Posts in Category: St. Augustine Alligator Farm
5/25/2012: The Showy Snowy Show, St. Augustine FL
Snowy Egrets are nesting in large numbers at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery in April and May each spring. At any given moment from dawn to dusk you can catch a male displaying somewhere off the boardwalk. This year, when I visited in late April, many nests already had young as well. The first shot shows a male in all his finery, from the yellow slippers (maintained all year) to the bright red lores (the area between the beak and eye: red only during breeding season). But of course it is the plumage show that captures the imagination: those fine fine back feathers lifted, in challenge to other males, and in invitation to any females. It was these feathers, of course, along with the corresponding breeding finery of Great Egrets and herons, that also attracted the notice of milliners and ladies of fashion at the turn of the century. The annual harvest of Egrets and herons came close to driving the birds to extension, and lead, thankfully, to the first real conservation movement in the US.
Snowy Egrets are attentive nesters, and at the rookery you get to observe nests in many stages of development. In the second shot a female hovers over her chicks, and in the third, the chicks attack her beak hoping for food.
Then we have another displaying male, and a more intimate portrait.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) 630mm equivalent field of view, f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 200. 2) 840mm equivalent, f5.8 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 200. 3) 560mm, f5.8 @ 1/320th @ ISO 200. 4) 540mm, f5.8 @ 1/640th @ ISO 125. 5) 840mm, f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. 3) and 5) cropped for composition.
5/24/2012: Wood Stork Haven, St. Augustine FL
The largest birds and most conspicuous birds at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery are the Wood Storks. 30 to 40 pair nest each year, many of them in the single largest tree. It looks like Wood Stork village. I was there in late afternoon when the Florida temperatures were nearing 90 degrees and the sun was hot. This Stork is making shade for a nest full of young. I saw this pose at several nests, and is evidently one the Stork can hold for an extended time. The shot also shows off the green iridescence in the black feathers of the wings…something that is sometimes hard to see.
The second shot is of a Stork airing its wings in the tree top, coming or going. There is constant movement as the birds come and go from feeding, and the Storks don’t ever seem to finish nest building. Males are still bringing in green branches when there are already young in the nest.
The young are just as ungainly and ugly as the adults…but where the adults are saved by the sheer majesty of those huge wings, the chicks have to rely on the residual cuteness of the young of any species for their appeal.
To be fair, the adults have a kind of majesty even without the spread wings.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) 700mm equivalent field of view, f6.3 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 200. 2) 600mm equivalent, f5.8 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 100. 3) 840mm equivalent, f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 100. 4) 670mm, f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 200. 5) 400mm, f5 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 100. 6) 430mm, f5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 100.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
5/23/2012: Little Blue Heaven. St. Augustine FL
The St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery during breeding season is an amazing place to photograph birds. Everywhere you look there is something happening that is worth your attention and a few frames. It is easy to come back with multiple 1000s of exposures from a day there. And you have to keep reminding yourself: despite being inside a zoo, these are not zoo animals. They are wild birds, communal nesters by nature, who have gathered on their own to create this amazing multi-species rookery. The Alligator Farm has just been intelligent enough to provide access for the wondering public and photographers of all levels. In fact, the Alligator Farm rookery is fairly unique in that even folks with Point and Shoot party cameras…even phone cameras…can bring back satisfying shots of the birds. The longer lens of a super-zoom or DSLR outfit makes truly intimate portraits possible.
And among the birds who nest there, the Little Blue Heron stands out for me. It is not the most numerous or even the most showy…that would have to be the Great Egrets…but it is certainly a striking bird, an arresting bird, in is breeding finery. The plumage, with is subtle blue-greys and purples, its wide range of feather structure, from hair like plumes to sturdy wing feathers, is interesting in any light. And the bird, like all herons, poses. Add the deep turquoise around the eye that is only there during breeding and you can understand why I have so many images.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) 700mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 200. 2) 580mm. f5.8 @ 1/320th @ ISO 200. 3) 340mm. f5 @ 1/160th @ ISO 200. 4) 840mm. f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 200. 5) 570mm. f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
5/6/2012: Egret Chicks, St Augustine FL. Happy Sunday!
Though I am at The Biggest Week in American Birding along the Erie shore in Ohio this morning, I still have a lot images from Godwit Days in Northern California, and the Florida Birding and Photo Fest in St. Augustine to share. This is another from my one visit to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery. Such a great place for bird photography!
In May there are many nests of several species and young in almost any stage of development from egg to fledgling. There is nothing quite so ungainly–elegant–beautiful–ugly as the chick of the Great Egret. And I do not mean that they are sometimes ungainly and sometimes elegant, etc. I mean that they are all those things simultaneously in a mix that most people just call “cute”. Yet, cute, in my opinion does not apply. I am driven to resort to compound and conflicted adjectives to capture even a hint of the nature of the creature. The image does it better.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. About 300mm equivalent field of view. f5 @ 1/300th @ ISO 200. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
And for the Sunday thought: part of the appeal of Great Egret chicks, or any nestlings, certainly has to be that they touch our paternalistic instincts. They look so alive and so helpless that we are moved. We want them to grow and become…and in some vague sense we are willing to give ourselves to make that happen if necessary. Not that we think this through. It is called “the paternal instinct”. Some would say it is hard wired into our brains, as unavoidable as the knee jerk that doctor elicits with his little hammer.
