One with cloud's help... for Artie...

[David Roach]

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there...

EOS R EF 400DO I 2xtc II f11 1/1000 ISO 1600

I went to Wakodahatchee last evening to check on the status of nests and hopefully to get some updates. One of the first stops was at the great egret nest where I imaged the two punk rocker chicks with naked skin patches on neck and body two weeks back. Sad to say, only the alpha survived. As I arrived, the now full grown alpha chick was laying in the nest with head in the wrong direction. This nest is in the front of the pond apple stand by the gazebo, if you've been there, and good with late afternoon sun. I moved on to complete a boardwalk loop before checking again. As I got to back stretch of boardwalk, clouds rolled in. This is when Artie's response to my previous post of this very chick came to front of mind. His response was simply "clouds could have helped here". So I double timed back to this nest with now late afternoon light filtered with cloud cover. Alas the chick was in the same non photogenic position. I imaged a few of the surrounding nests and was going to move on. Just as I did MOM flew in. So this is the same nest, chick older now and with the help of clouds. Mom looked rough but was valiantly determined to get this survivor through. Here's hoping they both make it...

As always, your very valued inputs welcome.

[Moe Richard]

Wonderful color and detail in what looks like very difficult shooting conditions. The green breeding patch on the lores and the level of saturation on the orange beak go really well together. Precious action!

[John Mack]

Pretty nice view of these two. The behaviour is a bonus. Really like the white birds against the dark background.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Awesome behaviour - mother does not look too comfortable! A bit dark overall IMO. I love the leaves in upper left corner, not so much the ones along the bottom edge. Very intriguing image.