Posts in Category: p&s 4 wildlife

Tricolor

On February 4, 2017 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, close up, Florida, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

Tricolored Heron, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville FL

There were a great number of Tricolored Herons along Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge last week each time I visited. This one owned the feeding rights along a section of ditch next to the Cruickshank trail between the parking and the tower. He was there every time I was. Since the ditch is right next to the trail, and not very wide, he offered a great photo ops as he went about his feeding business. People on the trail moved him a few yards, but always up or down the ditch, and if you approached cautiously he would sit right across the ditch from you. Great Florida light too. What a is not to like? 

Sony Rx10iii at 477mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ f4 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro. 

Reddish Egret in flight, with reflection

On February 3, 2017 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, flight, Florida, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

Reddish Egret, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, FL

Reddish Egrets are, most days, my favorite wading bird. They are the clowns of the shallow pools. They don’t seem to be able to do anything without evoking at least a smile. If this were a picture of a Great or a Snowy Egret in a similar pose, it would look elegant and refined. As it is, with the Reddish Egret as the center of attention, it looks, to me, just a bit silly…slightly slapstick. It is the burden the Reddish Egret has to bear, and it does so with a measure of a grace all its own. No one can say the Reddish Egret does not enjoy being Reddish…if we are amused, that is not its fault. 🙂

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ ISO 125 @ f4. Processes in Polarr on my iPad Pro. 

Tricolored Herons at dawn…

On February 2, 2017 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - abstract, action, animals, birds, Florida, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

Tricolored Herons, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida

My first morning in Titusville Florida, I got up early enough to be on Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge before sun-up. I was surprised, in fact, to find the gate open. I have gotten there other years to find it still closed. I did stop at the end of the bridge coming on to Merritt Island for a pre-sunrise shot or two. At any rate the sun had not climbed over the trees to the east when I took this shot. Two Tricolored Herons against the light. It is a bit artsy, but I like it for the way it captures the moment. 

Sony RX10iii at 254mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 250 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro. 

Green Heron

On February 1, 2017 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, Florida, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

Green Heron, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida

The little Green Heron, smallest of the North American herons, is among my favorite birds. The prismatic greens, the deep rust color, the striped breast, the yellow feet and eye…it is altogether a great bird. And it has lots of attitude! It is not a humorous bird…always very intent and serious…but you have to admire its intensity. This individual was feeding along the channel beside the Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville, Florida last week when I was there for the Space Coast Birding and Nature Festival. As well as the bird here, I like the foliage and the reflections in the water. 

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ f4 @ ISO 125. Processed in Polar on my iPad Pro. 

Pelicans landing in early light

On January 31, 2017 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, flight, Florida, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

American White Pelicans, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida

American White Pelicans joining a feeding flock along Black Point Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge early in morning, just after sunup. Lovely light on lovely birds. 

Sony Rx10iii in my specialized birds-in-flight mode. 1/1000th @ f4 @ ISO 250. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro. You can find more info on the BIF mode at http://psnp.lightshedder.com/?p=998. 

Limpkin

On January 30, 2017 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, Florida, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

Limpkin, Ritch Grissem Memorial Wetlands at Viera, Viera Florida

Limpkins are strange, ancient, highly specialized birds of the Florida swamps and marshes. (They also range down through Central American and into South America, but they only reach the US in Florida.) Though they resemble Herons and Egrets, and Ibis even more, they have no relatives in the bird world. They are specifically adapted to eat the Apple Snails that enhabit Florida waters. Their beak is a tool that is not good for much else, but is incredibly efficient at finding and eating the snails. It is sensitive enough to allow the Limpkin to find the snails in the mud under the shallow water at the edges of the marsh by touch, and its shape, tweezer-like and often with a right curve, allows them to extract the snail without breaking the shell. You see fewer and fewer Limpkins in Florida as their habitat is built over or becomes impossibly polluted and Apple Snail populations fall, but I heard from a native Floridian that there is a new invasive species of a more resilient and slightly larger snail moving into the marshes that Limpkins find appetizing. Maybe we will see resurgence in the population. This was the only Limpkin I could find at Viera Wetlands (Ritch Grissem Memorial Wetlands at Viera) yesterday. I generally see several at least. 

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ f4 @ ISO 160. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro. 

Water dancer. Happy Sunday!

On January 29, 2017 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, Florida, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, Sunday, The Generous Eye, wildlife

Snowy Egret, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida

“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus

Snowy Egrets dance on the water when hunting fish. They lift off just enough so they can flit from spot to spot, just touching their feet on the water to pursue fish across a pond…and then pounce when they catch up. It is a fascinating and beautiful action to watch, the white birds with bright yellow feet (yellow slippers we birder’s call them), slim and graceful, dancing across the water.

Walking on the water is, of course, one of Jesus’ more famous miracles. He did it in a storm on the Lake of Galilee while his disciples in a boat feared for their lives. The gospel says “walked”, but I wonder, with the Snowy Egret in mind, if “danced” might be closer. I wonder if Jesus danced with the waves of the storm. I hope he did, graceful and wonderful as the Snowy Egret.

One of things about the generous eye is its willingness to believe in miracles when they happen, “right before our eyes,” and the tendency to see the miracles in even in the common happenings in this world. Isn’t the Snowy Egret dancing on water a miracle in its own right. I certainly can not analyze the physics behind it, or image how it is done from a mechanical and aerodynamic stand-point. I am amazed every time I see it. Amazed and delighted. I like living in a world where Snowy Egrets dance on water. It is good to remember, when the politics and stormy troubles of life in the world get to be too much, that once upon a time Jesus walked on water in the storm, and somewhere, even now, there is an Egret dancing on the waves. 

Happy Sunday!

Bald Eagle!

On January 28, 2017 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, flight, Florida, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

American Bald Eagle, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida

I always tell my students, photography is all about being in the right place at the right time, and ready! This is especially true of wildlife photography. We pulled off on the side the road to photograph this American Bald Eagle on a snag about 200 feet in. I walked back along the margin a few dozen yards for a better angle and was set up on the Eagle when it decided to fly. I could tell by the shift in body posture that it was about to go, so I was able to pan with it as it lifted off. Bam! 

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f5.6. Processed and cropped for scale in Polarr on my iPad Pro. 

Breakfast, Snow Egret Style

On January 27, 2017 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, close up, Florida, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

Snowy Egret, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, FL

I was photographing this Snowy Egret across a small pool off Black Point Wildlife Drive at Mettitt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville, Florida when it flew out and did its dancing on water thing and came up with a little fish. To my surprise it proceeded to fly in to a submerged Mangrove stump right in front of me, not 10 feet out in the water. It balanced on its precarious perch for 7 or 8 minutes, as it maneuvered the fish for swallowing. Ideal light, a great bird in close, and some action for interest. It does not get any better than that. 🙂

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ f6.3 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro. 

Pelican in flight

On January 26, 2017 by lightshedder With 0 Comments - action, animals, birds, flight, Florida, p&s 4 wildlife, Pic of the Day, wildlife

American White Pelican, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville FL

There were lots of American White Pelicans off Black Point Wildlife Drive, at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville Florida yesterday. In fact, they might have been the most numerous birds. I saw them in the air and on the water in large groups. Of course, you have to try for flight shots! 

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/1000th @ f5.6 @ ISO 100 using my special custom flight mode. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.