On our first day we went to the Estero Lagoon, a narrow strip of land between the sea and the Ft. Myers Beach coastline. Now and then, the lagoon floods at high water and so a wetland area developed, attracting a wide variety of bird-life. Since so many photographers visit this place, the birds here are ridiculously tame and allow real close up encounters. On this morning, Arthur prepared this day by attracting the birds with some small bait fish. At first they didn’t come but after a few convincing yells from Arthur the birds saw what was going on and came in in flocks. Among those, Snowy Egrets, Great White Egrets, Reddish Egrets, Tricoloured Herons, Brown Pelicans and White Ibisses.

White Ibis with bait fish

After the first frenzy of feeding settled, I got some time to create a beautiful portrait of a White Ibis in stunning morning light.

White Ibis Portrait

note those hypnotising eyes

But baiting is not really needed. The lagoon is well filled with lots of fish and after we finished with our baiting, the birds continued hunting on their own.

White Ibis Hunting

… some fish I don’t know … note how the Ibis shakes the fish to clean it.

After finishing the IPT with Arthur, I added an extra day to experience a boat trip on Tampa Bay. On the islands in the middle of the bay, large Roseate Spoonbill colonies can be found as well as hundreds of Turkey Vultures. To photograph them, we positioned ourselves in the water, just a few meters short of the island’s coastline, as entering or landing on the islands is prohibited. Waste deep into the water, tripod with camera included (camera just a foot or two from the salt seawater), we waited for the spoonbills to return from their hunting trips or to leave for them.

Roseate Spoonbill Braking

Returning to a small flock of spoonbills gathering on the banks

In regular occurances, as soon as a larger number of spoonbills have returned, they suddenly all take flight and go to the bay’s feeding grounds.

Roseate Spoonbills Take Off

Note the residential coastline on the horizon

As soon as they have left, they return individually. I was able to get a few nice shots of the spoonbill in gliding approach flight.

Roseate Spoonbill Incoming

My final image of this post is of one of the Turkey Vultures flying over while standing in the surf. Impressive birds.

Turkey Vulture Flying Over

Banking nicely in the morning sun

See all images from the Florida IPT at Florida IPT Gallery.

White Morphed Reddish Egret

portrait in stunning morning sunlight against a foggy background

Although the most cunning birds to come in for the bait fish were the white and snowy egrets, the reddish egret got some chances as well to get some fish.

White Morphed Reddish Egret

click on an image to get a larger version …

Finally a ‘real’ Reddish Egret, posing in front of the Condominiums of Estero Beach, reflecting in the water.

Reddish Egret

Part of the bird gang coming for the fish, but usually working on his own, was the Tricoloured Heron. Where the white egrets would stand just a few meters away from the bait thrower, anticipating more, the Tricoloured Heron would start hunting on his own.

Tricoloured Heron hunting

completely absorbed by the hunt

allowing a closeup after being well fed

Occasionally another bird would pass the scene, but would be intimidated by the other big birds to stay for long.

Ring Billed Gull

‘stealing’ a bite

Finally an image of a bird with a very sweet face.

Black Bellied Plover

‘am I safe here ?’

See all images from the Florida IPT at Florida IPT Gallery.

Casting the net for fish

During the midday break, I was witness to some great Osprey action. This Osprey was coming in with a needle fish, freshly caught from the bay.

Osprey with Needle fish

This image is a composite of two images, as the upper part of the image was missing and so the left wing was clipped. I had a next image in sequence with a less good head turn, but with a good wing. With some cut/paste work in photoshop I managed to merge the two good parts together in one image.

The Osprey made a flyby and settled on an electrical post, to consume the fish. The fish, however, was still alive and wasn’t going to surrender without fight. Upon landing on the post, the Osprey was in for a stingy surprise and was attacked by the needle fish.

Osprey attacked by Needle fish

The Osprey decided to take another round in the air to get a better grip on the fish.

Osprey attacked by Needle fish

Once a good grip was arranged, the fight of the fish was over

On the pier at Placida we got to play with a few hungry Brown Pelicans. They provided us with a few beautiful flight moments.

Brown Pelicans

Juvenile Brown Pelican

And a good fight of two over a fish

Note the hole in the beak … it is the breathing hole

After the excitement, we did find time to take trials at different photographing techniques, like blurring the motion.

Brown Pelicans in blur

Almost a cartoon

Later in the afternoon we took to a small bird island in the bay, using a pontoon-boat. On the way there we passed an Osprey nest and as we passed I managed to take a few images from the bird taking off from the nest.

Osprey nest

click on one of the images to get a bigger version …

At the birds island the sunset provided some stunning moments.

Sunset at Placida Bay

White Ibisses coming in to roost.

See all images from the Florida IPT at Florida IPT Gallery.

GWE Stretching out to impress

… or was it a wake up stretch … need to ask the specialists

 
As the fog of that morning evaporated, the GWE’s came in full bloom, nicely lit by the sun. A few nice flight shots became possible as well, as you need a bit more light to shoot with higher shutter speeds.
 

GWE coming to nest with nest material

Upon landing there is always some noise coming from the greeting ceremony

 
When the male is ready with his nest material collecting, he sometimes takes a while to display his breeding plumage, quite a spectacular sight.
 

GWE Display

a Marilyn Monroe moment ?

 
Finally, an image from Placida Bay, at the dock’s walking pier, we created a few images directly against the sunlight. The time of day was around 4pm, so the light wasn’t at its best yet, but these trials came out quite nicely. I don’t have images of this moment, but can you imagine a goup of 10 photogs cramped on a meter wide pier, to get lined up ? It was quite funny.
 

GWE In Silhouette

the same with a golden glow

and a coppery glow, all done in photoshop

Backlit by a harsh sun

 
From high up in the rookery, we went belly down for most other birds, most of them the small runners along the beach. Here a nice closeup of a Wilson’s Plover.
 

