A day of rare opportunity.

[Canon_Bob]

How many times in your life will you get to see multiple endangered species in one day? Happened to me today. I went to a place about three hours from my home known for Snail Kites. Found them, shot them, but really beeded more glass for this. The icing on the cake was a pair of Bald Eagles, A Gopher Tortoise, and finally....Whooping Cranes. Not my best day photographically speaking (too much for the 100-400), but that will be remedied by Wednesday, as my new 600mm F4 L Series lens will be here (see equipment section for details).


Snail Kite:





Bald Eagles:



Gopher Tortoise (sorry for bad lighting on this one):



Whooping Cranes. Only 374 left in the wild. 56 in the Eastern flock. I saw four of them today. Got to borrow a friends 500mm f/4 L briefly for this shot. Anybody think for a SECOND that I won't be back at this place with my 600L?:

[Knight]

Good series Canon Bob a rare site indeed

[paulnj]

Very cool series! I love that snail kite in flight image!

Hey a friend of mine told me about a american indian airboat tour that'll take you right up to snail kite nests to take images. It's allegedly right on alligator alley, but may be on 75(I think that's the highway number) ;)

[Canon_Bob]

Thanks for the comments Knight and Paul! I was at the max capability of the 100-400 on the Snail Kites, but that problem is about to go away.

The shots of the Snail Kite were taken while standing waist deep in water, with a $7000.00 camera and $2000.00 lens pracariously carried out into Alligator infested waters (on a tripod that was mostly submerged). Who says I won't work for the shot!!!

Paul, the place I was today offers airboat tours as well. Definitely a spot we'll hit when you come down.

CB

[mn shutterbug]

Wow. A little luck and a little perseverance and a lot of skill went into these shots. I especially love the pair of bald eagles. Very nice.

[WesternGuy]

Great images Canon Bob. You have a lot more diversity than we do here in the western prairies. Most things are either migrating north or returning south and you have to know when and where. Love the whooping cranes, can't remember when I saw one last. Was not aware of the snail kite - first shot is great.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

[polarbeardiggers]

all great captures but i especially like the bald eagles,wow getting a pair to pose,thats great,thanks for showing us.

[rovowen]

I have to agree a very good day. They are all good shots.

[scott-devon]

Never heard of a snail kite, I love that first shot it really explains the name too. I'm with Western Guy..out here you catch them as they pass through and I'm still learning the when and where... Great series, I'm looking forward to seeing what you get with the 600.

[Loupey]

Holy crap, man! I have mites (not on me) while you have species like these?!

Thanks for the visual treat. Looking forward to seeing what that 600mm can do.

[SenorNikonMan]

Great shots! I'm so jealous! We saw Bald Eagles in Alaska, but never close enough to get shots anything like that one you took. And the Snail Kite shots are amazing.

Here is one of my favorite Bald Eagle shots I took on our cruise. It is an immature bird so it is not as majestic looking as the adults in your pic are, but the scenic background helped to make up for that as well as for the fact that I was not able to get as close as I would've like to.

[Canon_Bob]

Thanks for all the comments everyone. That was one of those days that would have been great even without a camera. I could have done a lot better with longer glass, but I'm still quite pleased with what I got.