We owe a lot to Sanderlings, they keep chasing the sea back into its place. Laying down in the sand using a panning plate to see their world from their point of view, the waves appear to be a tsunami. There are times when watching these LBJs I forget to take their photo as I so get into what they are doing. Take this individual. Just seconds after this photo was taken it did a complete 180, ran less then a foot, reached down and plucked a little worm like critter from the wet sand and sucked it down. How did it know it was there? It come in with the tsunami? Did it make some noise? How with all the chaos of the crashing waves did it find a meal? It’s just amazing how such a little critter in what appears to be a brutal world goes about life with such glee, always dealing with a tsunami!

Venice Rookery, FL is a very special place where new life is celebrated every spring. Courtship of the herons and egrets is part of the excitement, eggs and nestlings is some more but the best part is the unscripted. Whether vying for platform space or spouse attention, all the bird species present so some type of display. Great Egrets seem to have as part of their theatrics flight chases and typically it’s just a couple that constantly go at it. So it was yesterday at the Venice Rookery. Once I saw the two who wanted to challenge each other in the air, I followed them as they postured with my finger on the shutter release for when they took to the air. Then I would follow the chasing egret in the viewfinder. Then it was simple panning with that one individual, shooting when the background looked good. And in that split 1/1200 the camera captured that elegance that flight is a beautiful thing.

It’s been way too long so it felt so good to be back at Venice Rookery. Can’t see it in this image, by this pair had a little two day old in the nest. They seemed to huddle together to keep it warm against the chill of the morning air. The perfect way to start Valentines Day!

We could see the white out heading our way from the west, the increasing wind told us a change was fast approaching. Hayden Valley, Yellowstone Nat’l Park is no place to be in winter during a white out because even gravity won’t help you find your way. And amidst this coming weather chaos three Bison bulls plod along looking for last falls grass they can browse on buried under the three feet of snow. There are about six thousand Bison in the park today but finding them can be a challenge in winter so the three bulls we’re focused on are a treat. I stand out in the minus temps, the wind that’s starting to howl not dampening my imagining what the scene would have been when in the 1700s with thirty million Bison roaming the west. After being blown away by the sight, I probably would have moaned it was impossible to get just one lone animal in the frame. Now I moan about just finding the one animal to fill the frame. As I shoot, I think about this paradox as the one Bison I see appears and disappears in the blowing snow. It’s about then the bulls in the distance completely disappear as the snow increases, Mother Natures signaling its time to get out of Dodge. As we roll to the north to get out Hayden, my mind comes back to that thought, thirty million?!