As urban areas grow and engulf more of wildlife’s natural habitat, animals have few choices but to assimilate and become urban. This is the case for wildlife along the Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas, especially the very large population of Urban Cormorants (Double-crested Cormorants). I photographed these birds earlier this year while practicing my bird photography. I really enjoyed watching their social behavior and how valuable the space was on to of this orange boom. I saw many fights break out like the one on the left side of this photo.
The Lake has an abundance of birds, fish and plants. In addition, the Congress Avenue bridge has the largest urban Mexican Free-tailed Bat colony in North America. Watching the 1.5 million bats depart on summer evenings is an amazing sight and a popular tourist attraction. People line up and down the bridge to witness this evening urban wildlife spectacle.
This image was taken with my Canon EOS 5DS using my Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Sports Lens set on 600 mm. The camera was set on Manual mode with the aperture set at f/8, shutter speed at 1/1250th of a second and the ISO set at 800. 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
Great colour and detail.
Thank you!