Wilson’s Plover

on the bank of Estero Lagoon’s beach

 
At the same location, just more inland on a sand-dune.
 

Wilson’s Plover

I like the environment in this one a lot.

 
Further inland it got wet. And muddy.
 

In the Wetland

… down in the mud …

 
And this is how I did it.
 

Getting low

Image is courtesy of Daniel Cadieux. I didn’t go quite down max, as the mud was way past its selling date…

 
See all images from the Florida IPT at Florida IPT Gallery.

Incoming Snowy Egret

The low sun gave this image a reddish glow.

A few minutes later, the same bird made a fly by, in a little more blocked sunlight, by a small cloud.

Snowy Egret Fly By

Small clouds gave a completely different feel.

The morning of the 14th was also very nice with the following images:

Snowy Approaches

Snowy Egrets are very clever feeders, they will use every opportunity to get to what they want. Here you can see how two White Ibis are foraging and the Snowy Egret take advantage of the situation by just following these two:

White Ibis helping Snowy Egret

But when another Snowy gets too close, it can get to food fights.

Snowy Egret food battle

With a flash blur I managed to get these two fighting in one frame.

And when the food (or the bait fish) is still in the bag, but we take a break, they just give you the look until you are prepared to give them some, hence the look:

Snowy Egret Look

Intensely begging for more food.

The second ‘subject’ for this post is the Burrowing Owl, a small owl that breeds in holes underground. There are still a large number of nesting sites available in the Ft Meyers area and a lot of people take great interest in protecting these sweet birds. Unfortunately, the bird doesn’t seem to enjoy the same protection status as cars in Florida, so their population is under pressure. Bare land can be taken by developers and if birds are located there, it is tough. A breeding coupld must be considered, but next season they will need to vacate…. We visited Burrowing owls at two different locations in Ft. Meyers.

At the first location, this couple reminded us that this day was Valentine’s day:

Will You be my Valentine

Light conditions were overcast, so with a little flash these birds were lit.

The male bird then showed himself standing alone and I was given the opportunity by Arthur Morris to use his 800mm lens + 1.4TC for a very intimate closeup of this bird. This image convinced me to get one of these monster lenses as well and have not regretted it (the hole in the wallet is considerable though …).

Burrowing Owl Portrait

Flash at EC-2.

At a neighbouring field another couple of nesting birds were sighted. This one stood in front of a house with a red facade, creating a very special background.

Relaxed Owlet

Flash at EC-2.

Finally on another day we were able to photograph two couples of Burrowing Owls in sunsetting light, creating a very nice mood in the image.

Enjoying the Sunset

See all images from the Florida IPT at Florida IPT Gallery.

So I applied for one of Arthur Morris’s Instructional Photographic Tours, the one from President’s Week from 13-17 February. I was among another 9 photographers needing the education, the outing or the company.

The Group in Action at Estero Lagoon

With the group in the background, a few well behaving birds created a pleasing foreground

The first morning we went out to the Venice Rookery, a world famous location for breeding ibis, egrets, herons, anhingas and more. The Venice Rookery is not a big venue, perhaps a 10.000m2 location with a pond and an island, part of a local recreation park. The island is the main attraction: packed with birds fighting for a breeding spot and equal noise. Till this date I have been shooting Av mode, reading each situation and dialing -2 to +2 for the different subjects, always in trouble when my subject changes: from a black to a white bird or vice versa. Chef-de-Mission Arthur Morris made it abundantly clear, Manual Mode when light is constant is the way to go. And so I did.

Great Egret at Venice

One of my first ‘Manual’ exposure images, the results surpassed my expectations

The light calibration at the given conditions is of course the basis for a perfect exposure. See also as part of my Key-Photographic-Knowledge (KPK) base, the Measuring Light system. This KPK-Base is a summary of all tricks ad tips learned throughout my photographic path, mostly from other photographers. Their credit will be noted.

Next to measuring light, Arthur Morris provided lots of surprising techniques, as with this Turkey Vulture, using flash, the so called ‘flash blur’ image technique.

Turkey Blurture

Manual Mode, EC+2 off the sky, Flash EC-1. With these light settings, the flash bounced twice in the time the exposure (1/3 seconds) lasted.

For our visits to Estero Lagoon, we needed to make sure that enough bait was available to attract the birds. So, at Placida where we waited to board a boat trip later that afternoon, I was sent to cast the nets. In one of the casts, this Hermet Crab emerged.

Hermet Crab

The light was a bit hard, but I got a nice head display as he was trying to escape.

With the bait catch put on ice, the guests are eagerly waiting for their breakfast …

Our Guests, waiting to be served

The lens used here was a fish-eye lens, courtesy loan by A. Morris.

One morning as we approached Estero Lagoon, we had a very nice clear sky and soft red morning light. By setting the in-camera color temp to app. 7000K and setting for a slight overexposing, this sun reflection was created, using the small surf as mirror.

Sun Reflections at Estero

Aperture Priority Mode, EC+1/3

Estero is an amazing place for bird photography. We have had two mornings with amazing morning light: we also spent one afternoon at the condo-lagoon. In the reflection of one condominium, this Reddish Egret game a few moments of his time.

Reddish Egret

Also at this location, we were able to enjoy the now setting sun, accompanied by fast incoming fog-clouds.

Sun in Fog at Estero

It is quite difficult to have no Brown Pelican in an image in SW Florida

Finally, when waiting for the Brown Pelicans in Placida, as they were lured with bait for inflight shots, this Great Blue Heron passed at a few meters distance. I managed to get my lens to the widest possible angle (28mm) and got him in frame.

GBH too close

See all images from the Florida IPT at Florida IPT Gallery.