Rainbow

This is a very strange rainbow. This is all there is to it; no arc, just this short rainbow in the sky. It wasn't even raining, and hadn't rained; but it started to rain soon after we spotted the rainbow. How weird is that?

Sunday morning, a few people from 2 of my combined meetup groups went to Ft Desoto planning on shooting daybreak, the sunrise, then going over to the other end and shoot the early morning birds.

We arrived at East Beach at Ft Desoto at around 6:00 am. There were 6 of us brave people who dared to get up early on a Sunday morning in hopes of getting a great sunrise. That we did. I wish I could display all the photos right here. It was a perfect morning. Lots of beautiful clouds and gorgeous light. We got amazing shots! If you want to see them, they are in the July album on my Facebook account. You can find my link here: Check out the other photos and let me know what you all think.

After the sun rose, we drove over to North Beach on the other side of Mullet Key, (but still in Ft Desoto), to try to catch the birds feeding. I have a favorite spot that I usually go to where I'm sure to get plenty of birds. As luck would have it, there weren't many birds there, but we did get lucky to see and photograph a Reddish Egret during his white phase. We don't see Reddish Egrets everyday like we do with the Great Egret and the Great Blue Herons, but to see a Reddish Egret in his white phase is a rarity. What a catch! We'd have missed him if a kind lady didn't come over to let us know he was there. We got some great shots of him that I'm still editing and even watched his dance.

They are the funniest birds when they're feeding. You'll see them stand very still until they spot their prey, then all of a sudden they run around in every direction, jump up and down, and spread their wings before going in to grab their fish. They use their wings to shade their appearance so the fish doesn't know they're there, but I don't know what the dance is for. It's the strangest behaviour and a blast to watch.

Watch my Facebook page over the next few days if you want to see the photos of the dancing Egret.

Reddish Egret

This is another shot from my Safety Harbor Meetup last night.

This Reddish Egret was looking for food during low tide at the Marina. These Egrets are the funniest thing to watch when they're hunting. First you'll see them standing very still just gazing into the water like you see him in this photo. All of a sudden, you'll see him run around like crazy, then fly/jump up about 3 feet off the water, then start running around again this time with his wings half spread. I know I'm repeating myself, but it is so funny to see them do this dance.

They spread their wings for two reasons, they're trying to disguise their appearance from the fish, and their wings provide shade to reduce the glare on the water so they can see the fish better. I guess that's pretty smart even if they do look silly.

This one finally got his fish, so he won't be starving.

Here's a little tip when photographing Reddish Egrets. To bring out the red in his plumage, set your White Balance to Cloudy or Shade. That'll give you about 6,000 Deg. Kelvin and it'll warm up the entire photo a little bit.

Reddish Egret

What a day we had today! My friends and I went to North Shore Park in St Petersburg for the sunrise and our plans were to go directly out to Ft Desoto in Tierra Verde, to photograph birds and meet another friend there.

We planned to leave Ft Desoto around 9:00 am. After the sunrise, we started to drive to Ft Desoto, and kept seeing things to shoot that we just couldn't resist. With all that traveling and stopping, we didn't arrive at Ft Desoto until after 9:00. Most of the birds had their breakfast and were napping or roosting.

That didn't stop us from finding a few to shoot. This beautiful Reddish Egret was very obliging and let us all get some great shots of him. If you've never seen a Reddish Egret forage for food, you've been missing some very curious behavior.

They stand really still in the water while they look around. All of a sudden, you'll see them run around in all different directions. Then they put their head down while holding their wings semi outspread to shade the reflections on the water and to disguise themselves to the fish. Once they've made their catch, the whole scenario begins again.

Oh yes, the sunrise was beautiful. Here's a little peak!

Redding Egret

This was taken while it was still pretty foggy out the morning we tried to catch the sunrise.

Of all the Egrets and Herons in Florida, these are probably the least commonly seen. You'd never guess that if you were on North Beach in Ft Desoto lately. There are so many of them.

This one seemed like he was too lazy to hunt for food. I think he figures if he stands there long enough the waves might bring in a snack or two.

I never knew that birds didn't come out in the fog--or so it seems that way. I don't know if it's true, but there were only a few birds on the beach until the fog finally lifted. Then, all the birds started flying in. It was a little too late for us, though, because by the time the birds flew in the lighting was too harsh to photograph them.

I imagine that's life. We can't predict the weather no matter how good the weathermen try to be.