Of A Feather: Revisiting Some Of My Favorite Birds

By request (sort of), here are some of my favorite bird pictures. I love birds, and although they are truly obnoxious to photograph, I will definitely keep trying to capture more of these animals on film/digital media/whatever. Above - Pelicans (and the requisite sea gull cleanup guy) in Key West, FL in 2002.

Goldfinch! Lancaster, VA - 2010.

Gull pacing the ferry in North Carolina's Middle Banks, 2007.

Snoozing on the beach at Kill Devil Hills, NC - 2009.

Sparrow in dogwood tree - Rockville, MD - 1987ish.

Dinner time! My most-almost-perfectest pelican action shot. Almost. Key West - 2002.

Dinner time for hummingbird - Lancaster, VA - 2001.

"Whot?" Fort De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, FL - 1999.

Pelicans and a few cormorants - Naples, FL - 1999.

Egrets - Fort De Soto Park - St. Petersburg, FL - 1999.

Emu (not Phillips) - Central Pennsylvania - 1998. Scary birds, Emus.

We'll leave off this time with [Maris]'s favorite - a snowy egret at Naples, FL in 1999.

New stuff coming. Thanks for stopping by!

More Feathered Friends And Even Some Egrets

When it comes to winged critters, I'm not just about pelicans. Here's a sampling of some of the more interesting birds I've managed to capture on film, including a bunch of Florida's egrets. The snowy egret above is out for an early morning stroll on the beach in Naples, FL in 1999.

I cropped this to death to get rid of as much of the #$%& light leak as I could. The bird is a cormorant, and I like to pretend the "submerged cable" sign actually says "no cormorants." This is also Naples, FL - 1999.

I know the shot isn't great, but it's the only one I have of the extremely cool frigatebird. Key West, FL - 2000.

Ostriches! Tennessee or southwestern Virginia, I think - 1998.

Emu!?! South-central PA - 1998.

Tiny black bird atop Florida East Coast Railway signal - St. Augustine, FL - 1999.

Some kind of egret - St. Augustine, FL - 1999.

"I'm taller." "No, I'm taller!" Snowy egrets at Fort De Soto Park - St. Petersburg, FL - 1999.

"I just got settled. Don't make me fly away. This is my favorite post." Snowy egret - Naples, FL - 1999.

Snowy egrets in flight over St. Augustine, FL - 1999. Had no idea egrets flew in "V" formations, just like Canada geese. Cool.

Thanks for taking a look. Back soon with more stuff...

Pelicans With No Egrets!

What can I say - I really like pelicans. They've been around for over 40 million years, which beats most critters on this planet. Also, for a plump, awkward-looking bird on land, they are astonishing fliers, divers and swimmers. Clearly, this is a species that really knows what it's doing. The sleeping bird above is at the beach in Naples, FL in 1999.

There are actually a few cormorants in this shot, but it's mostly pelicans, captured in just about every conceivable pelican pose. Naples, FL 1999.

They're faster than they look, and despite the back-lighting here on the beach at La Mer in Key West, FL in 2002, I still like this shot.

Two frames of Pelicans in flight - Naples, FL 1999.

This youngster is airing out his wings before heading back into the water. Naples, FL 1999.

One pelican, two shots. This is on the fishing pier in Ft. De Soto Park, St. Petersburg, FL 1999.

Marathon, FL 1991.

Tough noontime exposure on the sand at La Mer in Key West in early December, 2002.

Thanks for looking. More birds to come - even a few egrets!

More Critters!

Here are a few more images - taken at various points on my photographic learning curve - of the creatures that fascinate me. All were shot on film and then scanned. Above, seagulls atop the Sunview Motel in Rehoboth Beach, DE in 1985. I was too comfortable to get up from my beach towel, so this was shot using every millimeter of my zoom.

Still unwilling to move, I shot this beggar at a range of about 12 feet. Rehoboth - 1985.

Who can resist a kitten? Not me. Especially not little Tarzan, captured here with his "Dad" in Damascus, MD in the first few days of 1995.

Butterfly and roadside flowers along Route 3 in Virginia's Northern Neck - 1999.

With slow film, inadequate light and no flash, I wasn't quite able to freeze this peacock as sharply as I'd have liked (didn't quite nail the manual focus, either), but I find his colors and downright hostile expression to be irresistible. St. Augustine, FL - 1999.

I've always loved sandpipers, but they are really tough to photograph. The rascals in this shot were scampering along the surf at dawn (DAWN! I was up at dawn, once!) in Naples, FL in 1999. I caught them just as one bird decided to go rogue and reverse direction.

Odd Bird Out - near Pier 39 in San Francisco, CA - 1987. On the other side of the railing is a 25-foot drop to a busy highway, so I don't know what this web-footed little guy was thinking. Also not sure what kind of bird this is. Anyone?

Speaking of animals that are hard to photograph...
Hummingbird Pit Stop - Lancaster, VA - 2001.

Squirrels, on the other hand, are more than happy to sit up and strike (and hold!) a pose for the camera. This is one of my mother's overfed little rodents in Rockville, MD in 1991.

I have hundreds of better shots of DC's current giant pandas, but this 1996 image of a pensive old Hsing-Hsing alone in his yard conveys more about the species - and about this bear in particular - than I can put into words here.

THANKS FOR VISITING. Coming soon - the cruising years: mountains and barns and churches and all sorts of oddball discoveries from the mid-Atlantic states...