Most Beautiful Bird in the World

zackiedawg

zackiedawg

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Yesterday was a fabulous day at the wetlands - besides once again notching one never-before-seen species, I also got some second sightings of at least 4 birds I hadn't captured in more than 2 years. ; But another wonderful part of the day was my best and closest encounter with one of Florida's, and the World's, most beautiful birds - the roseated spoonbill.

I've been getting closer and closer the past few months...first some distant dusk flyovers, then last week's close flyover. ; But yesterday, this lovely bird decided to come on over and do a fashion shoot in gorgeous late afternoon light, just a few dozen feet away. ; First, it flew in close:

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Then it settled in, and started some posing:

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What a beautiful bird, and a privilege to have seen it so close. ; Most beautiful in the world? ; Well I'd put it in the running - though certainly there are others. ; But of all the ones I get to see within range of my house, this is the winner.

Of course, this bird must have felt like Paris Hilton leaving a hot nightclub in LA, what with all the paparazzi there trying to get a shot:

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All photos Sony DSLR-A550 and Tamron 200-500mm F4.5-6.3 lens. ; Comments, questions, critique always welcome. ; Full size (1024 pixels) link below each shot.
 
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Thanks Rog...it was a stunning bird. ; The only times I've gotten closeup shots of them before was at Animal Kingdom, in their pen! ; Nice to see them in the wild so close.
 
Beautiful shots! ; Where did you go in Florida to get those shots? ; My ; wife and I spend a couple months each winter in Florida. ; If it's close to where we stay, I'd like to visit that spot. ;
 
Thank you both. ; Bill, there are two great spots near me - both free and open to public, and my birding shots are from both as I usually go to both sites in the same day (they are less than 1 mile apart). ; Wakodahatchee Wetlands and Green Cay Wetlands, both in Delray Beach, FL. ; Depending on where in Florida you stay, there are spots all throughout that could probably give you similar results though - Viera Wetlands Reserve in Merritt Island, Ding Darling in Sanibel, and Ann Kolb Nature Center in Ft Lauderdale all have pretty good bird selections and good proximity to them for the visitor.

If you're ever in my area of South Florida and want to visit my two, let me know - I'd be glad to head up and join you for some shooting on a weekend.
 
Great shot Justin! ; There was some heavy duty equipment out there with you, huh! ; Must have been what we all looked like getting on the safari during Pixelmania! last year. ;)
 
Nice work Justin! ; I really like the flight shots, especially the second one. ; The tiny bit of motion blur at the tips of the wings really makes it a nice shot.
 
Thanks Jeff - always a lot of big guns out there. ; I have to haul my 200-500 out there too to get the good stuff. ; The guy shooting with the rifle-style stock actually has the same lens as me - the Tamron 200-500 - so you know about what I look like in that crowd! ; Though I'm shooting on a compacted tripod subbing as a monopod, instead of that trick rifle stock system.

Thanks Michael...indeed the flight shots are always the coolest if you can get them right - the fact that he was coming at me really tested the tracking focus!

BTW - I've added the fullsize links under each photo - should have done that originally, as I forgot about the resizing. ; They really don't look so hot at high compression and resized to 800 pixels, so you can see the original 1024 pixel low compression versions I uploaded if desired. ; I think they look much better that way!
 
great shots Justin and Jeff, that is awesome!

If you ever come over to go to ding Darling, Justin, you've got to let me know. I havent been there in at least 15 years. Yet, I drive by it at least every couple weeks.....
 
Great shots, Justin. ; But silly me, I'm most fascinated by two things: ; the flash snoot on the SB800 and the guy in the red shirt who looks like he's got a P&S. ; And I may need to rent one of those Tamrons this summer.
 
nice stuff Justin. 2 years ago one of them showed up at the local wildlife refuge here but as usual it kept it's distance so a shot was impossible without the hubble. ; a very rare happening for that to show up here
 
Thanks Jeff, Craig, Roni, and HW.

Dennis - I can possibly see using the flash for wildlife in grey conditions or mixed light, but I don't really personally see much need for it in bright Florida sunlight. ; Maybe I'm just ignorant of the benefits - but I find the lighting pretty strong from the sun, if I do get any drop shadows at all, to me they enhance the dimensionality and realism of the subject rather than take away from them, and it just looks like too much to be hauling around while walking miles!

And yeah...there are some P&Sers there - not even the ultrazoom or prosumer types (I shot there for years with my ultrazoom to great effect, so I can vouch for those!)...but actual compact, small sensor, tiny zoom cameras. ; Most read about the place in the local papers or mags and decided to visit...when something like a roseate plops down in front of you, I guess you'd whip out whatever camera you have to try to catch it! ; It does look funny squeezed in with all those big guns though. ; And remember, I only had my 200-500 with me at the time, so I couldn't nearly fit in all of the photographers in that shot. ; There were at least 10 more not in the frame, all with lenses about that size...we were all bumping shoulders for that same corner to get those shots.
 
"zackiedawg" said:
Dennis - I can possibly see using the flash for wildlife in grey conditions or mixed light, but I don't really personally see much need for it in bright Florida sunlight. ; Maybe I'm just ignorant of the benefits - but I find the lighting pretty strong from the sun, if I do get any drop shadows at all, to me they enhance the dimensionality and realism of the subject rather than take away from them, and it just looks like too much to be hauling around while walking miles!
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He's probably using it to add a catch light to the bird's eyes.
 
it's a tool used by a lot of pro birders to add catchlight, art morris swears by one. nice photos justin, that's a bird i'll never see up here, i've put the florida birding festival up st augustine way on my personal bucket list. and i'm working mighty hard to cross some things off the next couple years
 
Thanks Gary. ; I get the catchlight thing...just doesn't usually seem necessary down here in sunny S Fla, where the sun does a pretty fair job of putting a nice white spot on the eye. ; But I guess it's one of those things heavy-duty birders get used to using when the light isn't as good, and they don't mind all the added weight and bulk, so it just becomes second nature to always use it.

I'm a fairly light traveler by comparison when I go birding - camera body, Tamron 200-500 lens, tripod. ; That's it. ; I leave all my other lenses, bag, etc at home. ; A big ol' flash and diffuser/bouncer just doesn't sound appealing to me!
 
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