Eastern Meadow Lark

Crested Caracara

Collier  County ,Fl.

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)

Coles County, Illinois

Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia)

Cape Coral, Florida

White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus)

Sanibel, Florida
Nest building time in the South



White-crowned Pigeon (Patagioenas leucocephala)

Sanibel,Florida
This bird was photographed in Ding Darling Wildlife refuge. It is at its northern range and is threatened in Florida. This a life bird for me. I saw it for about 20 seconds. :)

Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)

Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)

Sanibel,Florida

Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)

Fort Myers, Fl.

Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)

Cape Coral, Fl.

The only thing cuter than a baby owl is two baby owls!

American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)

Sanibel, Florida

Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens)

Bunche Beach, Florida

Long-billed Curlew (numenius americanus)

Bunche Beach, Florida

Sunset

American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchros)

Sanibel, Florida
Backlighting can add an interesting affect.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violecea)

Sanibel,Florida

Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri)

Bunche Beach, Florida

Wilson's Plover ((Charadruis wilsonia)

Bunche Beach, Florida

Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens)

Bunche Beach, Florida

Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus)

Sanibel, Florida

Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius)

Sanibel, Florida

Winter plumage so there are no spots.

American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos )

Sanibel, Florida

                                White birds also hard to get feather detail. The opposite problem

                                of black birds as they are usually overexposed and photographing in bright

                                 sunlight will always look washed out. This shot was taken on a cloudy

                                 day with -2/3 ev. Other than minor cropping this is an as shot photo.

Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus)

Sanibel, Florida

Black birds are sometimes hard to photograph. They tend to be underexpose

and appear as a black blur. I usually add exposure compensation so more feather

detail is shown. In this case I added +1.

Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)

Sanibel,Florida

My friend does photography for bird guides and one thing that is very important to her is the back ground. The green background blurred out seems to be a good choice.

Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)

Sanibel, Florida

Least Sandpipers are the smallest bird to be seen on Sanibel. Legs are somewhat yellowish

which helps with identification.

Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)

 

Sanibel,Florida

 

Most photos taken today are in some manner adjusted in photoshop and probably most are overdone with sharpening or saturation. I am guilty of this at times but try to be judicial in how much. The photo I have posted here is an "as shot" photo, nothing done, including cropping. This was the norm before digital photography. This photo was taken on an overcast Sunday morning using a Canon 7D with Canon F4 500mm lens mounted to a tripod. 

Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus)

Sanibel, Florida

This is one of five plovers on Sanibel in winter. Check out his legs he is wearing 4 bands.

 



Reflections

Sanibel, Florida

Rainbow

There was an early morning rainbow at the tower pond of Ding Darling. This is a popular spot for bird photographers as birds gather on sandbar near Wildlife Drive. As you can see the birds were there and the rainbow was a nice extra.

White Ibis (eudocimus albus)

 

Sanibel, Florida



Immature Black-crown Night-Heron

 

Sanibel, Florida

 

This immature Black-crown Night-Heron was one of 12 I saw this morning. It was a mixture of adults and immature. I thought this was an incredible number in a space 10 meters by 100 meters.

Green Heron



Green Herons sit on edge of water waiting for something to swim by and then quickly spear them.

Anhinga

Female Anhinga shown drying wings. This pose if often seen on Sanibel near fresh water..

On Sanibel Island there are several man-made platforms which are used by Ospreys. A naturalist "Bird" Westal was instrumental in erecting these in the late 70's. It was a great success story and help restore Osprey populations which had been on the decline. A few years ago an Australian Pine which had housed the nest of  Bald Eagles died either from natural causes or from help of man. It was then a group decided to build a platform for the eagles. This year they built a nest and have hatched two baby chicks. I was told by a birding expert that this was the only one he had ever seen used by eagles.

Night Herons

Shown are Black-crown and Yellow-crown Night Herons. Yellow-crown (lower) are fairly common.
Black-crown usually aren't but this year I have seen as many as 6 at a time.

Marbled Godwit

This along with last three post were all taken at Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. There is a great variety of birds  this time of year. It is a wonderful place to practice bird photography because they are easily approached and may even pose for you. This is my favorite picture so far this year.

Blue-winged Teal

This was taken Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge using my Canon 7D with 300 mm lens with 1.4 teleconverter.

Hooded Merganser and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

This was taken at Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge early in the morning. The ISO setting to get this shot was at 3200. Reflections are always fun.

Roseate Spoonbill

This picture was taken last night at Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. It was late in the day with a light rain falling. It was taken with my new Canon 7D and 500mm lens.