photoartflightBirds Settling Down At Sunset @ Ding Darling NWR
Posted on June 18, 2022
A couple of colorful sunset images of birds settling down for the evening. I am going through my array of Back-Up Drives making room for newer images and discarding ones I do not need. But along the way I am finding interesting images to post here. Also I am just selecting the best images when I was shooting a series of the bird flying in, etc. then deleting the extra files. The images here were taken many years ago. We were on our way out on the Ding Darling NWR Wildlife Drive as we passed these groups. The Featured Image of the Great Egret landing was taken with a 400mm DO Lens on a Canon 7D @ 6:48. The Group of Wood Storks was taken from the same spot but more to the right 3 minutes later @ 6:51 because I was waiting for a better grouping as they were moving. The distance to both groups were 236 feet according to the Adobe Camera Raw data. Then we had to get going to leave because they were closing and wanted everyone out.
Reddish Egrets From J.N. Ding Darling NWR
Posted on June 14, 2022
A series of Reddish Egret Images from a previous trip to the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel Florida. All images were taken with a Canon 1D mkIV with a Canon 400mm DO lens with a 1.4X Teleconverter. The Featured image is 2 Reddish Egrets Foraging for a meal by one of the viewing areas close to the Wildlife Drive. Here there is a sand dune out in the water fairly close to the Wildlife Drive so it is a good spot to photograph the action of the birds interacting with each other.
Juvenile Tricolored Heron Portrait
Posted on June 13, 2022
A closeup image of a Juvenile Tricolored Heron that I photographed early in the morning years ago as it was foraging in the shallow water along the Wildlife Drive at J.N. Ding Darling NWR in Sanibel, Florida. You can get quite a few closeup images early in the morning as the wading birds are foraging for their morning meal along the Drive. This was an older Juvenile as it’s reddish neck with spots of reddish feathers on their wings and upper back were starting to turn to the darker blue color. I was using a 400mm Canon DO lens with a 1.4X Teleconver on a Canon 1D mkIV.
Roseate Spoonbill FlyBys
Posted on June 10, 2022
One of my favorite birds to photograph in Florida are Roseate Spoonbills. They are fun to photograph and watch them in flight. They are also a very large bird to help fill the frame and are very colorful. The images here are a series of 2 different Spoonbills that flew by me as I was photographing at this spot. The Featured Image was taken with a Canon 7D with a 400mm DO lens. As this Spoonbill was flying by another Spoonbill flew by going the other way so it was like a 2 in 1 series of images.
Wood Stork Fly-By At J.N. Ding Darling NWR
Posted on June 8, 2022
A Wood Stork fairly close Fly-By along the Wildlife Drive at J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel Florida. Images here were taken years ago with a Canon 400mm DO lens with a Canon 7D and a 300-800mm Sigma lens with a 1.4x Teleconverter on a Canon 1DmkIII. The Wood Stork is a large American wading bird in the family Ciconiidae (storks), the only member of the family to breed in North America. It was formerly called the “Wood Ibis”, though it is not an Ibis. The Wood Stork is 59.1-68.9 inches tall so it stands out among other birds when roosting among other birds . They fly with their neck and legs outstretched but tend to perch with the neck drawn in, giving them a hump backed appearance. Wood Storks are entirely white save for their black flight feathers and tail. Their head is not feathered and has a scaly bald look.
Out On a Limb At J.N. Ding Darling NWR
Posted on June 7, 2022
One of my favorite places to photograph is at J.N. Ding Darling NWR in Florida. But it does have it’s drawbacks, mainly one of the busiest & crowded NWRs. Also many of the birds are quite far off. Here are 2 images taken years ago. These were taken with one of my favorite lenses for birds the Sigma 300-800mm zoom. The Featured Image was taken @ 800mm with a Canon 1DmkIII.
Immature White Ibis @ J.N. Ding Darling NWR
Posted on June 6, 2022
There are lots of photo opportunities along the Wildlife Drive at the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. I was photographing this Immature White Ibis in one of the water channels along the Drive. It was foraging for a meal and had success multiple times.
Great Egret Close Fly-By At J.N. Ding Darling NWR
Posted on June 5, 2022
I am going through my backup drives to clear out unneeded files and to make room for backing up recent files. I came across a drive with a lot of images from a trip to J.N. Ding Darling NWR in Florida many years ago that I never used. This is a series of 2 images of a Great Egret. The Featured image is a very close fly-by of the Great Egret taken with a Canon 400mm DO lens with a 1.4X Teleconverter on a Canon 1D mkIV.
American White Pelicans At J.N. Ding Darling NWR
Posted on March 1, 2022
A group of ~10 American White Pelicans from a previous trip many years ago to J.N. Ding Darling NWR in Florida. This was taken with one of my favorite lenses, the Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6. It was a Great Lens to setup on a tripod and work an area. At ~13 lbs you had to use a heavy tripod but you could really get a great assortment of images when you found an area where birds were coming and going and interacting with each other. It even worked well with 1.4x & 2x telconverters for even more reach. This image was taken with a Canon 1D mkIV @ 648mm. I have since replaced it with a Tamron 150-600mm which you can easily handhold for images and easier to carry. Plus it also works well with Teleconverters for more reach.
American White Ibis On Branch
Posted on December 23, 2021
I noticed this American White Ibis way up in a tree at J.N. Ding Darling NWR. The White Ibis really stood out against the bright blue sky. It is amazing such a large bird can hold on to such a thin branch. It’s feet are really wrapped around the branch that it is holding on to. Images taken with a Canon 400mm DO lens on a Canon 1D mkIV.
American White Ibis – Horizontal Version,
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