Coming in over a small group of Snowy Egrets a White Ibis is cleared to land.
He flexes his wings to slow down.
Feet out for a perfect two point landing.
One foot up for style. The egrets do not care.
White Ibis Landing
Tag Archives: Birds in Flight
American White Pelican Coming In
American White Pelicans have a nine foot (2.75 Meter) wingspan. They are surprisingly graceful and I watched many of them fly over a pond and land on a sand bar. Evidently only I was impressed; the other occupants of the sand bar never even looked up.
As he turned you can get a feel for how large these birds are in comparison to the Ring-billed Gulls,
and the Cormorants standing around.
Once they hit land they tended to strut along a bit, quickly blending in with the rest of the gathering.
Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge
December 24, 2019
White Ibis In Flight
I’ve just come back from almost three weeks on the west coast of Florida with most of my wildlife time at Ding Darling NWR on Sanibel Island. The first two days were pouring rain but then the sun and the birds came out.
Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge
December 24, 2019
Great Egret Flying By
The water was sparkley but a tree branch lends a bit of contrast to this Great Egret zooming to the other end of the pond.
Great Blue Heron Red Background
AÂ Great Blue Herons was flying loops around the little island, jockeying for nest position. I can’t resist shooting these giant birds in flight, especially with the reddish background. It had gotten quite dark and had rained for a few minutes. That didn’t slow the herons down at all.
GBH Stick Run, 2
After locating a big stick for the nest this Great Blue Heron zoomed up to the nest.
His mate is hidden behind the Spanish Moss.
With a quick landing maneuver the male worked the branch into the nest area. where the female took over.
GBH Stick Run
A few pairs of Great Blue Herons are hard a work building nests at Ravenswood Pond. This male, identified by behavior as the female almost always stays at the nest to receive and organize the sticks, brought material from all around the pond.
On this trip he headed to the pond edge closest to the nest, which happens to have the walking trail where I was standing.
He swooped in under a Spanish Moss covered tree.
December 17, 2019
Great Egret Flyby
A few Great Egrets were competing for the preferred spot in a small pond.
I couldn’t tell what was so special about it, but they kept taking turns occupying it…
…with several loud squawks announcing their intentions.
Brown Pelican, Where Is He Going?
Watching and learning to predict behavior goes a long way in bird photography. I saw this Brown Pelican coming in low over the water and was sure he would skim by right in front of me.
Nope.
He pulled up and landed on a dock piling.
The Pelican’s big feet managed to hold on the piling cap, but he didn’t look too comfy.
Pelican Fly By
This Brown Pelican was coasting over the creek then rose up in front of this tree decked out for fall.
