Reddish Egret Striking a Pose
One of my favorite shore birds is the Reddish Egret. They are fun to watch when fishing as they raise their wings up to scare the fish. They jump and fly around like a crazy person as they go after their prey. They put lots of effort into it but are usually successful. They can fish circles around nearby Great Egrets. I’ve seen Great Egrets follow the Reddish Egrets around and then steal their fish away from them.
This Reddish Egret was hanging out last weekend at east beach on Galveston Island. Initially was only getting silhouette shots of him and had to work my way around to get some better light. Gotta love the early morning light…at least I do…
Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens
1/1,000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, spot metering, no flash, hand-held
1/1,000 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, spot metering, no flash, hand-held
Reddish Egret Silhouette
Tried to go to the Texas City Dike this morning but it was closed due to a small oil spill – bummer. Tried to make the best of it by heading further south to Galveston. Was thinking about going to Bolivar but my gut told me to head to the east end of Galveston instead. As I drove along the east end, it was pretty dead so I decided to try east beach instead. I’ve learned to trust my gut when it comes to wildlife photography and this time it paid off. Got lucky with several Willets, a couple of White Morph Reddish Egrets and this Reddish Egret hanging around the jetty.
My original goal was to take some flight shots so I left the tripod and ground pod in the car, which ended up being a big mistake on my part. Ended up laying down and shooting hand-held for some of the shots. Haven’t had time to go through all of them yet but here is a silhouette of the Reddish Egret that I like.
Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens
1/1250 sec @ F5.6, ISO 200, evaluative metering at +1/3 exp compensation, no flash
Nesting Skimmer
Found this Black Skimmer sitting on some eggs this past weekend at sunrise so I was obligated to take it’s picture. It’s the law…at least in my book. More to come
Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens, hand held
1/2500 sec @ F7.1, spot metering, ISO 400, no flash
Green Heron Action
Not many critters around Brazos Bend State Park lately except for Green Herons. Good thing as that is what I was looking for during this trip. The water level keeps dropping with gators walking in the water instead of swimming in some areas. One of the park volunteers was doing a bird count and only found about 20 species in comparison to over 150 that he saw last December.
I seem to have the most luck when just sitting on the bank and waiting for the action to happen. I’m a fan of the low-level shot and it’s not a good ideal to lay down around there. I’ve learned to shoot with both eyes open to keep an eye out for the gators.
Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens with tripod
1/640 sec @ F5.6, partial metering, ISO 250, no flash
1/640 sec @ F6.3, partial metering, ISO 400, flash with better beamer
1/1250 sec @ F5.6, partial metering, ISO 400, no flash
1/1250 sec @ F5.6, partial metering, ISO 400, no flash
1/1250 sec @ F5.6, partial metering, ISO 400, no flash
Black Skimmer with Slow Motion Splash
This is how I spent the morning hours on the 4th of July – taking bird photos of course! Here is Black Skimmer shot taken just after sunrise with low light which resulted in a shutter speed of 1/160 sec. Ended up with a decent reflection at the point of impact with the spray being blurred. A good way to celebrate the 4th IMO.
Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens
1/160 sec @ F5.6, partial metering, ISO 400, flash with better beamer (set at -3 stops)
The Green Heron Stretch
I’m always amazed at how far Green Herons can stretch out their bodies without falling into the water. He reached out, grabbed some food and then pulled himself back up. I don’t quite have the stomach muscles for that maneuver. Found this guy fishing at Brazos Bend State Park, TX. I sat along the bank for a couple of hours and shot mostly Green Herons. Not much else around this time of year at the park.
Taken with Canon 100-400 lens and flash with better beamer on tripod
1/800 sec @ F5.6, partial metering, ISO 400, flash at – 3 stops
Full Auto Trigger Time
No photos in this post but had to share a great bonding experience with my 24 yr old daughter today. She had bought me an hour at a local indoor shooting range for my birthday a few months ago. Didn’t get around to using it until today and we had a blast. We started out with renting two 9mm semi auto pistols (Glock and Ruger) and went through 2 boxes of ammo.
The fun really began when we then rented a fully automatic M16 with a laser sight. My first time shooting full auto and it was a blast. Went through 100 rounds of .223 ammo in no time. Wasted about 1/2 a box in semi-auto mode and ripped through the rest in automatic. Shot the first few shots in short bursts to get a feel for what it would do. The range master then told me to let it rip and found out that it really doesn’t take very long to empty a clip. Was totally awesome. My daughter really got into it as well. The most fun that I’ve had spending around $100 in a long time.
I’d highly recommend a trip to “The Arms Room” in League City: http://thearmsroomtx.com/
Whistling Duck BIF
Found this Black Bellied Whistling duck at Brazos Bend State Park, TX last weekend. I was sitting on the bank taking shots of Green Herons fishing when this guy did a fly by. I couldn’t find my tripod before leaving on the trip so I handheld the camera all day, which ended up being a good thing for this shot or I would have missed it. The slow shutter speed resulted in some wing blur, which I tend to like on some of my flight shots.
Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens
1/250 sec @ F 5.6, ISO 400, partial metering, flash with better beamer
Tim Timmis Photography 