Posts in Category: Pic of the Day
Tricolored Herons at dawn…
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
Green Heron, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida
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
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
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!
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!
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
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
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.
Downy Woodpecker on the thistle sock
Downy Woodpecker, Kennebunk Maine
I am on my way to Florida today, traveling most of the day, so this is an image from last week.
I am not sure if the Downy Woodpecker ever actually takes seed from the Thistle Sock, but it hangs there often, using it as a intermediate perch on its way to the bottom of the suet cage, where it hangs upside down and pecks at the suet blocks inside. From my post at the far corner of the deck outside the glass doors from the kitchen, there is a narrow window between the apple branch perches, so the image is cropped accordingly. There was a little nub of branch sticking out from foreground perch and almost toching the woodpeckers head (not in reality, but in perspective), which I was able to remove in TouchRetouch after processing the image in Polarr.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 200 @ f4. Processed as above.
Titmouse at the feeder
Tufted Titmouse, Kennebunk Maine
Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 200 @ f4. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro.