My friend the albino yellowcrown nightheron

On May 26, 2012, I discovered a rare albino yellowcrown nightheron. Up until a month ago, I had not seen it since August last year. A few weeks ago, I was in the area I originally found the bird and did not see it on the wading grounds. I paddled into the dark creek for no particular reason other than to look for golden silk spiders to photograph. It was in the creek that I saw my albino bird once again. This time, it stood on a branch in clear location about 10 feet away from me. I sat watching it for couple minutes while it stood still. I felt very relieved that the little bird was alive and could be seen again.

Today, I headed back to the area under cloud cover. The sky was clouded over and the sun had not yet risen so that the water and shoreline were gray and dark; with one exception, a small white bird several hundred feet away. I paddled over to it and was so happy to see my little albino bird again. There were only a couple other yellowcrown nightherons (one juvenile and one adult), no other waders were around. Some birds flew over, including this frigate bird, but all morning, it was just me and the white nightheron.

For some part of the short morning, I had sunlight, but used my fill flash frequently. As the rising tide (and easterly winds) pushed the water into the mangroves, the bird flew to the trees. I found it in the mangroves and it allowed me to get within several feet of it. Here it is before it walked behind the large branch and peeked out from behind (second photo).

Storms were forming off shore and some were rolling in my direction. Not yet threatened by these clouds, I decided to paddle 1/4 mile over to the marina area where there is another launch. This morning I was not able to access it because of a very large white tent standing in front of it at the edge of the parking lot. Lots of cars with trailers were coming into the parking lot so I figured this was a filming location. I paddled over to see what was happening and here is one shot from the water as I hid behind the mangroves. I assume those are toy guns in their hands. It says "Policia" on their vests, so this might be a Spanish film of some sort.

By now the winds had really picked up, so I headed back to my car where I was greeted by a nice gentlemen riding a bicycle. He asked if I was leaving and said that they were filming in the location and would need me to move my car. "No problem", I said, "leaving anyway." After loading the boat, the same gentlemen met me near the road as I was driving out. He said he needed to escort me out as the road was blocked by the film crew and that I would need to follow him. Consequently, I had to drive right through the film crew. iphone in hand, I tried to capture some images on the way out. They didn't look to happy with me, but hey, nobody said anything to me at 6:15 am when I arrived at the launch!

Tricolor Heron Rookery

After several days of constant rain, thanks to tropical storm Andrea, we had a dry day and the chance to get on Biscayne Bay. With the tail end of the storm trailing north, the sky remained cloud covered before sunrise. We arrived at Deering launch site with this scene over Chicken Key.

After the sun rose into the clouds, the glassy calm waters of the bay went gray, not much different from the sky. Here is a shot of my friend Sandy, paddling his new canoe, which is my old Vagabond I sold him a couple weeks ago. I am still paddling a Vagabond, a newer version.

I paddled the 1.5 miles to the rookery, which I had not visited yet this year. The original rookery island where I first photographed the nesting cattle egrets was now inhabited by cormorants and anhingas, and in fact, the anhinga nests have increased in number since last year. Good for them! I spent the remainder of the time near the three little islands in the channel which are now teaming with cattle egrets and tricolor heron nests. Today, the tricolor herons took center stage.

As always, photographing the rookery is very challenging. The channel is deep, rendering my trusty stake-out pole useless. With only an anchor, I positioned myself on the side of the island that is normally backlit. The advantage of that side is that it is out of the channel and more isolated. With the cloud cover today, this was a good opportunity to use fill flash and not be concerned of the angle of the sun. Here is one flash shot of an adult cattle egret.

Quickly though, the clouds dissipated and the backlit side of the island was no longer ideal. I paddled to the opposite side, anchored and tried to set up for some shots of the baby tricolor herons. The wind had increased and I was exposed to it as it came from the south. With a long anchor line, current and wind, my boat moved around every which way. I would have to use my paddle to repeatedly get back into a good position where the boat would stay motionless long enough to get a few shots. The sun going in and out of the clouds made it even more challenging.

But I tried hard because there was so much activity and the birds were cooperating fairly well. In good light and in an open space, I captured a lone out-of-place reddish egret. What was this bird doing here among other species? After about an hour, a juvenile tricolored heron  swooped down next to the reddish egret and began bullying it. See the two photos below. After several seconds of fighting, the reddish egret flew off, no longer welcome at the rookery.

This little juvy tricolor was full of it. Soon after its encounter with the reddish egret, an adult tricolor landed and the little one was soon fighting the adult. It won its second battle, the adult flew away, not willing to put up with the juvenile antics.