I suspect there is a spiritual dimension to it as well though. I suspect it is more than brain chemistry and electrical patterns running a prerecorded routine. You could push the experience to say that on some level we are aware of our unity with all that lives. On some level we are aware of our responsibility for all that lives. Cute kittens, puppies, and, yes, Egret chicks break through our isolation as a species and as ourselves to call to a more basic calling. We are called to care. We are, I have to believe, made to care.
In the bustle and the busyness of business and relationships we sometimes forget. We sometimes think we are made to succeed. Or we are made to compete. Or we are made to acquire. Egret chicks on the nest at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery are a gentle reminder that, indeed, we are made to care.
5/3/2012: Motion and Grace, Great Egrets
You really have to see this one at full scale on your monitor. Click here to open in the viewer as wide as your monitor will allow.
I love the energy here, and the crisp detail of the spread wings. I think the energy is enhanced by the tight crop, though in this case it was a matter of necessity. This is the last shot in a sequence from the St. Augustine Alligator Rookery, and the bird leapt up so the top edge of the image as displayed is, in fact, the top edge of the frame. I find the shot graphically interesting as well, with the play of curves between the two birds in motion.
This is an earlier shot from the same sequence.
Also a strong shot with a lot of interest…less graphic…but with a more controlled energy. You have to love Egret wings! Full scale view is here.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 343mm equivalent field of view. f5 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 100.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
5/1/2012: Roseate Spoonbill in Flight!
One of the joys, and challenges, of working the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, is the number of birds in flight during your average hour. That would be lots! The superzoom Point and Shoots which I favor are not the ideal camera for flight shots, but with patience, persistence, the right settings, and the right expectations, in a place like the Alligator Farm you can come away with some stunning images.
The key is managing your expectations. You are going to miss more shots than you get by a very large factor. It is essential that you just keep shooting, and not stress out over the shots you are not getting. That is why I do most of my flight shots at places like the Alligator Farm or Bosque del Apache where there will always, if you just wait a moment, be another bird in the air. And even when you think you got a shot, 2 out of 3 hopefuls will not be sharp when you get them on the computer. Just the way it is. Shoot a lot.
As for settings, I had success this last visit with the Tracking Auto Focus setting on the Canon SX40HS. This setting puts a target frame in the center of the view. You put the target frame on what you want to track and hold the shutter button down half way to keep your subject in focus. That combined with Continous Shooting Mode (3+ fps) allows for some DSLR-like shooting of birds in flight.
(So okay, lets face the issue head on. Why am I not using a DSLR and tel-lens for flight shots? 1) expense. My SX40HS is a very cost effective shooter. 2) Flexibility. To match the range of situations the superzoom P&S handles would require a DSLR body and at least 3 lenses…and then it could not reach the extreme telephoto ranges. 3) Portability. No contest, the superzoom P&S is all I am willing to carry at the moment.)
And sometimes persistence pays of better than you have any right to hope. This shot of a Roseate Spoonbill gliding pretty much right over head surprised me when I got to processing the day’s take. I cropped out some empty pace on the left, and I like the resulting tension in the frame. It really deserves a larger view: here.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. f5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 125. 400mm equivalent field of view.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
5/27/2011: Putting on the Ritz: Snowy Egrets in Breeding Plumage
Snowy Egret in full breeding plumage, St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery. Intimate portrait via P&S camera behind the eyepiece of the ZEISS DiaScope spotting scope for an equivalent field of view of about 1000mm.
And even closer, this one with the Nikon Coolpix p500 at about 500mm with a much closer bird (and in more challenging light).
Pulled back to 240mm for the full effect of the displaying bird.
And just a final, interesting take on the breeding plumage. The fact that it was taken at 300mm equivalent is testimony to just how close to the birds you can get at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery.
1) Canon SD4000IS behind the 20-75x eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 85FL. Equivalent field of veiw as above at about 1000mm. 1/250th @ ISO 125. f2.8 effective.
2) Nikon Coolpix P500 at 466mm equivalent, f5.7 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 160. 3) 240mm equivalent, f8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 160, 4) 300mm, f5.4 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
And one more, just for fun.
5/21/2011: Bearing Gifts 2
While the Wood Storks are the largest of the gift bearers at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery, everyone gets into the act. Great Egrets are the second most obvious though they generally do not manage the grace of the Woodies. Below is a Cattle Egret in full flight over the rookery. I like the light through the wings.
Eventually each gift becomes an offering, generally male to female, and continual nest-building, even with eggs or young in the nest, seems to be part of the pair bond. This shot is slightly over exposed, with the highlights blocked up past all recovery. I only kept it because of the offering it shows.
Just watching the gifting behavior is interesting. Trying to catch significant moments with a camera adds a measure of challenge, and, at least for me, enjoyment.
Nikon Coolpix P500 from 300 to 700mm equivalent fields of view, User selected Flight and Action program.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
5/20/2011: Bearing Gifts 1
It is impossible on any visit to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery during breeding season not to be impressed by the amount of energy that goes into nest building. And, given the Wood Storks preference for fresh clipped greenery from the tops of threes, and the Egrets’ and Herons’ preference for dry sticks, it is a wonder there are any trees still standing within miles of the Farm. 😉
I find the Wood Storks bearing gifts particularly photogenic, whether perched or in flight.
It may be only a bit a branch, but the Wood Stork always bears its gifts so proudly.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 400-810mm equivalent fields of view. User selected Flight and Action program.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.