A Morning Walk at Circle Bar-B...

[jprzybyla]

This gator was enormous, the biggest I have seen surely thirteen to fourteen feet long.



Sand Hill Crane tending to her eggs.



A Yellow Rat Snake sunning.



A Glossy Ibis...



An Otter...

[jeeperman]

Looks like you had a good walk. I really like the Cran and Rat snake shots. The Ibis is a pretty bird but looks a bit cramped with no space infront of him.

[jprzybyla]

I agree Paul it was a tight crop, sometimes the urge to fill the frame is like not seeing the forest because of the trees. Here is another, this one is has the breeding plumage.

[dje]

That's a wonderful set of shots Joe !! Some walk

Dave

[jeeperman]

Nice, very pretty bird and a good shot Joe.

[jprzybyla]

Thanks Dave, it was a very enjoyable morning. There always seems to be something to see and photograph at that nature preserve.

[Geoff F]

If only you could have caught that last bird without the grass in front of it, Joe, that really would have been an excellent shot. But that is wildlife photography for you.

I often think that if I can just get a photo which confirms the identity of the creature I am doing well.

But this is a good set of 'real life' shots.

[jprzybyla]

Thanks Geoff, I wholeheartedly agree wishing the grass was not there, but so goes the travails of wildlife photography. I took the photo because of the breeding plumage which is only seen this time of year. My wife and I wander around with our 55-300mm's which with the crop factor gets out to 450mm, it is surprising what is withing 100 feet of the walking trails at nature preserves in Florida. Once again thanks for viewing and commenting.

[LeoLeo]

Hi Joe,

The yellow sanke is great.
Tha gator picture is great, but I'm not feeling right about his colur. (all your pictures looks abit bluish, or this is my impression/laptop) Maybe a colour correction, to render the gator more to grey, to separate him better from background/foreground?

thanks,
Leo

[jprzybyla]

Hi Leo, thanks for viewing and commenting. The color of the gator is correct Leo, the older they get the blacker the become. The young alligators begin life with a yellow and brown color pattern, protective coloration for hiding it seems and then after a few years they become dark grey turning black as the age and get so big nothing will mess with them. When I post-process I do very little regarding color, possibly sometimes adding saturation but not often.