…morning light is magic…

Latest

Galveston’s FeatherFest 2024

Spent 5 days last week leading field trips for Galveston’s FeatherFest. It was my 13th year doing it and had a blast. The light didn’t cooperate with cloudy skies most days with just a sliver of sun peeking out a couple of times. Made trips to Bolivar Flats Audubon Shorebird Sanctuary on Wed/Thurs/Sat/Sun and East Beach on Galveston Island on Friday.

Here are some cell phone photos of the groups at Bolivar Flats, where they got the full ground pod treatment, including lying in some water, sand and mud. I always like to take photos of the groups at the end of the session to prove that they were active participants with getting down and dirty.

Thanks to everyone that came out to play in the mud with me. Looking forward to doing it again next year.

Posted by  |  April 25, 2024 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

American Avocets at Sunrise

Had beautiful weather this weekend along the Texas gulf coast. Needed to add to my shorebird portfolio for Audubon’s photo contest so made a trip back to Bolivar Flats Audubon Shorebird Sanctuary. Will see out there next time Sheldon.

Tide was going out and fairly low when I got there before sunrise. It was one of those rare days with no wind and flat surf on the Gulf of Mexico.

The surprise of the morning was seeing a fin coming out of the water behind a small flock of avocets, just offshore near the parking area. It was a dolphin hunting for fish, which was only the second time that I’ve seen a dolphin out there in the past 15 years. Took some video of him but missed the money shot when he jumped out of the water with a fish just off of his nose.

After that excitement, settled into getting some avocet photos and videos. Here is one of my favorites with back-lit feathers on some incoming birds. My happy place for sure.

1/3200 sec @ F10, ISO 800, evaluative metering, 700mm (R3 + 100-500 + 1.4X), Skimmer ground pod

Posted by  |  February 25, 2024 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

American Bittern

Here is my first bird photo in 2024, which is an American Bittern from Anahuac NWR in Texas yesterday.  Found him along the road and got some head shots out my car window.  Slowly opened my door and sat on the ground to get this shot.

1/400 @ F10, ISO 12,800, evaluative metering, -2/3 exposure compensation, 700mm (R3 + 100-500 + 1.4X), handheld, uncropped

Posted by  |  January 7, 2024 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , , , , | 3 Comments

Top 100 in NANPA’s Photo Contest

Honored to have one of my bird photos in the Top 100 winning images in NANPA’s (North American Nature Photography Association) 2024 photo contest. Congratulations to everyone in the Showcase!

This is a white morph reddish egret that was fishing in the Gulf of Mexico at Bolivar Flats Audubon Shorebird Sanctuary.  He ended up scaring the fish out of the water and was in hot pursuit.

Posted by  |  November 22, 2023 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Success in Bird Photographer of the Year Contest

Honored to have my favorite willet photo “commended” in the Bird Photographer of the Year international contest in the Birds in Flight Category and published in their 8th edition book.  Was very pleased to be in the top 1% of 20,000 photos.  Congratulations to all of the winners and those that were published.  My first time entering this contest and it paid off.  It won’t be my last.

I was notified back in July that this photo was going to be published in their annual photo contest book so ordered one. It showed up last week and it’s a high quality “coffee table” type of book. Would be cool if other contests provided books for their top photos.

Taken with my original Canon 1DX + 500F4 + 1.4x

Nov 2019 at Bolivar Flats Audubon Shorebird Sanctuary, Texas gulf coast

Posted by  |  September 17, 2023 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

My First Granddaughter

Had a very exciting Memorial Day weekend with the birth of our first grandchild on Monday.  Congratulations to Heather & Jack and welcome to the world Charlotte Maeve Cochran!  Heather was due on Saturday and started to go into labor on Sunday, so well timed. 

One interesting fact is that both Heather and Charlotte were born on Memorial Day.  Also, to confirm, yes, I’ve already purchased my first Grandpa T-shirt.

Used my new baby lenses, 50mm 1.2 and 100mm F2.8, for these photos. Will be getting lots of practice with taking baby photos.

Posted by  |  June 5, 2023 | Categories: Birds | 10 Comments

Barred Owl in Flight

Subscribe to continue reading

Subscribe to get access to the rest of this post and other subscriber-only content.

Posted by  |  May 27, 2023 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on Barred Owl in Flight

Amazing Bald Eagle

It takes 5 years before a bald eagle’s head becomes totally white, but I prefer the colors of the juvi eagles from a photography perspective.

We came across this bald eagle sitting in a tree along the water’s edge and immediately recognized that this one was special. The colors on his back were amazing. He could have cared less that we were floating by in a boat, so he just hung out on his branch, watching the waters for his next meal.

Posted by  |  May 20, 2023 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , , , , , | 8 Comments

Florida Eagles

Couple of juvi bald eagles taken on a recent trip to Florida. Spent some quality time with Facebook friend, Dick Vautrinot, on his boat. Had to decide whether to spend a couple of days at Disney or take bird photos. It was a no-brainer and a very good choice.  Lots of eagles, osprey, bard owls and anhinga.

1/1250 sec @ F9, ISO 2500, evaluative metering, +1 2/3 exposure compensation, 420mm (R3 + 100-500 +1.4X), handheld on moving boat

Posted by  |  May 17, 2023 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , , , | 6 Comments

Willet Feeding in the Fog

Made a scouting trip to Bolivar Flats on the Texas Gulf coast yesterday in preparation for leading four field trips for Galveston’s FeatherFest in April.  It was extremely foggy and could only see a couple of car lengths in front of my car while driving on the beach.  The guy following me almost crashed into the barricade. 

The fog finally cleared some but then rolled in a couple of times.  I’m a major fan of shooting in the fog under the right conditions when the sun pops out, which was the case on this trip.

It was high tide with lots of birds along the shoreline and in a couple of tidal pools.  Captured this willet feeding in one of the pools right in front of me while I was lying is some real nasty stuff with my ground pod.

1/3200 @ F10, ISO 800, evaluative metering, +1/3 exposure compensation, 700mm (R3 + 100-500 + 1.4X) mounted on Skimmer ground pod with video head

Posted by  |  March 26, 2023 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments