I’ve been fortunate to travel to many beautiful locations in my life and I have been tickled to photograph birds on some of those places. I photographed this Bananaquit while on the island of Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas.
Bananaquit (Corereba flaveola) – Nikon D200, handheld, f8, 1/500, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm
I saw literally hundreds of Bananaquits on the island but it was difficult to find them out in the open and to isolate just one bird. I was walking on a sandy path when I spotted this bird but it was behind a shrub. I really wanted a photo of it so very slowly I pushed my lens through the shrub in front of me. Luckily the Bananaquit was busy looking at something else and not at me so I was able to get just this one image before it flew away.
Bananaquits have been recorded as rare visitors to Florida, one was recorded at Fort De Soto County Park. Bananaquits use their curved bill to take nectar from flowers and they use it to pierce fruits to feed on the juices. They are also called the “Sugar Bird” because they will readily come to feed at a simple bowl of granulated sugar.
Mia
Super capture Mia. One of my favorite birds my wife and I saw while on Puerto Rico, such a neat birdsong and behavior and really pretty too.
Dan, thanks so much for for commenting. I saw these in Puerto Rico too but didn’t have the chance to photograph them there.
Wonderful photo, as always! The lighting is great!
Thanks Tammy, the light was great on the island, I think in part because the sand reflects the light up.