photoartflightWood Stork Fast TakeOff
Posted on November 9, 2021
Now that I am retired I am going through images from previous photo trips that I did not have a chance to work on or post here. I was photographing this group of Wood Storks that were together in the top of this group of trees. There were a few nests scattered there in the treetops and they were making a lot of noise about something. Then this Wood Stork hastily took off. I guess the others did not like it being there. It landed a few trees away by another nest. Image taken with a Tamron 150-600mm lens @ 500mm with a Canon R.
Great Egrets In Florida Trees
Posted on November 7, 2021
Now that I am fully retired I am going through files from previous Photo Trips to post. The images here were taken at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery a few years ago. The Featured Image was taken with a Tamron 150-600mm @ 309mm on a Canon R. The Tamron 150-600mm lens worked Great at the Rookery since birds were both near and far in the Rookery giving you a lot of opportunities to get interesting images without carrying a lot of Gear! There were quite a few nests there also since the alligators below the boardwalks helped protect the nests from predators climbing up to raid the nest here!
Birds Of A Feather Do Not Always Flock Together
Posted on October 6, 2021
Another image from a previous trip to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery. An interesting group of Florida birds grouped together in the same tree. Quite often when you see different types of birds in the same tree they are squawking at each other. At the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery they seem to be quite content sharing the same spaces in the trees. Image taken with a 400mm DO lens on a Canon 1D mkIV.
Preening Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron
Posted on October 2, 2021
This Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron image is from a previous trip to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery in Florida. It is an interesting place to photograph Florida birds. Many types of birds nest here because their nests are protected from predators because of the Alligators below the Boardwalk. Image taken with a 400mm DO lens on a Canon 7D.
TriColored Heron On Nest
Posted on January 1, 2021
A portrait of a TriColored Heron on a nest at the St. Augustine Rookery. Image taken with a 150-600mm Tamron lens @ 600mm on a Canon R.
Hope Everyone Had a Safe & Wonderful New Year and looking forward to seeing your images in the New Year!
131 Egrets In Trees
Posted on December 23, 2020
I am still working on images from past trips. Gives me something to do during these Covid times. This is a 3 image handheld panorama shot with a m43 Olympus OM D-1 with a 14-140mm lens @ 41mm (Full Frame equivalent ~82mm). Then aligned & blended in Photoshop. Just for fun or maybe boredom, I counted about 131 Egrets plus 5 Roseate Spoonbills & 6 Wood Storks. I probably missed a few and could not see what was on the reverse side of the trees. Below are a few cropped in sections.
Great Egrets With Breeding Plumage
Posted on December 6, 2020
When we were photographing last year at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery we saw a lot of Great Egrets with their Breeding Plumage. Great Egrets are of breeding age when they about two years old. As they get into breeding plumage, they have long lacy and delicate plumes on their backs. The eye lores (featherless skin between the bill and eyes) turn from yellow to lime green, and the top of the upper bill turns dark. Also sometimes it seems their neck and other areas look “more feathery”. Below are a few examples of their Breeding Plumage.
Snowy Egrets From St. Augustine Alligator Farm
Posted on December 3, 2020
Because of the Covid 19 restrictions we have not traveled from home. I was going through images from a trip last January to Florida. The images used here were taken at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm & Rookery. It was a Great photo destination and they seem to cater to photographers. With a membership, they offer early hours to photographers& it can get very crowded in some of the areas. The Rookery area has a boardwalk going through it above the water & the alligators. It attracts a lot of photographers because there are so many nesting birds in the trees in the Rookery. The alligators provide protection to the birds’ nests in the trees above the water & the gators. I also saw quite a few birds walking on the shoreline by the alligators. I guess they are well feed since they seemed to leave the birds alone. I was using a Tamron 150-600mm lens on a Canon R which was a perfect combination to photograph there. I Since you are in a large gated boardwalk area it was nice to not lug too much gear around with all the photographers, tripods & other visitors. Usually I do not like photographing in commercial wildlife areas, but it was a nice area with nice people running the Alligator Farm. These are images I did not post before. The featured image was taken @ 600mm with the Canon R.
Young Great Egrets
Posted on May 4, 2019
The featured image shows a little older set of young Great Egrets. They were just hanging out at the nest waiting for food for when their parents return. Below are a few other Great Egret nests with younger birds showing their “fuzzy” look. The images were shot at 550mm and 600mm.
More Great Egret Nests
Posted on April 30, 2019
Among the wide variety of nesting birds at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm’s Rookery, there are many Great Egret nests in the trees. This blog post shows a few of these. It is amazing to see so many nests in most of the trees. Some trees have a dozen or more nests in a single tree. Also the variety of birds nesting in the same tree.
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