For this “3 Hour Photo Trip” we merely woke up this morning and looked out our living room window, and there was Mr. Great White Egret wading along in our little pond. When we moved in to this place out in the country, the pond was very unkept. Believe it or not we have done a lot of work this summer to improve it: cleaned out a lot of the brush, mowed around it, repaired a sidewall leak, and added some goldfish. It was full of frogs and tadpoles, but we never saw any fish, not even minnows. So we went to the pet store and just bought some cheap feeder goldfish – and boy did they grow. Most were about 2 inches in length when we got them, and today, right before their doom, they were 8 to 10 inches.
We literally took about 500 pictures this morning, thank heavens for digital cameras and no more film. The feature photo today was one of several that Monica took. Talk about a once in a lifetime shot: to catch an Egret with a dragonfly that landed on its beak! This has got to be a never seen before photo original.
In the goldfish picture, he is getting ready to gulp down one of our pet store feeders. When we bought them, we never really thought that they would end up as “feeders” for Egrets, but I guess they have to eat like everything else. The big issue turned out to be that the Egret decided to stay at our pond all day. We didn’t watch him all day of course, but we did see at least 4 of our 15 goldfish face the same fate. Not to mention several tadpoles. I don’t know how a little bird stomach could hold all that he ate today.
I loved the close up with all of the fall like colors blurred out in the background (I learned recently that this technique is called bokeh). One of my favorites is the next one down where he is in the pine tree looking up. The pine needles all around him frame the picture so perfectly, and the 200 – 500 mm lens did not disappoint once again. All of these photos were taken with this lens and our Nikon D7200.
The water droplet photo is a close second. We actually got a few different “water shots” if you will. I’ll probably post more in the upcoming blogs. This was taken just after he plunged his head under the water and nabbed a good sized tadpole. Water may roll right off a duck’s back, but it is rolling off of this Egret pretty good as well.
Lastly, the “Laughing Egret.” If you click on him and take a look at a larger version, he looks just like he’s laughing. I’ve already ordered an 8×8 wall portrait of this one for my office. Everyone should have a laughing bird to look at during the work day.
As I always say, if we simply just open our eyes and our imagination, it will simply amaze you what we can see in the world around us. Everything from a dragonfly with a meager 3 inch wingspan, to a Great White Egret with a 4 1/2 foot wingspan. And if you’re lucky enough, you might even get to freeze that moment in time of them both staring at each other eye to eye.
Don’t forget to press the “Like” button below, and leave me a comment or two and let me know what you think about the pictures and words you found here today. Until next time, Enjoy Our Wonderful World!
RM Goldsmith Photography 