Is That A Flamingo?

Roseate spoonbill -  Platalea ajaja

 Is that a Flamingo you are taking pictures of? That is a question I hear on a regular basis every time I visit the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, Florida. What makes Ding Darling NWR such a great place is that it is a drive through wildlife park, and this allows many people to drive up and be very close to the many species of birds that are found in the refuge.  With Sanibel Island being a prime vacation spot, you have quite a few visitors to the refuge that might otherwise not be inclined to visit a wildlife refuge. With a polite smile and a suppressed laugh I say "No, those are Roseate Spoonbills". While many species of the birds have grown accustom to the human presence, Spoonbills are much more leery and tend to stay farther away. So I and many other photographers need to use some pretty big lenses on our cameras to bring them in close. This attracts attention and brings out the questions when they see the pink plumage. So for someone that is not familiar with birds, they assume the birds are Flamingos.

Spoonbill at Ding Darling NWR

 

Once you identify the birds as spoonbills, you can usually count on numerous followup questions. While I am at times amazed at some peoples total lack of knowledge, I do enjoy helping people out and giving them some useful information.  When you tell people that Flamingos are not really native to the U.S. they don't want to believe you. They just assume that since they have seen millions of the plastic ones in residential yards, they actually are native residents here.

Captive Caribbean Flamingos in a preserve

When you look at the birds plumage you can see how people can make the assumption that they are Flamingos. But that is where the similarity ends. One look at their overall body structure and beaks makes identification easy. In my recent trip Ding Darling NWR I spent five days there photographing birds. I was asked at least a dozen times. "Are those Flamingos?" While I was photographing birds one morning I was talking to one of the numerous volunteers who help assist people with information and show them birds through spotting scopes. I asked him how many times he is asked about the Flamingos. He laughed and said at least 10 times a day.

Caribbean Flamingo

Roseate Spoonbill

Both Species are beautiful birds in there own uniques way. Many species of birds look very similar, and many times it takes an expert to make an identification. But in this case, even I know the difference between a Spoonbill and a Flamingo.

Little Estero Lagoon

The Little Estero Lagoon is a place most people have never heard of unless you are a bird photographer. Ft. Myers Beach Florida sits on Estero Island in the Gulf of Mexico. There is 3/4 mile long stretch of tidal lagoon that sits between the beach and all the high rise condominiums. At low tide this area attracts numerous birds that like to feed in the shallow water left by the receding tide. This in turn attracts a bunch of photographers who like the fact that they can get really close to a large variety of birds in a confined area. Although it is not marked on any map, this area gets a lot of notoriety in the bird photography world. I have photographed here numerous times in the past and have always had good luck, until this morning. There was a beautiful sunrise with soft thin clouds that filtered the light like a giant diffuser. The receding tide had nice low water levels for perfect feeding conditions. I only had one problem, very few birds. I managed tp get a few decent photos, but it was disappointing compared to what I have always found there in the past.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The above photo on the left is a White Egret striking the water while attempting to catch a fish. The photo on the right is a Willet that missed on his fishing attempt and came up empty.  Working with the 800mm lens gave me a much greater working distance than what I have been used to. I would normally have to spend a lot of time quietly approaching the birds to get close enough to get shots like these. Even then I would usually have to crop in farther to fill the frame. So it was nice to set up and have a great working distance and still be able to fill the frame. 

 

 

Then when this Brown Pelican came in close enough,  I was able to create this beautiful portrait. The super telephoto lens does an amazing job of isolating the pelican and blurring the background.

 

Later in the day I moved over to Sanibel Island. I took a drive through Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, but the sunlight was pretty harsh and the tide was coming in. I checked into the Holiday Inn and hit the beach to photograph some shore birds. When you have a very big lens on a tripod on the beach you tend to attract a lot of attention. I was sitting down on the sand right at the high tide line with the tripod legs spread out to get as low as possible. This makes for a great shooting angle on the little birds. Everyone stops to ask what you are doing, what kind of lens you have, and how much does a rig like that cost. So I spent more time talking than shooting, but managed a few good shots. This shot below is of a Ruddy Turnstone. I really love how the long focal length isolatesthe bird and creates the amazing backgrounds.

The weather prediction calls for rain on Tuesday so I may have a forced day off from bird photography.