The Reddish Egret is a Near Threatened species and the white morph is an even rarer bird. Now, finding a white morph Reddish Egret with full breeding colors does not happen every day to say the least. However, I have seen the white morph Reddish Egret a few times at Fort Desoto and got to photograph one with breeding colors for the second time in my life during the March 2016 Spoonbill tour.
White morph Reddish Egret with breeding colors portrait – Fort Desoto Park, Florida
ISO 2000 | f/5.6 | 1/2500 sec. | Manual mode | AI servo rear focusing
This photograph was created with the Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens (Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM review) with a 1.4x extender, the Canon EOS 1DX on tripod with gimbal head.
When I look at the portrait above, I can only think of a top model photo shoot with the hair being blown with a blower!! 🙂 What do you think?
The breeding colors are stunning and the hair-like feathers flowing in the air makes it a classic.
White morph Reddish Egret hunting – Fort Desoto Park, Florida
ISO 2000 | f/5.6 | 1/2500 sec. | Manual mode | AI servo rear focusing
This photograph was created with the Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens (Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM review) with a 1.4x extender, the Canon EOS 1DX on tripod with gimbal head.
I have a very similar image of a regular Reddish Egret and this stance just cracks me up! The species is well known for interesting acrobatics while hunting. My tip when photographing this kind of action is to step back to avoid clipping the very fast moving wings and keep your focus sensor to the middle column as the bird is likely to change direction at any time.
White morph Reddish Egret hunting – Fort Desoto Park, Florida
ISO 2000 | f/5.6 | 1/2500 sec. | Manual mode | AI servo rear focusing
This photograph was created with the Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens (Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM review) with a 1.4x extender, the Canon EOS 1DX on tripod with gimbal head.
And here is the dunk to get the fish! I am pleased that the eye is not closed as it is often the case right before touching water during a spear head motion. This is one of the advantages of the very fast frame per second rate of the Canon EOS 1DX: you increase your chances of getting just the right moment in the action. I have just one regret… I would have loved to have the same bird, doing the same thing during a bright day with blue water in the background. Since the bird is white, you would not over expose not to blow the whites, which keeps the background a bit dark and distracting to my taste. The regular Reddish Egret tends to come out better when properly exposed during overcast days. In fact, one of my Reddish Egret hunting images made it to the final round of the 2015 BBC Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition…
Florida Spoonbills and Shorebirds photography workshop – $1050
Apr 16th-17th 2016 / limit 6 people – 1 open
Mar 25th-26th 2017 / limit 6 people – 5 open
May 5th-6th 2017 / limit 6 people – 5 open
Enjoy a last minute sizeable discount on the April 2016 tour due to a last moment cancellation. Contact me at steven.blandin@gmail.com
Support our blog by following our links for your purchases. It comes at no extra cost to you and it helps keeping this photography blog lively!
Steven
Bates, David G.
Steven Blandin
Vicki Santello