This post will focus on images made of the Snowy Egret, quite an abundant bird in SW Florida and the Burrowing Owl, a sweet little bird, living and breeding underground. At most venues we visited, bait was used to attract the egrets and prooved great photographic subjects.
| 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.