Bird Photography Weekly

I stood on the narrow catwalk hanging below the bridge over Oregon inlet.  The platform vibrated as the cars passed behind me; their tires whizzing by just over my head.   Although the catwalk was intended for fishing, it made a good spot for bird observation.  I resolutely turned my back on the traffic and scanned the water.  The day was flat gray from sky to sea.  Brown Pelicans plunged and bobbed on the waves; a female Bufflehead paddled with her face in the water; thousands of Double-crested Cormorants streamed in long lines from the open ocean to form a solid black mat out of the wind and crashing waves.  Mixed in all this swirling, fluttering bird life were flashes of white; appearing and disappearing like lightening in the gathering gloom.  I watched one fold its wings and plunge straight as an arrow head-first into the waves without a splash.  Ah, Gannets.  I had seen hundreds of Gannets offshore all up and down Hatteras Island; on the move, heading to their nesting grounds in the Martitimes.  What a treat.  I had not seen Gannets since 2002.

In a lull between cars passing over head, I heard thunder.  What I had taken for the rumble of traffic had been mixed with more ominous sounds.  I was standing on a metal catwalk on a metal bridge out over water as a thunder storm approached.  As I considered beating feet onto terra firma, some of the Gannets started to fly closer to the bridge.  I pulled up my camera hoping for a picture.  Of course, I had to stay.  I only managed to get in a few shots before I saw lightening flash on this side of Bodie lighthouse and the first fat drops of rain splash on the metal railing.  I looked up startled.  It was time.  I abandoned my post and hustled to shore as the Gannets swirled white amidst the monochrome black and gray of a coastal North Carolina storm.

Bird Photography Weekly-Snowy Egret

Holy Crap!  This water is COLD!

This picture always cracks me up.  I spied this Snowy Egret on the Texas coast in May so the water was not terribly cold, but by the look on its face, it seems to be thinking it.  Actually it was really windy and the surf was pretty rough that day.  You can see the foam and the force of the water as it surges around the bird’s legs.

To see other birds faces check out Bird Photography Weekly.

White Ibis-the garbage picker

When I think of Ibis, I think of heat, marshes, phragmites, salt on my lips and in the air.  And most definitely the south.  While on a business trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the dead of summer, I decided to go for a swim at 6am.  The heat had not yet set in and it was wonderful out.  As I trudged across the sand, stepping around people sleeping on the beach; I stopped in my tracks astounded when I saw several White Ibis digging through the garbage cans.  I had never seen anything like it.  Here I thought Ibis delicately probed in the muck for insects, fish or crustaceans.  But let me tell you these Ibis were fighting it out with the gulls for the tastiest morsels.  The shadow in the picture is the garbage can.  I wish I had zoomed out so you could see it.  Huh, who knew?  Ibis prefer stalking the garbage bins for food instead of working the mud.  Or at least these  did.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday-Lunch with a Great Egret

Happy Mothers Day

Happy First Day of Spring!