Among some of the photo opportunities was one nest where a few tricolor heron nestlings were waiting patiently for mom to fly in and feed them. Here are a couple shots of those guys.

I was happy to see so much nest activity with dozens of fledglings and nestlings in the rookery islands. Seems the tricolor herons have increased in number since last year, providing opportunity to capture some of their activity. The day was magnificent as I soaked up the sun and paddled in calm waters. Not wanting it to end, I did not get off the water until noon, 5 1/2 hours of bliss. 

A tribute to the osprey

William Bartram was a naturalist who explored the Florida area and wrote about it in his book "Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, etc.", published in 1791. I learned about his book from a list of favorite books read by Jeff Klinkenberg, a writer for the St Petersburg Times. Klinkenberg writes some of the best Florida stories. I found an electronic version of the book "The Travels of William Bartram" and no further than page 63 I found one of the best descriptions of the osprey and the eagle. The first paragraph describes the eagle, the second paragraph describes the osprey:

"The bald eagle is likewise a large, strong, and very active bird, but an execrable tyrant: he supports his assumed dignity and grandeur by rapine and violence, extorting unreasonable tribute and subsidy from all the feathered nations."

"The last of this race I shall mention is the falco piscatorius, or fishing-hawk: this is a large bird, of high and rapid flight; his wings are very long and pointed, and he spreads a vast sail, in proportion to the volume of his body. This princely bird subsists entirely on fish, which he takes himself, scorning to live and grow fat on the dear earned labours of another; he also contributes liberally to the support of the bald eagle."

An eagle is an impressive bird and when I have the opportunity to photograph it, I take it. On the other hand, it is the osprey that has commanded my respect and admiration the most. Of so many birds that I love, the osprey is my favorite next to the brown pelican; not just for photography, but as a constant companion on my Everglades trips (as is the brown pelican). While I do see several other birds often, the osprey's presence is consistent and it is always a joy to hear its melancholy call, telling me I am near a nest. I believe that Bartram described this bird perfectly.

Recently at Flamingo, I was able to get rather close to an active osprey nest and the mother allowed me a brief glimpse of a nestling, my first siting. Often, I see osprey flying overhead with a fish in claws or nesting materials in mouth. However way I can capture this magnificent fish hawk, I try. Enjoy these photos of one of south Florida's best birds, the osprey.

I almost forgot to add the following; recently I learned of a webcam on a nesting osprey. As of this writing, two of her 3 eggs have hatched. Enjoy the live action here.

Anatidaephobia

If you love animals and cartoons, than you must love Gary Larson's humor. His Far Side cartoons are classic and one of them has the following caption: Anatidaephobia: The fear that somewhere, somehow a duck is watching  you. The other day, a musgovy duck was in my backyard looking through my window. This did not scare me, but I considered it an invitation to go out and photograph my neighborhood feral ducks. During the rainy season, there is a grassy area near my home that gets flooded. This is when I like to photograph the musgovy ducklings swimming in the little ponds. Sometimes there is a bonus bird such as a green heron or white ibis to photograph. When I can't go out on the water with the canoe, I find opportunities to photograph around home.

There are some good reasons to photograph these little musgovy ducks. First, they are so dang cute (unlike the adult). Second, the water is displayed with interesting reflections coming from the grasses, trees, and buildings. The display of colors is quite attractive, but the challenge is avoiding the noise that come from various structures (fence posts, light posts, etc). The other good reason to photograph these birds is simply that they are there and I can get rather close to them (with mother duck watching me somewhere, somehow).

I get low on the grass, but not too low. I find that there are too many distractions in the background if I get as low to the ground as the duck. Instead, I stay in a sitting position which allows me to angle the shot downward such that only the water appears in the frame. Once I get into a good front light, I can stay in one spot and if I am lucky, one or two clutches of ducklings will be swimming around the small pond. I wait for one to swim into good light and where the reflections on the water are as I want them to be.

Here are some photos of my neighbors, the musgovys, and a white ibis.

Tree Houses

Kids love tree houses. Eventually, we grow out of the tree house, which becomes only a symbol of the places we seek out to find refuge and get away from our adult responsibilities. Apparently, there are some big kid adults that have found their refuge in actual tree houses. Along Biscayne Bay shoreline, I have found some of these hide-a-ways. Years ago, someone made a tree house on the bay in a clump of mangroves separated from the main shoreline. You can see it on Google Earth. Over time, it became dilapidated and unsafe to step onto. But, the location must be prime because someone decided to do some renovating. Above is a photo of the improved tree house, with a nice sturdy dock to support the upper stories. It is furnished with a comfortable chair and a container of nails.

