted on January 14, 2018
As I was photographing the Pelicans I also had quite a few overhead flybys. Here is a group of White Ibis flying by. I was hoping for them to come around and land nearby, but they kept going on their way.
Snowy Egret Hanging Out By Fisherman
Posted on January 13, 2018
This Egret was waiting by a group of fisherman. It did not seem to be worried about people getting close to it. In fact it even moved closer to some and seemed very comfortable around all the people in the area. I do not know if the fisherman were regulars and gave it scraps of food or small fish.
Early Morning With American White Ibises Foraging In Trees
Posted on January 13, 2018
Getting to the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge early in the morning I was looking for photo subjects. When I was there it was not the best time of year for an abundance of photo subjects, but it was still fun to see what I could find. And it was nice to be in the Florida sunshine. You could hear rustling of leaves and knew a few birds were foraging in the lower branches of the trees. So I was waiting for them to come to me so not to scare them off. With all the branches it was hard to get clear shots of them, but it shows how they forage. This group had about a dozen Ibises, but most were hidden by the branches. Not great images but it was fun to watch them.
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