The Great Egrets are back after wintering in the south. They’re always a welcome sight. Beautiful birds and my favorite harbinger of Spring. I’ve already got some decent shots I hope to share soon, but thought I’d first share some “almost good” shots. Seeing a bird in motion is my favorite seen to capture, but those photos are obviously challenging for many reasons. Today I had good light, an uncluttered background, but I had a few trees between me and the birds.
The good news is that the trees and shrubs hid me a bit, allowing me to get fairly close. The bad news is that as this one started to move, I didn’t have clear sight lines. My Canon R5 with animal eye autofocus, kept the bird in focus nicely. That doesn’t work for me consistently on smaller birds, but it worked great for these photos.
To the right of this bird, there were three other great egrets feeding in shallow water. I was watching this bird because I sensed he became aware of my presence and was ready to take flight. I got that right, and look forward to when I get everything right–including clear slight lines.