Monday, June 2, 2014

Florida: Portraits

Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)
South Florida must be one of the best places on Earth to be a bird photographer.  Go to the right place - in my case, Wakodahatchee Wetlands or Green Cay Nature Center in Delray - and you literally can't miss.  On my visits there I almost invariably encounter photographers, often the same ones - what Florida residents who go there all the time do with their presumably vast collections of photos I can't imagine.  Anyway, here is a gallery of portraits from my February 2013 visit - not to show what a good photographer I am, but to demonstrate how easy it is to look like one.  Let's start with this female Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga), posing on the Wakodahatchee boardwalk for anyone with a camera.

Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)
You can get as close as you like.

Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)
Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)
Head shots?  No problem.  Notice the bright blue ring around the eye, a feature Anhingas develop in the breeding season.

Boat-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major)
Get the picture?  You can even get shots like this of some songbirds; this is a female Boat-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major). 

Boat-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major)
Boat-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major)
Here is a male, showing off his iridescent colours.  In the lower photo he is performing his "bill-up" display, an aggressive warning to other males in the vicinity.

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
For his cousin the Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus), it's better not to be quite so close if your aim is to catch a display cycle.  Notice how the wing-patch is covered at first, uncovered as the bird sings, and then covered again as he settles down.

Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
Photographing this extremely complacent Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus), a recently-established exotic in the area, required me to back away just to get most of the bird in the picture.

Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Taking portraits of herons is just as easy.  Here is a Great Egret (Ardea alba) in breeding colour, its facial skin a bright lime green.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
This is a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) (why, by the way, is this bird named after Salome's mom?).

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Here, a nesting pair share a moment over a particularly suitable twig.  Nest-building is a pair-bonding activity for these birds; the male collects the building materials, and the female works them into the nest structure.  The final nest can be a metre across.

American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus)American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus)
Many of the wetland herons are easy targets for photographers, but this one usually isn't. American Bitterns (Botaurus lentiginosus) are shy and uncommon here, and I count these, of an unusually bold individual, as lucky shots indeed.

Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) and Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) and Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Wakodahatchee and Green Cay are great birding and photography spots, but even when I am in Florida I can't get to them every day.  Fortunately, I can get my fix in my mother's Boca Raton back garden, where her feeder is frequently visited by one of North America's most spectacular and desirable birds.  I don't mean the Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), though even this female is spectacular enough.  I mean the little green bird next to it - a female, or young male, Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris).
Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)
Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)
Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)
It's the adult male Painted Bunting, of course, that gets all the attention. Few, if any, birds can boast such a gaudy palette (even to the extent of a bright red ring around the eye).

Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)
Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)
A feeder that attracts these wary creatures is one worth watching, even through a window,  And when two males show up at the same time - well, as WS Gilbert said in The Gondoliers, it's too much happiness!

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