Pictures from yesterday, Green Cay and Wako wetlands

I went out yesterday with Justin to take a few pictures at the two wetlands about 30 minutes from my house. I wanted to take advantage of the last BIF pictures since the day light savings time has changes. It was a pretty good day, about 82 degrees and pretty sunny, most of the day.

I'm only going to share 12 shots out of the 25 I kept and processed, but I'll add a few more as time goes by in this thread. I need to try and only post a few pictures since DPR does have rules, which I like to abide by.


A purple ganlenule eating some reeds.


Moving through the shadows.


It looks like this great white heron was all lit up and ready to mate!


I liked the chicks behind this heron picture.


This Great Blue heron baby was going nuts asking mom to GO GET ME SOME FOOD!


A green heron walking around looking for food.


Looking for fish.


I have NEVER seen a chick put its entire head down that far to get food as I did here! It almost looks painfull.


I think it is a red bellied wood pecker, I think.


A red headed wood pecker.


Looks like he was facing the wrong way at that moment.


This the same guy missed a good shot.


I don't know what he was looking for, but he kept at it.

Well, I hope you enjoyed a few. Any and all comments welcome.

--
Life is too short, so make the best of it while you can!

Snapa: Wonderful pics. Thanks for posting.

The first woodpecker is a Ladder Backed Woodpecker.

The second is a Red Bellied Woodpecker, even though it has a red head.

The Red Headed is different - the whole head is red.

engbert said:

Snapa: Wonderful pics. Thanks for posting.

The first woodpecker is a Ladder Backed Woodpecker.

The second is a Red Bellied Woodpecker, even though it has a red head.

The Red Headed is different - the whole head is red.

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Thanks for the bird ID, much appreciated. Just for that, here is another one just for you.


A Wood Stork

--
Life is too short, so make the best of it while you can!

snapa said:

I went out yesterday with Justin to take a few pictures at the two wetlands about 30 minutes from my house. I wanted to take advantage of the last BIF pictures since the day light savings time has changes. It was a pretty good day, about 82 degrees and pretty sunny, most of the day.

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Indeed it was a good send-off to winter light shooting. The wetlands will still be filled with action, but with the sun not setting until well after 7pm, it's hard to stay out in the wetlands past sunset for those BIF shots, if you have any evening plans!

Nice series of shots - I like that you photographed a few different things than I did - it helps cover all the bases between the two of us. And as I said last time, I think your processing has gotten better lately - capturing good detail and nicer contrast.

Just to help on a few IDs, I've added them below on the shots mis-ID'd:

snapa said:

A purple ganlenule eating some reeds.

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This guy is actually the grey-headed (aka purple) swamphen. The gallinule is smaller, and always has the yellow legs, yellow tip to the bill, and light blue forehead patch.

snapa said:

I think it is a red bellied wood pecker, I think.

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This one above is the yellow-bellied sapsucker...and this is the female. The male was the one a little farther down the trail, higher up, with the bolder red head patch.

snapa said:

A red headed wood pecker.

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Red-bellied woodpecker. Indeed, the red-headed is pretty much ALL red, and he got that name first apparently, so they needed another name to give these. They do have a pinkish red wash to their belly, so that's what they went with!



--
Justin
galleries: www.pbase.com/zackiedawg

snapa said:

Moving through the shadows.


I liked the chicks behind this heron picture.

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Well done! You're getting better at BIF.

The two images above are my favs. The Great Egret (Ardea alba) are really beautiful when in breeding season.

--
Gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/156719406@N07/

Eniigma_21 said:

Well done! You're getting better at BIF.

The two images above are my favs. The Great Egret (Ardea alba) are really beautiful when in breeding season.

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Thanks Eniigma for the kind comments. Yep, breeding season really brings out the super bright colors in some (most) of the birds this time of year.

Regarding BIF pictures, I've just gotten started but at least I have a good basic understanding of what needs to be done, thanks to Justin’s help. Now, if I can get enough practice and make it all happen at the same time, THAT is going to be the challenge. Here is one that did not make the first cut in this thread from Saturday.


