MI4 RARE Snail Kites

Osprey Whisperer

Hello folks. Had the good fortune to run into some very rare snail kites. I was riding back from the East coast MI4 shoot with Ron (Reggie on NC). He had the brilliant idea to take a detour to some places he knew had birds.
We saw eagles, osprey, kestrels, cranes, egrets, herons, sea gulls, itty bitty birds and these guys.

What an experience. Not the best shots, but I was a good bit from the water and on some had to crop a good bit. The lighting was horrible. Mid day bright hazy Florida sun. If that wasn't bad enough....it was side/back lit. Did what I could, but would love the chance to chase these guys down in the boat to shoot them again. Ron gets partial credit for stopping off at John Overstreet's (?) fish camp on Lake Kiss A Me

Harryb

Good captures of a rare bird.

gluwater

Very cool shots Mike. You even got both the male and female. I would have loved to see these guys.

Rhuarc

I saw that last composite shot before I read the caption for it and I was thinking to myself how in the heck did you get two birds full fram that perfectly? Then I read the dark and dirty secret! Very nice shots, even the fake one!!

dbaker1221

good job.... pretty cool to be able to get some shots!

dallas

Congratulations Mike, pretty fancy work there. Looks like a difficult capture because of the size and speed.

jwear

good find --better shots sometimes it is better not to go straight home

Osprey Whisperer

Harryb wrote:

Good captures of a rare bird.

Thanks Harry. Good thing Ron was in charge of getting us home.

Osprey Whisperer

gluwater wrote:

Very cool shots Mike. You even got both the male and female. I would have loved to see these guys.

Thanks Nick. I was lucky to see them....and the snaps were just gravy. I was standing at the water's edge with the camera..and look what flew overhead. Don't have that happen too often. It was a good ride home.

Maestro

Cool. It is always nice to find a rare bird. Those are some good shots considering the conditions and the unexpected opportunity.

Osprey Whisperer

Rhuarc wrote:

I saw that last composite shot before I read the caption for it and I was thinking to myself how in the heck did you get two birds full fram that perfectly? Then I read the dark and dirty secret! Very nice shots, even the fake one!!

Thanks. I like to get credit for my photoshop tricks. It's fun to play with nature and make the shots you wanted...but didn't see/get.

I've always wanted a photo of an eagle with flight goggles and helmet. That's the next one I'm working on.

These were very neat birds. I was lucky they decided to fly by the shore just as I was there. We were only there about 15 minutes...so good timing and lots of luck.

Hope you can join us for next years MI shoot.

Osprey Whisperer

dbaker1221 wrote:

good job.... pretty cool to be able to get some shots!

Thanks for looking and commenting.

Osprey Whisperer

dallas wrote:

Congratulations Mike, pretty fancy work there. Looks like a difficult capture because of the size and speed.

Thanks William. Not too difficult. I just press that button thingy on the handle of that camera thingy..and I cross my eyes and fingers. This method has worked well...so far. Would have been nice if you could have joined us on the MI4 shoot.

Osprey Whisperer

jwear wrote:

good find --better shots sometimes it is better not to go straight home

Thanks Jeff. Home is where you hang your camera...eh?

Osprey Whisperer

Maestro wrote:

Cool. It is always nice to find a rare bird. Those are some good shots considering the conditions and the unexpected opportunity.

Thanks for looking & commenting.

raptorcaptor

Nice shots Mike! must have been fun seeing those guys!

Osprey Whisperer

raptorcaptor wrote:

Nice shots Mike! must have been fun seeing those guys!

Thanks Glenn. It was a good catch.