Saturday, 18 March, 2006
Before my trip to South Padre Island, I had never seen a live pelican that I can recall. Certainly, I never saw one diving for fish before. What funny looking, but absolutely marvelous, birds they are.
In the Laguna Madre, they took off, flew a short distance until they spotted a fish, then plunged into the water to catch it. See my gallery labelled 'Birds' for more photos.
I'm going to create another gallery, called South Texas, for the photographs I got on this three day trip.
(Photo info f/9, 1/1600 sec, iso 400, 400 mm, tripod), South Padre Island, Texas, February 27, 2006
Update: Don asked me how far away this pelican was when I captured this image. First of all, I had the Sigma 170-500 mm lens set at 400 mm. This was a mistake. I should have had it fully extended (Hey, I'm learning!). Second of all this image is cropped by 75%, meaning only 25% of the image remains -- the rest was just open water. Third, Dan, my husband who was with me, estimates that for most of the useful images I got from this area, the birds were about 25 to 35 yards away.
All the images that are labeled Laguna Madre were taken from the Laguna Madre Nature Trail, which has 1500 feet of boardwalks over 4 acres of wetlands. There are two blinds for viewing wildlife. The birds that hang out in this location seem habituated to people staring at them through binoculars, spotting scopes, and cameras.
South Padre Island is undergoing rapid development. Every block had new construction underway, and signs for 'new luxury condominiums' and real estate offices were everywhere. South Padre Island is a very narrow island, I'm not sure how much of this type of development it can sustain. I got the impression that the small areas put aside for birds or nature are concessions the developers have to make in order to build on the other 90% of the land. The Laguna Madre Nature Trail is behind the large convention center.
Posted By: donnamhughes | Comment (2)
Birds, South Texas
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