I am still sifting through the hundreds of photos that I took while traveling to the Texas Gulf Coast. That’s the downside of traveling to a great place like the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and having these wonderful birds as photography subjects. As I mentioned before, I learned a lot on the trip and I’m eager to return.
So, if a Great Egret sees its shadow, does that indicate that we have six more weeks of winter? Well, in this case, we did not have six more weeks of winter as the weather here in Texas has been warmer than normal.
Great Egrets are not very migratory. They are described as “resident to medium-distance migrant” birds. What that means is that if the weather is decent and the water is not frozen they are more likely to stay put. Otherwise, they migrate short distances to areas where the weather is “acceptable”. They migrate by day in small flocks. During mild years, Great Egrets may stay as far north as Massachusetts. Individuals from the southern U.S. may not migrate at all.
This image was taken with my Canon EOS 5DS using my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 II Lens set on 400 mm. The camera was set on Manual mode with the aperture set at f/8, shutter speed at 1/1600 and the ISO set at 400. This is a single image processed in Lightroom.
You can view my Birds of Texas collection by clicking here. Please use the section below to post your comments, questions, or suggestions.
© 2016 T. Kahler Photography
All joking aside the shadow, particularly as sharp as it is, really does add a lot of interest to the shot. Great action shot.
Thanks Lucas!