Nest Building Ritual
When the mate arrives back at the nest with a stick, the ritual begins with lots of squawking. The stick is then transferred with an abundance of fanfare to the other egret. They often both hang onto to the stick while placing it into the nest. It’s quite the ceremony and interesting to watch and photograph.
I tend to keep my focus on one pair of birds that are in a good position with a decent background. If you get lucky, they repeat the ritual time after time and allow for some great photo op’s. This was one of those times. One of my favorite shots from High Island so far this year.
Using manual exposure and exposing for the brightest spots on the white birds keeps the whites from blowing out, darkens the scene and resulted in the black background.
Taken with Canon 7D and Canon 500mm F4 IS II mounted on tripod with Wimberley II head
1/1250 sec @ F8, ISO 400, manual exposure, 500mm
Tim Timmis Photography 
Good info and all the more importance of learning manual control. Good exposure control = a good picture. Thanks for reinforcing this technique.
March 26, 2013 at 7:49 pm
The lighting in this image is to die for Tim. WOW !
March 27, 2013 at 7:18 pm
Thanks David. Manual works great for white birds.
April 8, 2013 at 8:35 pm
Thanks Emily. It’s a very special place in the morning. I won’t go any other time of day when I can get backlit shots like this.
April 8, 2013 at 8:36 pm