Low Light Bird Images
Because I live far from my family and have no children at home my yearly Thanksgiving tradition includes spending a part of my day out photographing birds, mostly early morning outings.
Female Loggerhead Turtle – Friday Photos
At first I was so stunned that I wasn't taking any images of the Loggerhead Turtle, I just stood there admiring this temporarily earthbound sea creature. She was so beautiful to me.
Reddish Egrets
While I lived in Florida I took thousands (and thousands) of images of Reddish Egrets and I am very glad that I did because they are rarities in Utah, where I now live.
Low light Great Blue Heron with Earth Shadow
The Great Blue Heron images from the series I created that blustery November morning on Fort De Soto's north beach are still favorites of mine and likely always will be.
Black Skimmer adult in flight
I could always tell when a flock of Black Skimmers were flying in to Fort De Soto's north beach when I was photographing there because I could usually hear their soft, nasal barking yips or yeps before I saw them.
Sanderlings – Tiny Dynamos
Sanderlings can be a challenge to photograph because they move erratically at a very fast pace but creating images of them at their level is well worth the trouble of getting dirty and being exhausted by trying to follow the movements of these tiny dynamos.
Friday Photos – Wilson’s Plover
This Friday's Photo is that of a Wilson's Plover, a species I very much enjoyed photographing while I lived in Florida.
American Oystercatcher in pre-dawn light
I love to photograph in pre-dawn light because of the subtle almost pastel tones that can be captured at that time of the morning.
Friday Photos – Getting the Whole Picture
I often forget that by backing up my zoom, swapping my long lens for a wide angle lens or backing up physically I can get the "whole picture".
Playing Favorites – Resting Willet
There are images that I have created that as soon as I see them on my monitor become listed as one of my favorites.
Black Skimmers – Down and dirty
My friends say when my images have such a low angle that I must have been "Down 'n dirty". Well I know for sure I was dirty, I had sand everywhere!
Reddish Egret – aka Big Red
Worth the sand in my clothes, scrapes on my knees and looking like something the cat had wanted to drag in but decided it was way too dirty? You betcha!
American Oystercatchers – Juvenile and Adult
I watched this American Oystercatcher juvenile and its sibling from the time they were just tiny chicks beginning the day after they had hatched.
Friday Photos – White Morph Reddish Egret
Reddish Egrets seem to be natural born "Dancers" when they are hunting for prey, they twirl, spin, piroquette and dip.
Red Knots – A species on the edge
Red Knots are on the edge of extinction and without further regulation of Horseshoe Crab harvesting in North America plus additional protection and conservation measures for Red Knots they may well disappear in our lifetime.
Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron
This young Yellow-crowned Night Heron moved very slowly and it seemed to do that deliberately.
Friday Photos: Greater Yellowlegs
When looking at a Greater Yellowlegs there is NO mistaking how they got the name "Yellowlegs".
American Oystercatchers
American Oystercatchers are fascinating birds to photograph, They can strike unusual poses and their plumage is spectacular in flight. I enjoyed watching them pry open bivalves with their long bill
Friday Photos: Great Egret
I know this photo will always remind me of the great times I had photographing birds at Fort De Soto, one of my favorite places on earth.
Shorebirds: Spotted Sandpipers
Spotted Sandpipers are fun to watch as they walk along the shoreline as they teeter, bob and bounce their rear ends up and down.
Common and Red-breasted Mergansers
Mergansers are considered "diving ducks" and one of the things the three species of mergansers found in North America all have in common are their serrated bills.
Nanday Parakeets
Any bird that eats those nasty sand spurs is a hero in my book and Nanday Parakeets are one of them.
Fish Crows
Fish Crows are fairly commonplace along the coast of Pinellas County and they are often ignored by photographers because they are a "plain" common bird.
So ya think ya want to be a bird photographer?
Be prepared to become addicted to birds. You will have withdrawals if you don't shoot often enough, your shutter button finger will develop a nervous twitch
Reddish Egret, Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls
There were quite a few Laughing Gulls on and near the shoreline, a few Ring-billed Gulls and two Reddish Egrets hunting on the beach that day.
Gray Days
Gray days sometimes force me to slow down, to take a deep breath and they allow me the luxury of liesurely looking through my older image files
Hidden Treasures
As a bird photographer I often strive for images where the subjects are out in the open, without distractions in the fore or background, but as with any photographic "rule", they are made to be broken.
Roseate Spoonbills
Cotton candy pink... are the descriptive words I thought of when I saw my first Roseate Spoonbill.
Laughing Gulls
Laughing Gulls are quite common on the east and Gulf coastlines of the US, during breeding season they are usually found near saltwater but in nonbreeding season they are known to wander widely.
Wilson’s Plover
There are times that I open an image on my computer screen and I can't help but laugh. This is one of those images for me because of the tilt of the head of the Wilson's Plover.