Anhingas are a strange bird, but in a way rather cool looking. They go through an amazing array of weird contortions while they preen and let their wings dry.
This shot is for Marianne R. - totally unedited - frame and watermark added.
Is that a weird twist to the neck or what? My neck hurts just looking:)
The day before yesterday,
while I was on a mission to take landscape shots
in the wetlands of Sawgrass Lake Park
I lucked upon an anhinga
drying it's wings.
Even luckier for me he moved to the edge, a much better spot for this photographer:)
Neck all twisted again in this shot.
Looking down upon a cattle egret ...
I slowly moved in a little closer for a better shot ......
Check out those huge web feet ...
Speaking of feet - yes, those egret feet are light green
and so is the area on top of his beak.
OK, so now we untangled our neck - now we're doing what?
Blowing bubbles?:)
Scanning the lake for food ... (one of my favorite pics)
The little egret moved back and forth in an attempt to catch his dinner.
A little story about a gator attack ...
Right here is where a lady was bitten by an alligator the day before. Quite a wild story according to today's paper, she wrestled with the 7 foot gator and poked him in the eye until he let her go.
A park ranger had to shoot the alligator.
I already knew about it before it was in the paper, because that same day happened to be my first time going to the wetlands. They had not yet identified which gator had become the agressive attack gator and the park ranger followed me when she saw my car parked nearby, she was uneasy for me and stayed with me, while I took my last two photos.
She pointed out a ripple in the water and a gator that looked straight at us - unusual behaviour, she said - normally they will swim alongside you. I suspect that the gator hiding in the water where I took the white egret shot the last time was indeed the gator who ended up getting shot and skinned.
Does that make me a real wildlife photographer now?
You can see where the Anhinga's feathers in the center are still all tousled ...
more grooming to follow,
the wings are not dry yet.
Pretty - weird - bird!
The camera ran hot
and I came home with another sunburn,
but I think it was all worth it.
Thanks for looking!
All images © 2009 Rose H.
Here are the links to all my wildlife photo tours at
Sawgrass Lake Park, St. Petersburg, FL
Alligator - Armadillo - Green Heron ...
Birdwatching at Sawgrass Lake Park
Wildlife and Waterbirds - Great Blue Heron ...
Alligators at Sawgrass Lake Park
Birds and Scenery (Juvenile Ibis)
The Scenic Tour of the Wetlands
This will the last of my Sawgrass posts for a while.
I'm working on other projects and I am planning a couple
day trips to other interesting spots in our area.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
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Comments: 44
Wow I'm glad that lady was okay
Enjoyed this little voyage very much and am happy that you were not the victim of that nasty gator.
No, I would not have wanted to tangle with a 7ft alligator, amazing that she survived with so little damage!
So only the first one is unedited cause some at the end look like you messed with the contrast and sharpening on them.
I never use contrast and sharpening on my photos, if the photo is that bad I forget about it.
What I used is both vibrancy and HDR - they looked fine on my screen, but I've noticed the lower gather resolution sometimes ruins the effect - I cringe when I see the color is off or it just looks strangely fuzzy.
The weird thing is, if I use a strong edit say 70% instead of 10% it looks fine, but I try to be subtle in my edits unless it's something I want to mess with for a graphic or abstract effect.
That's one tough lady - imagine she poked the alligator in the eye so he would let go - she had scratches and a real bite on her leg near her ankle.
BTW, do your photos as your creativity guides you, it is YOUR art.
I just picked up some sunscreen for my camera bag - unfortunately Sawgrass has some type of a yellow fly that stings like a mosquito and that sucker insists on divebombing me, just when I'm trying for a good close up.
I have always considered photos art, no matter whether you mess with them in photoshop and create something new or if you ended up with a perfect shot to begin with.
Or we can do lemonade in the Secret Garden?!
Thanks so much for sharing with my group.
Fabulous photos and fun, too!