{"id":1438,"date":"2010-05-03T05:35:25","date_gmt":"2010-05-03T10:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sipotd.wordpress.com\/2010\/05\/03\/532010\/"},"modified":"2010-05-03T05:35:25","modified_gmt":"2010-05-03T10:35:25","slug":"532010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psnp.info\/p4td_\/?p=1438","title":{"rendered":"5\/3\/2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Bearing Gifts<\/h4>\n

See me. I come with my plumage all asplender and carrying the down-payment on a nest!<\/p>\n

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Of course you see a lot of nesting behavior at the St Augustine Alligator Farm rookery. This Great Egert had landed on a branch above the nest and was displaying, as well as carrying substantial offering. That is a bit unusual. Generally the male comes right into the nest with material. Maybe he and his lady had had a tiff? Or maybe she was saying \u201cNow where am I supposed to put that thing. I mean, look at the size of it!\u201d Sorry. It is almost impossible not<\/em> to anthropomorphize when dealing with nesting birds. <\/p>\n

Canon SX20IS at 560mm equivalent. Oddly enough, though these images were taken seconds apart, the EXIF data varies widely from f5.7 @ 1\/800 @ ISO 80, to f5.7 @ 1\/1250 @ ISO 125 to f8 @ 1\/1250th @ ISO 250. ?? Go figure. All were close enough to correct exposure to for very similar processing in Lightroom. The first two were cropped slightly for composition. <\/p>\n

Recovery for the highlights, Fill Light for the shadows, Blackpoint to the right slightly, added Clarity, a tiny bit of Vibrance, and Sharpen landscape preset. <\/p>\n

From St Augustine FL 2010<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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