We visited the Venice Rookery, a breeding spot for many birds in Venice, Florida, on the 13th of February and enjoyed the courtship displays of a number of male Great White Egrets. Since the island in the pond is quite small and the adjacent shore relatively nearby, creating images of these birds is relatively easy.
| GWE Stretching out to impress |
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| … 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| the same with a golden glow |
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| and a coppery glow, all done in photoshop |
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| 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 |
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| on the bank of Estero Lagoon’s beach |
At the same location, just more inland on a sand-dune.
| Wilson’s Plover |
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| I like the environment in this one a lot. |
Further inland it got wet. And muddy.
| In the Wetland |
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| … down in the mud … |
And this is how I did it.
| Getting low |
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| 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.