Nickerson Beach on Long Island's South Shore is both a bathing beach and a New York State and Federal wildlife refuge. The dunes and nesting areas are roped off to keep people out yet superb photos of nesting activity are possible from the boundaries of the nesting areas. I spend a lot of time there in the spring and summer photographing this activity yet for the second year in a row access will be limited to Nassau residents due to the pandemic so I will not be able to photograph the nesting activity and chicks. The images in this post were taken earlier in the week on day with intermittent rain and fog which provided nice soft light to work with.
-1 Common Tern arriving at nest
-2
-3 American Oystercatcher with the Atlantic Ocean in the background
-4
-5
-6 There are a few thousand common terns in the colony
-7 Barn Swallow migrating north
-8
-9 Black Skimmer, the first one to arrive. There will be a few hundred in a few weeks
-10 Sanderling Sandpipers
I also saw cormorant, osprey, piping plover, thousands of brant geese, canada geese. It is quite a workout shooting at Nickerson Beach as there are so many subjects I'm constantly active taking photos.
I always enjoy photographing a great egret when It's preening
-1
-2
-3
Earl is the elder male great egret at the Marine Nature Study Area in Oceanside, NY. I've known him since he was a chick and also his farther Fringer Licking who passed a few years ago. Yesterday, when I approached Earl I said hello to him as I always do and he gave me a strange look. Then I took off my mask and he relaxed and walked closer to me. He dose not trust all humans to be very close, only ones that have become his friend. He seems to understand a bit when I talk to him as he knows a few people's names and will look at them if I ask "Where is Mike." Mike is the park manager and as a fellow photographer, has made the park photographer friendly. That helps make it a special place.
Earl is the elder male great egret at the Marine Nature Study Area in Oceanside, NY. I've known him since he was a chick and also his farther Fringer Licking who passed a few years ago. Yesterday, when I approached Earl I said hello to him as I always do and he gave me a strange look. Then I took off my mask and he relaxed and walked closer to me. He dose not trust all humans to be very close, only ones that have become his friend. He seems to understand a bit when I talk to him as he knows a few people's names and will look at them if I ask "Where is Mike." Mike is the park manager and as a fellow photographer, has made the park photographer friendly. That helps make it a special place.
A new attempt. Reasonably happy with this version, but I think it needs a clear day without any wind (and I need to be there earlier). A bit of fog could also be awesome to separate the branch more from the background. I guess I'll be back...
I was walking out of the Marine Nature Study Area when I spotted the night heron fly in and land on a perch at the side of the main trail. There was just enough time for me to plant my tripod and get a few photos of it on final and landing yet the environment was not attractive. As someone approached it blasted off flying parallel to the trail. I zoomed wider and adjusted my ISO to allow for the backlight capturing this image with late afternoon sun bleeding through the trees and heat shimmy giving the bokeh a magical look.
X-T3 + Sigma 150-600 C + Fringer Pro II EF to X adapter + Fuji 1.4x TC