To make this tree house, some one has to get the material there either by boat or from the shoreline which is only about 10 feet away. I think someone is getting the materials from land and below is a clue:

The photo of the platform above is directly across from the tree house. One can easily get there by foot or bicycle.

A few hundred feet south of that platform is another. I found this one by land while riding my bike in the area a year or so ago. From a dirt road, wood planks are strategically laid out along the muddy mangrove floor, taking you to this little open area on the bay. Notice the bench on the platform. Not the best angle for watching a sunrise, but its the thought that counts.

A couple weekends ago I launched from Blackpoint . About a 1/4 mile or so from the point, I spotted something in the trees. I wasn't surprised to see something as I am always finding debris washed up into the mangroves. Some of it traveled far to get here along the gulf stream and some things are too large to haul out in a canoe. What caught my eye this time were several bamboo poles tied together on the mangrove roots. My first thought was it was a washed up raft. Instead, it was a platform created for a tree house. I think the tree house in the photo above has an appealing quality to it because it is so well hidden from the main bay, but this new one wins the award for having the best view. In fact, it is a penthouse view with a hammock of sorts hanging about 12 feet off the ground. For this tree house, someone had to have brought in the building material by boat, and a large boat at that. Here's a view of it:

I guess some people are still living their tree house fantasies.

The dazzling white bird with the long S-shaped neck

For the past several years I have visited the nesting great white egret in the Everglades. The bird conveniently nests amongst the brown pelican, which I wrote about in my previous blog. For this writing, the subject is the great white egret. The rookery consists of a several dozen nests (at best guess, there are nearly a hundred nests) When photographing these birds, I attempt to isolate one family (usually one adult and two chicks) from other birds in nearby nests. This is not easy as the nests are close together. But typically, I can identify two or three isolated nests and work with each of them.

For my last two visits to the rookery, I had my sites on a small area consisting of several families of egrets. This made it impossible to isolate one family from another. But it was stunning to watch the activity among the families as more than one feeding would go on at a time. I wanted to somehow capture the entire chaotic scene which might include at least two families. This meant that as many as six or more birds could make up the composition of the photo. 99% of the time, I must photograph a bird at my maximum focal length of 400mm to fill the frame in a meaningful way. But for these subjects, I needed to zoom out and was able to create several compositions at 300-330mm focal length.

Normally, I get away with an open aperture of f5.6. This works well with one bird and more than one bird if they are similar distances from the lens. To capture several birds in the trees, I needed to increase the depth of field; so I settled on f9.0. This seemed to work very well as all the birds appeared to be in focus.

Another challenge that comes with capturing the nesting birds is to make sense of the chaos that is the feeding scene. For long periods, I observe the young nestlings wait for a parent to come back with food. Their skinny long necks allow them to see above the mangrove canopy and they look so forlorn in their long wait for food. Then all of a sudden, an adult comes swooping in. Immediately the little birds begin thrusting their beaks violently upward toward the adult's beak and it becomes a flurry of activity as each chick attempts to grab the adult. Sharp beaks are pointing in every direction among the flapping wings and when attempting to photograph these scenes, I rifle off as many shots as I can. Upon inspection of each photo, I throw away those that could not be possibly identified as a young chick being fed by an adult. The photos that I keep are those that clearly show a feeding chick and perhaps some beautiful wing display. Eye catch and head angle are also important.

Enjoy these photos of the nesting egret families. Bon appetit petit oiseau.

Pelecanus occidentalis

There is a pelican rookery in the Ten Thousand Islands area that I have been visiting since 2009. Each spring, dozens of pelican couples nest in a small area of a large body of water that is speckled with several small mangrove islands. Great and snowy egrets nest along side the large beaked pelican. From year to year, I notice changes. For instance, the pelicans have abandoned one of the islands completely (once quite popular for several pelican nests) and have moved to another. But every year, they come back to the area. And every year, I visit them with my camera.

The babies are few and far between right now, but I suspect that in a couple weeks I will see several more nest-confined chicks. For the most part, the rookery islands are an active scene of adults flying to and from the nests, mostly to gather nest material while the other parent remains on the nest.

I have written some information on the nesting pelican some time ago, so I will not repeat it here. Please check out my previous blog for more information. In the meantime, enjoy these photos of the brown pelican