For The Birds...

Hi everyone and welcome back! As you may know I was in Florida on vacation recently. In my last post I shared some of my sunset pictures with you. Today I am sharing pictures I took of some of the birds. Unfortunately, these are not the best pictures. Anyone who shoots animals, especially birds, know you have to be FAST and I was having trouble zeroing out my camera at the high shutter speeds required to stop action, mainly because of the poor lighting and the fact that my lens only opened down to f/5.6. Anyway, I still thought I would share these photos. If I visit Florida again with a better lens and more experience under my belt, it will be neat to compare these pictures to what comes along later. LOL! So here we go...

This photo was taken around midday. I used the 18-55mm lens that came with the camera as this little guy was not too far away from me. This crow was walking around stealing food and cell phones while the owners of these items were taking a swim. Note to the wise, do not leave your valuables unguarded on the beach because these unsuspecting criminals may just fly away with them! LOL!

I tried so hard to get some good flight shots of these birds but they were just too fast for me.

Even birds yawn of boredom. LOL!

I inquired about great places to take sunset pictures and was told about Pier 60. So we headed there to grab some shots. I got better sunset pictures at Sand Key Park but at Pier 60 I got to get up close to a pelican and crane. They were right there on the pier with us. It was beginning to get dark so getting good pictures was a struggle for me. I ended up having to use flash as the available light was not that great.

I could not believe how close I was to this guy!

I thought this guy had a strange coloring.

This is one of the few shots I was pleased with. I think it's pretty.

He kept moving around, so I followed him to different locations on the pier.

In the water below there was an interesting scene. This pelican would dive for fish and that seagull would come in and land right on top of him and try to get a share of the spoils.

I thought this was so neat!

Further out in the water was this guy. He stayed there the entire time we were there.

I decided to move in a bit closer, using a 70-300 mm lens.

And closer still. I forgot my tripod so these pictures were taken with me hand holding the camera and trying not to breathe. LOL!

It was about 8:00pm when this picture was taken and the sun had started to set.

I zoomed in for a closeup.

I then turned my camera back to Mr. Pelican. No filters were used in any of these pictures. The brilliant orange and deep blue was produced by the sunset.

A close up.

And there you have it. These are my birdie pictures from Florida! Tomorrow I will be picking up my seven little feather butts from the bird sitter. I can't wait to see them. The house is so quiet with them gone! LOL! Well that's all I have for today. See you next time with another photo adventure. Until then, keep on snappin'!