Posted on 07/02/2009 5:32:05 PM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER
I got to the pond just as the marsh birds started coming in to drink and bathe. When the tide is high they can't feed efficiently, so they take a break.
Roseate Spoonbills and a Great Egret. I got a lot of shots, it will take time to process them all.
Pinglist
Beautiful!
Thanks!
good stuff.....good depth of field....Film?
Thanks, beautiful photos! I love the spoonbills, we have them down here.
Sony A-200, can’t afford film any more, LOL
Stunning!
Remember when I told you about all that great gear I bought? Well I haven’t been out on a shoot because I turned sick.
I doubt that I will, until the heart doc puts in a couple of stents. Your captures help me keep the dream alive... thank you for posting them.
Get someone to set up a feeder and shoot through the window, you can get some great shots that way! Good luck with the docs!
Yes. Good luck.
When we lived in Southern California, we had a fish pond in the back yard. We were also in the migration path of the herons.
Herons flying over + Fish pond = Giant heron poops and fewer fish.
We couldn’t do anything about the herons, nor would we want to, but we did put some concrete blocks and flagstones in the pond so that the fish could at least have a chance to hide. It protected them from the raccoons, too.
The heron also scared the heck out of my cats one day when it perched on our upstairs balcony to scope out the fish. The cat made himself small, and I swear that he melted and oozed down the side of the bed to hide beneath it.
Beautiful birds.
Thanks for the memories.
Incredible shots, yet obviously not. Beautiful shots of a beautiful bird.
Wonderful! I love that I can see the color of their eyes.
Incredible pics.. is this on your property?
I have never seen a spoonbill up so close.
We don’t have them here in NJ.
Breathtaking shots!
Thanks!
The pond is near the coast, about 8 miles from here, on the north edge of St. Augustine. The Spoonbills seem to prefer saltwater feeding areas. They are highly specialized. The bill is incredibly sensitive to touch, they feed by swinging the bill from side to side in the water and grab any goodies they touch. The pink color comes from the iodine in their crustacean diet, same as Flamingos.
They were scarce around here for years, now we have a small breeding colony and they are doing pretty good.
Thanks! Beautiful as always. Hugs ~Pandy~
Fantastic work. Do you put any of these in a gallery? You won’t get rich but many more people will see them. And I think they should.
Drop the issue of film. Framing and exposure is everything. How far can you enlarge those shots? Digitally speaking.
It’s a big file, should go to way up there. 16X20 is easy. The A200 is 10MP from a sizable sensor, they will stretch.
If you need really big prints you get into $3000.00 and up bodies, with a full size 35mm sensor. The A200 sensor is about 27mm. Digital gets better all the time, except for some of the cult type films it holds it’s own. The effects you can create with software make a darkroom just too much trouble. The advantage of a smaller sensor, besides cost, is that the old Minolta 35mm lenses get an increase in reach, a 300mm lens becomes 450mm on my camera. If you want wide angle this isn’t so good, of course. My Sony will use almost any of the old Minolta glass, and there is some good stuff if you dig around for it.
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