Larry Ditto Nature Photography

Last week was a wet one across most of Texas, especially along the middle coast where the endangered whooping cranes winter.  It was also the week for my annual whooping crane photo tour.  As luck would have it, the rain held off until the second afternoon of our trip.  Luckily, we got in some extra photography time the evening before we officially began the tour.

We spent the last hour of Monday afternoon photographing Fulton harbor. Fulton adjoins Rockport and both towns have photogenic harbors.

On Monday afternoon, we shot the Fulton Harbor just north of Rockport, Texas.  The winds were calm and the light was warm, so we captured nice reflections of the fishing boats and piers.  As always, some of the photographers accompanying me were far more creative than I.  Where I see the big picture, they see the colors and shapes like nets hanging to dry, colorful names on fishing vessels, chains attached to oyster dredges, etc.  It made for some great photographs that captured the essence of a fishing village.

This pair of whoopers was feeding at the edge of Aransas Bay when they decided to move a few hundred yards to another part of the marsh just after sunrise. I always try to have my photographers within camera range of whoopers as the sun rises. We usually succeed.

We spent our mornings cruising the channels and oyster bars around Aransas National Wildlife Refuge searching for pairs and family groups of cranes.   Something had the birds spooked this year and they were much more difficult to approach than usual.  Several local hunters and fishermen said that a huge, smokey “prescribed” burn on the refuge the week before was the likely cause.  Normally, it is possible to quietly drift within telephoto lens range with the birds scarcely noticing us.  Luckily, we were able to find a cooperative pair the second morning (Wednesday).

We all caught this crane as it paused to stretch while feeding in the salt marsh at the Aransas National Wildlife Reguge.

This pair of 5' tall whooping cranes let us drift quietly and photograph them for a half hour. Eventually, they fed on past us and we slowly moved away without disturbing them.

On Tuesday afternoon, we found an abundance of pelicans (white and brown) and a few roseate spoonbills.  Numerous great blue herons and various egrets were feeding and loafing about the  Goose Island State Park and the Connie Hagar Bird Sanctuary in Rockport. 

This trip offered many opportunities for capturing birds in flight. Brown pelicans were always on the move.

At low tide, the egrets find plenty of fish in the Connie Hagar Bird Sanctuary at Rockport.

This snowy egret finished feeding rather quickly. After swallowing this large catch, he settled down for a long nap.

I got this great blue heron wading in orange water just before we launched for our second morning of whooping crane photography.

Unfortunately, the last afternoon of our tour was rained out.  I was happy that most of the group had arrived early and took advantage of the great light Monday afternoon before the photo tour officially began.  I think we all knew it might be wet on Wednesday when a beautiful rainbow appeared at sunrise.  One thing photographers learn early on is that there isn’t much we can do about the weather.

In this case, the rainbow appeared about two hours before the rains came. I ran across the parking lot at the boat launch to capture this shot at Goose Island State Park just as we were ready to launch on Wednesday morning.

This beautiful roseate spoonbill was waiting for us when we returned to the boat launch later that same morning.

The Rockport area has just about everything one could ask for in an outdoor vacation spot.   There are lots of landscape and wildlife photo ops, wildlife viewing areas, fishing charters and such.  After hours, one can enjoy (as we did) some nice dining spots, as well.   We sampled some wonderful seafood, pizza and Mexican food during the week. 

Never give up a chance to photograph just because of the clouds. They might open when the light is just right as it was for capturing these white pelicans.

In my next newsletter, we will take a look at a few of the many colorful songbirds that will be flitting about South Padre Island in April.  If you think you might have a few days to photograph in south Texas this spring, check out the details in my Photo Tour Schedule.

Larry

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Newsletter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.