These photos were taken by reader Joe Dickinson, who notes that “most are from the last 3 years and within a few miles of my home in Aptos, CA (near Santa Cruz).”‘
Black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax )
Snowy egret (Egretta thula; two photos):
Willet (Tringa semipalmata)
Black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
Very nice. You’re in a great place for birds. The only one of those I see here is the Willet.
Nice images! We get bitterns, egrets and herons here but not those ones in particular. I love how the herons look when the fly as when they are overhead they illicit an image pterodactyl in me.
Methinks you mean elicit, Diana š
No, images of pterodactyls are illegal here. š
Beautiful shots!
I’m always tempted to move to CA, just for the birds!
Aptos is a wonderful place. We used to stay there when visiting my son when he was a student at UCSC. I especially enjoyed walking in the redwoods in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park.
We live immediately adjacent to Nisene Marks, in the edge of the redwoods. It’s about the closest the redwoods come to the ocean (just about a mile). It makes for nice diversity of wildlife to be seen and photographed.
You’re a lucky man.
Whatchu talkin’ bout, Willet?
Wonderful photos!
Thanks for those beautiful pics. Knowing nothing of wildlife photography, I have to ask: how did you catch that snowy egret in mid flight? Did you coast alongside it through the clouds?
Just lucky. There were several egrets feeding on rocks exposed at an extreme low tide. One took off as I was photographing it and, with camera in multiple-shot mode, I captured several images, one decently in focus.
Beautiful work, Joe! All these species occur in my area, though Willets are scarce here, but I’ve never gotten shots this nice of them.