Coastal Birds

[OBie]

Well, I finally found some slow birds to practice on - seagulls flying into the wind!

But I'm not posting them tonight. I'm waiting for my new computer to do most of the editing from my trip (an iMAC - my first apple!).

I was at the beach in South Carolina for a week and visited Huntington Beach State Park early one morning. Wow. A virtual smorgasboard of wildlife! I'm still learning about my D50, so I'm sure I could have done better, but I was thrilled with some of the shots I got.

The first one shows some of the variety of birds present in the marsh - Louisianna Herons, Ospreys, and Egrets, to name a few. Not the sharpest photo, but you just had to see what was there!

The second is a close up of what I believe to be an Osprey diving into the water. He would dive from a great height and catch fish with his talons.

The third is the alleged Osprey flying above the water.

More to come after I get my new MAC!

[paulnj]

that is a very large flock of waders and that last image is a tell tail ID shot even as a silhouette from the wing position.

BTW... Louisiana heron is an old term for tricolored heron and those are 2 GREAT BLUE herons, great egrets, an osprey(correct you are)

[OBie]

Thanks Paul - I was using an old Audubon Society Field Guide to try and ID them.

Cool - I didn't know I had some Great Blues - I have some other shots of the Louisianna - er - tricolored herons that were there. Also a green heron (I think), and another whose name I can't remember and doesn't appear to be in my more current AS book.

OH - and I almost forgot about the alligators that were swimming in circles and feeding - way cool!