Had the pleasant opportunity to spend a wee bit of time escaping the meter of white snow on my yard on the white sand beaches of Northern Florida (Bald Point State Park). Sadly a lot of the birds we were hoping to catch had already headed north (idiots) to their breeding grounds in the Arctic and a lot of the migrants from South America had not arrived as of yet. (This is called the 'doldrums' to us birders) But there were still plenty to see and admire. These are my Beauties On The Beach. Was able to take a few fair to middling pics of them while there. My favourite is the first pic, the Piping Plover. This bird is on the endangered species list but lately seems to be holding on. Almost all the ducks were gone and also a lot of the shorebirds. But there were sufficient there to keep me and my partner busy. (anyways, there's always the Pelicans) I've attached a few of those pics for your perusal. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did when capturing them.
Most if not all were taken with my Tamron 150-600 or my Canon 300 Prime. Most are cropped somewhat as I do not like to get to close to the birds when they are busy feeding during their migration. Some of them have just completed the arduous journey across the Gulf of Mexico. The last thing they need is the stress from an old man with a camera standing on top of them. So I stay back a bit and by lying on the sand let them approach me instead of the other way around. If you make no sudden moves you usually are able to get some pretty good shots.
This area is a marvelous area, a boon to nature photographers such as I and my wife. I hope that you you Yanks keep it that way. There are so may rumours about what mite be happening to a lot of the Nature Preserves/Refuges that one wonders if the next time I visit I will be vastly different. I sure hope not.
Thanks for looking.
LittleRed (Ron)
Great series. How lucky you are in finding such a large variety of birds which migrate from the north and from the south each year. Mahalo for sharing.
chevman
Loc: Matthews, North Carolina
Nice set! All the shots turned out beautiful. Nice job.
Wonderful up close bird shots!
Hi Ron, Nice photos.....those birds have just started North, still opportunity to see them down there, they will not arrive in New Jersey in any force till the second week of April.
Your Piping plover is an interesting bird........It looks like it comes from the Northern Great Plains breeding population, specifically the Garrison Reach or Lake Sakakawea populations. Piping plovers are so often associated with coastal populations yet there are interior populations and your bird appears to be from an interior population. That yellow flag that show T14 points it to that population. Your plover probably wintered in Florida.
Pretty neat to know where it came from and where it goes in winter.
With My Best,
LittleRed wrote:
Had the pleasant opportunity to spend a wee bit of time escaping the meter of white snow on my yard on the white sand beaches of Northern Florida (Bald Point State Park). Sadly a lot of the birds we were hoping to catch had already headed north (idiots) to their breeding grounds in the Arctic and a lot of the migrants from South America had not arrived as of yet. (This is called the 'doldrums' to us birders) But there were still plenty to see and admire. These are my Beauties On The Beach. Was able to take a few fair to middling pics of them while there. My favourite is the first pic, the Piping Plover. This bird is on the endangered species list but lately seems to be holding on. Almost all the ducks were gone and also a lot of the shorebirds. But there were sufficient there to keep me and my partner busy. (anyways, there's always the Pelicans) I've attached a few of those pics for your perusal. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did when capturing them.
Most if not all were taken with my Tamron 150-600 or my Canon 300 Prime. Most are cropped somewhat as I do not like to get to close to the birds when they are busy feeding during their migration. Some of them have just completed the arduous journey across the Gulf of Mexico. The last thing they need is the stress from an old man with a camera standing on top of them. So I stay back a bit and by lying on the sand let them approach me instead of the other way around. If you make no sudden moves you usually are able to get some pretty good shots.
This area is a marvelous area, a boon to nature photographers such as I and my wife. I hope that you you Yanks keep it that way. There are so may rumours about what mite be happening to a lot of the Nature Preserves/Refuges that one wonders if the next time I visit I will be vastly different. I sure hope not.
Thanks for looking.
LittleRed (Ron)
Had the pleasant opportunity to spend a wee bit of... (
show quote)
Great series...really makes me miss my Canon 300mm Prime lens!!
Beautiful Shots! Crisp & Clear!
Nice set.
If they hang many more tags on the first one it won't be able to fly...
Thanks for looking JoAnne, tis appreciated. I do get to see quite a diversity of birds, but none like those whom you have on the Islands. Every day about lunchtime I check with the yung'uns online at Kauai, Hawaii (Laysan Albatross chicks). They can be viewed 24/7 via webcams on the Cornell website (cams.allaboutbirds.org). This year we were lucky enough to have 3 productive nests within sight of the webcam. Last year there was only one successful nest to be seen. Give it a try. It also shows webcams for about 11 types of birds now, with more coming in the future. Be sure to look at the one for Ontario, tis situated in my neck of the woods.
LittleRed (Ron)
JoAnneK01 wrote:
Great series. How lucky you are in finding such a large variety of birds which migrate from the north and from the south each year. Mahalo for sharing.
Thanks for looking JoAnne, tis appreciated. I do get to see quite a diversity of birds, but none like those whom you have on the Islands. Every day about lunchtime I check with the yung'uns online at Kauai, Hawaii (Laysan Albatross chicks). They can be viewed 24/7 via webcams on the Cornell website (cams.allaboutbirds.org). This year we were lucky enough to have 3 productive nests within sight of the webcam. Last year there was only one successful nest to be seen. Give it a try. It also shows webcams for about 11 types of birds now, with more coming in the future. Be sure to look at the one for Ontario, tis situated in my neck of the woods.
LittleRed (Ron)
Red Sky At Night wrote:
Great shots.
Thanks for looking, apprecitated.
LittleRed (Ron)
chevman wrote:
Nice set! All the shots turned out beautiful. Nice job.
Thanks for looking chevman. Helps to have a few good lenses to work with.
LittleRed (Ron)
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