Beach wildlife

Back on track after a protracted laptop problem I am working through a bit of a processing backlog, although the autumn wasn't as productive as I might have wished.  This year I took a proper camera on our annual south-west Florida trip, and for the first time the updated canon 100-400 II lens.  The original lens was always a bit disappointing but I was much more impressed with this - definitely sharper.  It can be used for macro too, so is great for holiday travel when I don't want to take a long prime lens.

A lot of this years shots were taken first thing in the morning at the beach - snap the golden hour, then fish for an hour or two and back home for breakfast.

 

Although the beach is relatively quiet before 9 there can be frustrations, with day-glo joggers, anglers and shell seekers the main threats to the roosting shorebirds.

Mind you it does provide some habituation, and with care some of the locals wander through the flocks. 

Once, the gulls and terns were spooked up and then settled down all around me, leading to some more wide angle type views than normal.

The local snowy (little) egrets are a pest when you are fishing.  They will literally start rooting through your bags looking for food - I tend to use prawns as bait.  Mind you whilst I don't generally condone feeding wildlife by hand like this it did make for some good snaps when an angler was getting rid of the last of his bait in the late afternoon sun.

Some more Florida snaps to come.