Adult American Oystercatcher on the beach of Egmont Key – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1/2000, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm at 400mm, natural light
Today’s post is about an American Oystercatcher image taken in 2009 at Egmont Key in Pinellas County, Florida and the story behind it.
I was taking the Florida Master Naturalist Class at the time and instead of taking a boat over to Egmont Key from Ruskin which was about an hours drive for me I decided to drive to Fort De Soto County Park which was less than a 45 minute drive.
I planned on spending an hour or so photographing birds on the north beach with a friend who was also in the class and then take the first ferry from Fort De Soto to Egmont Key where the plan was to meet up with the rest of our classmates. The first ferry got us onto the key before the boat with our classmates was scheduled to arrive so we explored a part of the island and photographed birds, animals and scenery.
I was wearing a brand new pair of Mountain Hardware pants that I had ordered two weeks prior that were great for wearing in and out of the water. I already had three pair and knew that those pants dried very quickly, were light weight and had sun protection built into the fabric.
While photographing the American Oystercatcher in the photo above I knelt down on the sand to get a low angle perspective and was happy to have the waves of the Gulf in the background.
A few minutes later I felt something wet running down my left leg under my pants and when I looked at my left foot I could see that it was bloody. I sat down and rolled up my pant leg and discovered a 3/4 inch cut in the soft part of my knee and when I looked my pants there was a similar sized cut right at knee level. I don’t feel pain as easily as many people do so I wasn’t even aware I had cut myself until the blood was running down my leg.
My brand new pants were ruined. The bleeding took a while to stop after I immersed my knee in the salty water and then freshwater from my bottle to rinse the wound out.
My day wasn’t going that great but I had wonderful photos of the oystercatcher.
There is more to the story but that can wait for another time.
Life is good.
Mia
I’ve shared this photo once before here on my blog and thought I’d mention that.
To view more of my American Oystercatcher photos please click here.
Great shot of the Oystercatcher. Sorry about your knee. I hope it heals quickly. Thanks Mia.
Thats a nice photo
Lovely photo, maybe one day I wills see an oystercatcher in person. New pants, that was and expensive first wear! Too bad clothes don’t self heal like we do!
Reading through the comments I am glad to hear that it was a shell which was the probably culprit. Love the photo you shared, and hope the rest of the day was good – despite the bloody start.
i was wondering how you cut your knee, too, but satisfied with the above comments. I look forward to seeing this bird in real life, those eyes…Glad you are okay. Like many , I am feeling cautious optimism regarding election results. Must be patient and wait until everyone’s voice is heard.
Great Title
Great photo
Great story
And you made me wish I was visiting Florida again like we did last year.
A shell will do it.
Have had my share of shell cuts. Did a lot of clamming, bay scalloping and oyster harvesting back then!
Dick, shells can be very sharp! I actually have a tiny arrowhead made from a shell that I found on the Chesapeake Bay decades ago, it looks delicate but it isn’t.
WOW! I’m sorry, but I’d want to know how did you cut your knee? Shell, glass, sharp object? What a bummer!
Great shot though.
I spent the better part of my life on the seashore, loved it until the sea level began to rise and we got sick and tired of the storms and hurricanes removing us from our house!
Dick, I believe it was a broken shell, I walked back to where I had been kneeling and could only see shells on the shore. My tetanus shots were up to date so I didn’t worry much.
I don’t miss the hurricanes. Not at all.