I’m attending the Florida Birding and Photography Festival in St. Augustine this week. My first event was a sunrise boat ride into St. Augustine Bay and the estuary. with eight other birders and photographers. As we were heading out, I realize I’m chatting with Scott Bourne who is one of the great bird photographers. He’s also President of Skylum software. I was a bit embarrassed to say I’d purchased their Luminar software but hadn’t yet used it! So now I’m giving it a go. I’m just learning and I’m processing these images on a laptop that doesn’t have the best resolution, so hope these come out OK. Also, learned that Scott’s a great guy!
Sunrise over St. Augustine Bay
Crossing the Sky
That evening, I did a shoot of the nesting birds at St. Augustine Alligator Farm. Most species were still on their eggs but some Great Egret chicks were getting quite big. This trio acted like squabbling siblings. Even though nearly as large as the adult, and so getting ready to fledge, you can easily tell the difference between the adult in the next image who has breeding plumage and green lores (the areas between the eye and beak.
Great Egret trio, St. Augustine Alligator Farm
The next morning I took a kayak trip into the Matanzas River estuary at low tide. Many birds were feeding in the muck and low water. Sometime in the future, I’ll post images of a pelican following a pod of dolphin and feeding the fish they would stir up. As for now, here is a juvenile pelican and a Willet feeding among the oysters.
Juvenile Pelican, Matanzas River estuary
Willet feeding
This morning’s shoot of horses on the beach at sunrise was cancelled because of a threatening storm. One of the photographers was immediately leaving to head home and he convinced one of the riders to stay and hope the storm would pass. It did! So a few of us were able to get some images of this beautiful pair. Thanks Kari Coad!
Butler Beach, St. John’s County, FL