Tricolored Heron and Black-necked Stilt

The light (for photography) was miserable all day yesterday. It rained off and on…only twice hard enough so we had to seek cover…but hard enough so we were continuously damp. Still it was my friend Paul’s first day in the Rio Grande Valley, and I had promised to find him Egrets and Herons to fill his “big bird” desires (there is clearly a story there, but that is for another time). It took all day to find big birds within reach of Paul’s measly little 400mm f2.8, but we did finally find a group of Great and Snow Egrets, Tricolored Herons, Black-necked Stilts, and a single of both Little Blue and Great Blue Herons, feeding at a sharp bend in the canal at the Civic Park next to the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands World Birding Center. Eventually the Little Blue found a shoal of small fish right up against the shore, and his avid feeding attracted a Tricolored, a Snowy, and a group of Stilts. The Tricolored was a particularly effective fisher. While we watched, the bird caught and ate between 20 and 30 fair sized fish. The Snowy had a few, and the Little Blue a few more, and even one of the Stilts successfully caught and ate one…though it looked very large in that thin bill…but the Tricolored was easily the champ.

Like I say, very poor light. Sony HX400V at 1200mm equivalent field of view. Shutter preferred. 1/400th @ ISO 2000 @ f6.3. Paul probably did better with his 400mm f2.8. He certainly was working with lower ISOs, but this is not bad considering the conditions, and the reach of the Sony. Processed in Lightroom on my Windows tablet.