A cattle egret and a major crop.

--
Life is too short, so make the best of it while you can!

The Heron's are just a bit blown out but all the rest are wonderful

snapa said:

Eniigma_21 said:

Well done! You're getting better at BIF.

The two images above are my favs. The Great Egret (Ardea alba) are really beautiful when in breeding season.

Click to expand...

Thanks Eniigma for the kind comments. Yep, breeding season really brings out the super bright colors in some (most) of the birds this time of year.

Regarding BIF pictures, I've just gotten started but at least I have a good basic understanding of what needs to be done, thanks to Justin’s help. Now, if I can get enough practice and make it all happen at the same time, THAT is going to be the challenge.

Click to expand...

The challenge never ends. When you feel confident enough, try doing BIF with slow shutter speeds to show motion. The panning technique needs to be impeccable.

snapa said:

Here is one that did not make the first cut in this thread from Saturday.


A cattle egret and a major crop.

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That's a good one. Probably lost some feather detail due to the big crop, but the light and wing position are great. Breeding season is the only time i shot cattle egrets.

--
Gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/156719406@N07/

No pictures of the elusive Florida Zackie Dawg ?



Nice photos - I especially like the humor in the bird flying behind the back of the photographer.

- Dennis
--
Gallery at http://kingofthebeasts.smugmug.com

After seeing you and zackiedawg posting about Green Cay and Wako Wetlands I was able to visit both today. First, you both have inspired me to learn more about all aspects of photography, thanks for that!

Today was great, and we enjoyed the day and both locations though Wako was absolutely stunning. All the breeding plumage, nests, young birds, feeding was more than I ever expected. I'll be back again though it's not real convenient for those of us on the other coast.

I'll just leave one photo from today. Who doesn't love baby wood storks?


Baby Woodstorks

--
Chris
http://c12s.com

OMG, more beautiful birds and color from one of my favorite places. Besides I could use some of the warmth and sunshine. Nice series.

Great shots. Thanks for posting

Euell said:

Great shots. Thanks for posting

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Thanks for your comment, here are two more just for you. I had a lot more keepers from that day that I could not include in the OP, but I can only post a few due to DPR's rules. :-(


An Iguana resting in a tree.


A gator that was about 10 feet long, just a head shot. I tried to focus on its eye.

It was quite a fun day out at the wildlife reserves with all kinds of wildlife.

--
Life is too short, so make the best of it while you can!
http://grob.smugmug.com/
https://grob.smugmug.com/Wildlife-Pictures/

Really like the woodpecker and raccoon shots Snapa as these are creatures I rarely get to see.

candb said:

After seeing you and zackiedawg posting about Green Cay and Wako Wetlands I was able to visit both today. First, you both have inspired me to learn more about all aspects of photography, thanks for that!

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Thanks you candb for the kind words. To be honest, zackiedawg (Justin) is the one that inspired me to get into wildlife photography. My first Sony camera was the 5T after the DSC-H5 bridge camera with the 55-210, and I tried to match Justin’s pictures, I could not come close. Then, I upgraded straight from the 5T to the a6300 & FE70-300 G since that is what he was using at that time. Both were a HUGE upgrade and I am more than happy with my decision. I still can't keep up with Justin, but trying to is fun.

candb said:

Today was great, and we enjoyed the day and both locations though Wako was absolutely stunning. All the breeding plumage, nests, young birds, feeding was more than I ever expected. I'll be back again though it's not real convenient for those of us on the other coast.

Click to expand...

Yep, both Green Cay and Wako Wetlands are like 'A Box of Chocolates', you never know what you will find every time you go out there. Some days are better than others, but no day has ever been bad, there is always many things to shoot.

candb said:

I'll just leave one photo from today. Who doesn't love baby wood storks?

Click to expand...

What a very nice shot, if you have anymore you would care to share, please do.

candb said:

Baby Woodstorks

Click to expand...

--
Life is too short, so make the best of it while you can!
http://grob.smugmug.com/
https://grob.smugmug.com/Wildlife-Pictures/