A day in the swamp

Harryb · December 22, 2005

Hi Y'all,

Just finished processing my October shots so I'll be inflicting a few pics on you. Here's a series of GBH going about his daily activities in the Viera Wetlands.

the walking gets a tad messy

something requries a closer inspection

ahhh! snack time

a little flip

gulp

tasty

accck!!!! who put pineapple on my lunch!

a swampscape from the wetlands

DoctorIt · December 22, 2005

I gotta say, you post so many good herons that the final swampscape is my favorite of that set. The ripples coming from the lower left give it some cool dimension.

ginger_55 · December 22, 2005

Really nice set. Agreeing with Dr It, I loved the two surprises. The heron gagging, or whatever, now I liked that. And, the wetlands, superb!

ginger

Harryb · December 22, 2005

DoctorIt wrote:

I gotta say, you post so many good herons that the final swampscape is my favorite of that set. The ripples coming from the lower left give it some cool dimension.

Thanks Erik. The swampscape is definitely my favorite here.

Osprey Whisperer · December 22, 2005

He he he.....and you pick on my water over here.

Split pea soup...anyone?

That is some nasty lookin' water ,Harry.

Nice shots....but ewwww that green water is scary. Is there a nuclear plant near where you were shooting? :uhoh

MM

ginger_55 · December 22, 2005

I had that water where I take photos of the birds and families, the rookery, I had that water all summer. It is algae, I think. I just don't know why it comes and goes.

The last time I was at our rookery, it was mostly gone, but then so were the bird families and the birds, for the most part.

I thought the grounds people had gotten rid of ours. They are always doing stuff at Magnolia Gardens. So where it looks very wild, and kinda is, they do cut back trees and things, bushes.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting when I saw that green junk that it might be cold here now, but that I was finally without the green stuff, as far as I know, until next summer.

Harry, do you know more about it?

ginger

jwear · December 22, 2005

OK Harry it is time to tell the truth

ok I have to do it --I was at Nikon today --yep and do you want to know WHO did not pay their blues dues

YEP Mr H no bills no blues --Harry I slipped them a few bucks so you now have light blue [sorry but I'am cheap ] the poor GBH = great BLUE heron --if someone took your middle name and turned it green you would gag too ----other than that those are not bad shots

did you get that pizzzzaa Ben and I sent you

Rohirrim · December 23, 2005

Nice series Harry. Cool to catch the GBH in action.

Harryb · December 23, 2005

ginger_55 wrote:

Really nice set. Agreeing with Dr It, I loved the two surprises. The heron gagging, or whatever, now I liked that. And, the wetlands, superb!

ginger

Thank you Ginger. I was very happy with how the swampscape turne dout.

Harryb · December 24, 2005

Bird Man Photographer wrote:

He he he.....and you pick on my water over here. Split pea soup...anyone? That is some nasty lookin' water ,Harry. Nice shots....but ewwww that green water is scary. Is there a nuclear plant near where you were shooting? :uhoh

MM

Hey Mike,

Thats nothing but some good ole healthy algae. It might look nasty to you but the local denizens seem to like it.

Osprey Whisperer · December 24, 2005

Harryb wrote:

Hey Mike,

Thats nothing but some good ole healthy algae. It might look nasty to you but the local denizens seem to like it.

Momma always said you need to eat some veggies with your meat.

(GBH) I'll be eating light today. Just some fish 'n' salad.

Harryb · December 26, 2005

jwear wrote:

OK Harry it is time to tell the truth ok I have to do it --I was at Nikon today --yep and do you want to know WHO did not pay their blues dues YEP Mr H no bills no blues --Harry I slipped them a few bucks so you now have light blue [sorry but I'am cheap ] the poor GBH = great BLUE heron --if someone took your middle name and turned it green you would gag too ----other than that those are not bad shots did you get that pizzzzaa Ben and I sent you

Thanks Jeff I was missing the blues. I almost got the pizza but the local board of health condemned it when they found the pineapple on it.

bfjr · December 28, 2005

You folks need to get with the pineapple thing .......... else I might have to sell my shares in "Dole" :lol4

Florida has a Health Department? Will wonders never cease

Oh and the images well harry there always fresh and juicy!!

Harryb · December 29, 2005

Rohirrim wrote:

Nice series Harry. Cool to catch the GBH in action.

Thanks very much Steve.

Harryb · December 29, 2005

[

quote=bfjr]You folks need to get with the pineapple thing .......... else I might have to sell my shares in "Dole" :lol4

Florida has a Health Department? Will wonders never cease

Of course we do. Its main function is to root out silly west coast fads.

Oh and the images well harry there always fresh and juicy!!

Thanks

bfjr · December 29, 2005

Harryb wrote:

[

Of course we do. Its main function is to root out silly west coast fads.

Then it must be a very busy office

Harryb · December 29, 2005

bfjr wrote:

Then it must be a very busy office

Its a 24/7 operation.

bfjr · December 29, 2005

Harryb wrote:

Its a 24/7 operation.

Yeah we westies got an office for Floridan refuges as well .......... Let me see I think they call it the LAPD

:lol4

windoze · December 29, 2005

as always Harry - Well Done!
the last though is really something!
question - after a few weeks i can actually recognize certain individual birds from each other. do you find that you can recognize certian GBH ( or whatever those things are called ) from others?

troy

Harryb · December 29, 2005

windoze wrote:

as always Harry - Well Done!
the last though is really something!
question - after a few weeks i can actually recognize certain individual birds from each other. do you find that you can recognize certian GBH ( or whatever those things are called ) from others?

troy

Hey Troy,

Thanks. I can recognize dirrent types of herons from each other but when it comes to telling one GBH apart from other GBHs forget about it. The one excepetion is this one older GBH in the Wetlands that we have dubbed "The Mayor". He's a bit larger than the other GBHs and will usually allow you to get within a few feet of him.

vandana · December 29, 2005

It's a great series! I love how you manage to get a lot of the birds in action -especially love the last shot ! I'm sure it takes a lot of patience ...how long is a 'typical' day at the swamp session ? I think my camera is flitting elsewhere when all this is taking place

Harryb · December 29, 2005

vandana wrote:

It's a great series! I love how you manage to get a lot of the birds in action -especially love the last shot ! I'm sure it takes a lot of patience ...how long is a 'typical' day at the swamp session ? I think my camera is flitting elsewhere when all this is taking place

Thank you very much Vandanna. On my normal shooting schedule I will usually shoot at the wetlands twice a week. One day is my morning shoot (5 hours starting at sunrise) and the other other my afternoon shoot (5 hours until sunset). The times will vary according to the shooting conditions and the level of activity at the wetlands.

I like to spend half my time shooting from the car and driving around and the other half at a various locations with my tripod set up. These shots were taken over a three hour period at one location. I had a GBH and a snowy egret hunting in the same area so I concentrated on shooting their activities. I probably took over 300 shots of them during the 3 hours. Of the 300 shots probably 250 were culled and 50 were processed. Of the 50 processed I probably kept around 20 shots and culled the other 30 on my final cull.

vandana · December 29, 2005

thanks a lot for that response Harry ! I have often wondered if a 'real' photographer takes more time with each picture and takes few of them but consistently good ones or takes a lot more than a pretender like me

and gets a maybe similar ratio of good and bad ! I define 'real' here as being consistently good not necesarily pro. 5 hrs from sunrise is a lot of time - no wonder you like warm Florida !

A day in the swamp

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