Out On a Limb At J.N. Ding Darling NWR

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.

Wood Stork, 800mm with 1.4X Teleconverter, 1120mm, 1D mkIII

Immature White Ibis @ J.N. Ding Darling NWR

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.

Immature White Ibis Foraging, Ding Darling Wildlife Drive, Canon 400mm DO lens, Canon 7D
Immature White Ibis Foraging, Ding Darling Wildlife Drive, Canon 400mm DO lens, Canon 7D

American White Ibis On Branch

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.

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American White Ibis – Horizontal Version,

White Ibis Foraging For A Meal

These images are from a trip to J.N. Ding Darling NWR a few years ago. We were walking early in the morning along the Wildlife Drive looking for birds that might be feeding in the water channels along the Drive. We came upon this White Ibis in the one of the channels. It did not take long before it found a meal. Images taken with a Canon 1D mkIV, 400mm Canon DO lens & Canon 1.4X Teleconverter.

Looking For Breakfast
Breakfast Is Served!

Roseate Spoonbill Tree

It was interesting to see this tree full of Roseate Spoonbills surrounding this White Ibis. The featured image was captured with a Sigma 300-800mm lens @ 800mm. It seems to be very helpful at J.N. Ding Darling to have a long zoom lens with a long telephoto zoom range. Many photo opportunities there are quite far in the distance. So instead of severely cropping your image you can frame a nice pleasing image to fill the frame with your subject. The Sigma 300-800mm lens was a huge & heavy lens and with a camera body was about 12 lbs. Add a Wimberly gimbal head & heavy duty tripod and you basically setup in an area and just work that area for a while. That is why I usually also carried another camera on my shoulder strap with a 400mm DO lens for faster moving subjects that flew close by.

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Roseate Spoonbill, Sigma 300-800mm @ 631mm

 

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Roseate Spoonbill 400mm f/ DO lens

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Splashing Roseate Spoonbills, Canon 400mm DO lens, Canon 7D

 

 

 

 

Immature American White Ibises Foraging

We found a group of immature American White Ibises working an area for their morning meal. They seemed to have great success in finding their breakfast. All images were shot with a Canon 400mm DO lens.

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White Ibis foraging – 2 image panorama, 400mm Canon DO lens, handheld, assembled in Photoshop

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Immature American White Ibis foraging – 2 image Vertical Panorama

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White Ibis FlyBy From Lake Woodruff NWR

I am still going thru images from our photo trip to Florida. Here are a few more images from Lake Woodruff NWR of White Ibises we saw flying above us at Lake Woodruff NWR.

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White Ibis Flyby

I am still going through my images I took in Florida a few months ago. Here is a series of a White Ibis flying by where I was photographing a group of White Pelicans. I was using a 300mm f/4 lens with a 1.4x teleconverter. This was the closest flyby while I was photographing at this spot. I saw quite a few birds flying by, but most were pretty far out there.

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Young White Ibis Feeding Early In The Morning

I am still going through some of my images from our trip to Florida in the Fall. On our visits to the J.N. Ding Darling NWR, we tried to get there early. While I was walking the Indigo Trail early in the morning, hoping to find some birds trying to find breakfast. I came upon a group of White Ibises. The older birds were in the lower branches, working their way through the trees. There was this one younger adult, still showing some dark mottling on the face and neck, foraging on the ground. Again it was very dark, but it helped a little for my exposure that it was a white bird! I still had to use a minus exposure compensation, but I had to go even a little further than usual because I was using average metering, so I got a little higher shutter speed. Which I needed for my 300mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter.

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White Ibis with Breakfast Bug breakfast – Canon 300mm f/4 IS Lens, Canon Series III 1.4x teleconverter

White Ibis Fly-By

I am still going through my images from our trip to Florida from last November. There were quite a few White Ibis foraging for food and a few flying around in the Refuge. As I was photographing the White Pelican panoramas, this Ibis flew by. I liked the featured image with the Ibis as it was coming towards me, giving a more interesting angle plus had wings in an elevated position. We were traveling “light”, so I was using a Canon 300mm f/4 with a Canon Series III 1.4x teleconverter.

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As the Ibis was almost in front of me, it did not seem to be as interesting an angle. Plus the shadow on the wing was not my favorite view.

 

 

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