Nichter Photography PLUS

I spotted this crane while hiking and birding at Weeki Wachee Preserve this morning. We heard the cranes earlier, so already listed them.

The crane walked along, sometimes visible sometimes not in the reeds. At one point he stopped, tilted  his head, and gave me this look that I found quizzical. Then he bent down, doing a bit of fishing I think.

As we walked along the road toward the parking lot, we noticed two cranes walking through the vegetation on the right. This time of year, we always search for the colts, and sure enough this rather tall young colt tagged along with his parents. At one point he noticed us, and watched, never getting far from one parent or another. The adult cranes watched us briefly, determined us not a threat, and ignored us from that time forward.

I started my nature photography with birds. As an avid birder, it made sense. In the more than a decade since I started serious bird photography, my style changed. My first few years concentrated more on portraits. Back then, only those of us with the long lens managed to get the best photographs. Now, thanks to technology advances in cameras of all levels, portrait photography of birds and stop action of an Osprey taking a fish, while maybe not something everyone does, is common.

As I matured as a naturalist, I started taking more shots of birds relating to their habitat. Backgrounds became less fuzzy and more distinguishable to set the bird in its place. I waited for unique behavior, interactions with other birds, feeding behaviors. Lately I am back to the close-ups, but of unique features of the birds.

In this series, I went for the eyes with only enough of the rest of the bird to create the composition I wanted. It started with the Black-crowned Night Heron. I looked up, and with the direction of the sun that amber eye actually seemed to glow at first glance. I liked what I saw, and decided to try the same approach on some other birds.

We visited Suwanee River State Park on our last RV trip, and hiked to the Old Columbus Cemetery where Karl took these photographs. As river transportation of goods gave way to rail, and rail to trucks, towns situated along the rivers and rails adapted, or went away. Old Columbus once served a population of 500 people. Located along the Suwanee River, it thrived in the mid-1800s, with a stage stop, rail stop, and of course steamboat stop.

Now, the cemetery and the old earthworks remain.

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