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Snail Kite captured by Z 9 \/ Z180-600 w\/Z1.4x<\/p>\n
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Now that I think about it, who could blame him on such a nice, warm morning. We’d had a week of very cold temps and at times, a bit of wind. This was the first nice morning all week. We’d been working with Snail Kites on Kissimmee Lake<\/a><\/strong> and having a blast. It was our last morning, and we were working the east shore. We’re on an Airboat that’s powered by a Chevy 350, we are anything but stealthy! This was not our first time with this male Snail Kite, as a matter of fact, we’d spent a lot of time photographing it, mainly perched. This particular perch had a clean background, so I signaled our most excellent captain the direction I wanted to approach. The engine is running, the prop turning as we slowly, oh so slowly, approach him. The entire approach, I shooting away. The Kite couldn’t care less! The captain cut the engine and with the water vegetation, we figured we would coast forward a tad and then get stuck. Still, the kite didn’t move, in fact, it appeared like it was going to go to sleep! Since airboats can only go forward, I figured we were stuck for a while as forward travel would have literally run\u00a0 him over. Then he slowly opened his mouth, and I figured we’d get shots of him coughing up a pellet. I was so surprised when it turned out to be a long, giant yawn! He looks like he’s calling, but not a peep came out. He closed his mouth, and his eyelids started to go down! That’s it, we’re stuck here as the great light goes by I thought. Luckily, his mate flew by, and that got his eyes open and him on the wing. It’s an experience that will stick with me for a long time, the greatest compliment a critter can give one, falling asleep in front of the lens. Can you say, AHH?<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Snail Kite captured by Z 9 \/ Z180-600 w\/Z1.4xNow that I think about it, who could blame him on such a nice, warm morning. We’d had a week of very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"1219","advanced_seo_description":"Moose Peterson wildlife and aviation photography with Nikon","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Moose Peterson wildlife and aviation photography","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","sync_status":"none","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"\"Say AHH\" https:\/\/wp.me\/p6YJx-iZI at first, I thought the Snail Kite was going to cough a pellet. Since they eat snails, I was wondering what fur and bone could be down its throat. That wasn't the case at all. @BedfordCamera @NikonUSA #NikonAmbassador #NikonPro","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvd3d3Lm1vb3NlcGV0ZXJzb24uY29tXC9ibG9nXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI2XC8wNFwvU25haWwtS2l0ZS00NTQxMHBzdC04MDB4NTMzLmpwZyIsInR4dCI6IlwiU2F5IEFISFwiIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2NjM0MzF9.-TjJqc6Rc80P_h3wQ4mI9FqJXVxixzQbeAz2iG7WOxwMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"media-library","attached_media":[{"id":73019,"url":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Snail-Kite-45410pst.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-73018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wildlife-photography"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Snail-Kite-45410pst.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Podcast.jpg?fit=1500%2C1500&quality=100&ssl=1","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/www.audible.com\/pd\/Podcast\/B08JJQC1GR?ref=a_pd_item-n_c0_bc&pf_rd_p=1da7ab30-c785-4a0e-a160-4a7e7077b353&pf_rd_r=EEDMYHQM3DZ05FPRTHMJ","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2fRA9VaVfSdQMKf1ipxr0tipxr0t","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"itunes":{"key":"itunes","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/moose-podcast\/id1107405746","label":"iTunes","class":"itunes","icon":"itunes.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/feed\/podcast\/moose-podcast","embedCode":"“Say AHH”<\/a><\/blockquote>