Kathy Buckard
September 2023 - Cattle Egret Mating Plumage
About the Image(s)
This image was taken at Gatorland in Orlando, Florida. The area is a 110 acre park with raised board walks over swamp water. The birds love to build nests there as they have protection from other predators from the abundance of gators.
Cattle Egrets live in subtropic warm temperature zones and nest in colonies with other shore birds. They are often found in cattle fields eating insects disturbed by the cattle. Also known for cleaning ticks from the cattle. Sounds like such a nutritious meal!
Nikon D300 manual exposure using a 80-400 lens F13, 400mm focal length, speed 250 at ISO 400.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted
(Groups 22 & 71)
Very nice capture and good focus. To me, the little flowers around the beak are distracting from the pretty orange tonals. Wish you could have captured the head against the green leaves. Posted: 09/01/2023 11:39:40
Kathy, great capture of the cattle egret in mating plumage. The image is sharp, and the background is appropriate, but I must agree with Mike in reference to the white flowers around the beak which in actuality looks like the bird is holding a bouquet of flowers, but it is distracting. Just for illustration purposes I am showing the same image obtained a few year ago at the Alligator Farm in St Augustin-Florida, with an uniform, non distracting background Posted: 09/01/2023 11:48:55
Do you think this is better? Also love to go to the Alligator Farm in Saint Augustine. Great selection of birds and close access to the nests. Posted: 09/01/2023 19:47:54
Much better !! Posted: 09/02/2023 11:26:53
Kathy, I like what you did with your last edit. This is very interesting and top quality photography. Jim Posted: 09/06/2023 11:31:57
(Group 81)
What a beautiful shot and bird. You did great and what Kathy did was taking your wonderful shot to excellence. The background is so important to elevate the subject. Also, darkening the feathers brought out wonderful details. Posted: 09/10/2023 09:35:16
What a beautiful image of the Cattle Egret in its breeding plumage! You were able to get such details in the white plumage. The green of the trees makes the bird pop out. I like the image better after you removed the flowers near the beak. Very nice!
Posted: 09/20/2023 09:21:57
Posted: 09/20/2023 09:21:57