In October 2022, I went to a two-day bird photography workshop put on by Mark Smith, a professional bird photographer that lives in Vero Beach, Florida on the Atlantic coast of central Florida. I found Mark through his YouTube channel (highly recommended). He hosts bird photography workshops all across the country, not just in Florida. They are limited to 6 people and both Mark and his son were hosting mine. His son has extensive knowledge of birds and the ecosystem. Mark and his son act as “scouts” for birds coming our way and getting people in the right place for the best light and shot. He also helps with his extensive camera experience to help get the best settings and techniques for good shots.
This workshop was at the Sebastian Inlet state park where we met shortly before dawn (~6:45AM) and were shooting until about 11AM each day when the birds left for their afternoon “siesta”. This boating navigation inlet connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian river which is right behind the barrier island. This time of year is best for ospreys as they are following the migrating schools of fish heading down the Atlantic seaboard. We also saw a lot of egrets (three kinds at least), wood storks, terns, herons, sandpipers, and pelicans.
Overall it was a very fun workshop. I got about 100 “keepers” total over the two days. The only shots I was not able to get were some amazing shots of ospreys diving into the water at about 40 miles per hour going after fish. My spotting and tracking skills to follow the birds down into the water with my camera are not yet good enough to catch those very fast events. But I was very happy with what I got.
The most unexpected fun thing was seeing “reddish egrets”. These birds mainly catch fish by scurrying about in the surf and catching unsuspecting fish washed up by the surf, It was so entertaining to watch them, plus they are beautiful birds. I spent nearly an hour watching two of them and got some great shots as they darted to and fro in the surf.
I also LOVED the black skimmers that visited a shallow, calm tide pool just off the channel. These birds “skim” just an inch or two above the water to catch small fish and other food at the surface. It was amazing to see a flock of them come in and skim the water. Unfortunately, most of the skimming was done very early just after dawn with some clouds in front of the sun, so the light was not very bright and it was hard to get reliable focus, and I had to use high ISO which causes a lot of noise in the images. I did get a few good ones despite this by using some pretty heavy post-processing with Lightroom..
Hope you enjoy these “best of the shoot” images of ospreys, storks, egrets, black skimmers, and other pretty scenes.
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