Great Egret - up close & personal

[LazyPhotographer]

These are from a few weeks ago. This Egret came very close to me while I sat at a picnic table. It was a grey & dark day, so I was kind of surprised they even turned out. The "black" background is really the shadow of a bridge going over the lake.

http://www.onlinephotographers.com/gallery/albums/lazypics_wadingbirds1/IT5G8759af_GreatEgret.jpg

http://www.onlinephotographers.com/gallery/albums/lazypics_wadingbirds1/IT5G8755af_GreatEgret.jpg

Canon 1D MarkII, 100-400L IS

New pics on my website are found here: Newest Additions (http://www.onlinephotographers.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=lazypics_new)

[Scottes]

Way cool!


I've tried being very silent.
I've tried being very still.
I've tried hiding.
And hiding while being still and silent.
I eventually tried sneaking.
Very slowly at first, and noisily.
I learned to move slower, and quieter.
I actually got to be pretty good.
So good they call me Ninja Birder.

And I've been bested by Picnic Birder.
:)

[LazyPhotographer]

Way cool!
I've tried being very silent.
I've tried being very still.
I've tried hiding.
And hiding while being still and silent.
I eventually tried sneaking.
Very slowly at first, and noisily.
I learned to move slower, and quieter.
I actually got to be pretty good.
So good they call me Ninja Birder.

And I've been bested by Picnic Birder.
:)

You crack me up! You need to try casual indifference.

The Egret looked at me, like it was thinking of leaving. So I just looked the other way for a while and pretended I didn't care. I believe the ego took the place of fear. ;-)

[Scottes]

*I* crack YOU up?
You're out there shooting birds from picnic tables.

I've spent MONTHS perfecting the art of Ninja Birding, and you have a pleasant afternoon lunch, and we get comparable shots.

I have brought Casual Indifference to such heights that I can slow my heart to 2 beats per minute, and you just have a seat and wait for the egreats and hawks.

I have more Casual Indifference in my little finger than the entire population of Ohio (no offense to Ohians) yet you nonchalantly flick your little finger at the shutter button and catch the birds.

I have spent days in a state of mental awareness so deep that bushes grow around me, and you simply wait a moment or two and will a picnic table into a comfortable position so you can relax. And yet you get the birds.

I have spent MONTHS designing, building, redesigning and rebuilding a NUMBER of bird feeder contraptions so great that they defy logic, and you just grab a bench and get the birds.

*I* crack YOU up?

Puh-lease!

[Scottes]

You want TRUE casual indifference?

WATCH THIS:




Didn't see me, did ya? I'm THAT good.

And yet you get the birds whenever you grab a seat and get comfortable.

Puh-lease, ma'am, spare me the angst.

[Scottes]

And speaking of comfort, I have spent HOURS slow-crawling through weeds, ick, dust, mud, slime, and poison ivy to get a single snapshot, ad you roll down the car window - AUTOMATIC I BET - and you get the birds.

Puh-Lease!

[Scottes]

"How heavy is your tripod, Lazy?"

"Oh, I don't carry one because then there wouldn't be room for my lawn chair."


Puh-lease!

[Scottes]

I've been known to spend days solid in sub-zero artic weather, triple-down coats, and double-thick mukluk boots, slowing my breathing to conserve heat, waiting for a single CHANCE at a snowy goose, and you stroll onto your balcony in fuzzy slippers and YET YOU GET THE BIRDS.

puh-leeese.... pretty please....

[Scottes]

Rock on, Picnic Birder, rock on.

[LazyPhotographer]

I was not having lunch at the picnic table - I was enjoying a cigarette! That's my way of communing with nature. ;-)

Don't forget walking out on my balcony and being 10 ft from the Hawk. And yes - the car window is powered. "Press button/open window - shoot pic - drive away" - for serious shots, I'll turn the car off too.

The problem is WHERE you're going looking for wildlife. Don't go to nature, let it come to you. I have the best luck at vacant lots, behind grocery stores, office parks, and local parks. And I'm not kidding! When I go out this weekend, I will get some landscape shots of the un-nature-like places I shoot from.

I keep telling ya - cheaptickets.com! Y'all come down and I'll show you some serious birding out the truck window. ;-)

[LazyPhotographer]

"How heavy is your tripod, Lazy?"

"Oh, I don't carry one because then there wouldn't be room for my lawn chair."

Puh-lease!

Now that's crazy! There's 2 tripods and a monopod in the back AND a lawn chair. Oh yea, and a cigarette lighter powered cooler. But why use a tripod when I can put the beanbag on the car window? (If I remember)

[MarkoPolo]

I think there are 12 step programs for folks who get too far into "ninja birding!" :lol: :lol: :lol:

[CyberDyneSystems]

Great Shots Lazy... ! :)

[zach]

Lazy, wonderful bird!

Scottes, that is just the way birds are here in SoCal! They are not all uptight like the on the right coast! LOL

[PacAce]

What can I say, Lazy? Your pictures are alway so nice and a pleasure to look at. :)

[stoneylonesome]

Fantastic shots Lazy, Scott you have to remember that's Calif. everything is LAID BACK out there even the wild er tamelife. :lol: :lol: Most of our wildlife could use a good dose of Prozac. :lol: :lol:

All kidding aside Lazy you done real good on that one fantastic close-up.

[RTMiller]

I was not having lunch at the picnic table - I was enjoying a cigarette!

That's hilarious!!! I can picture Scottes laying in wait after spraying his ghillie suit with bird hormones and egret urine and up walks Lazy smoking a cigarette! That's too funny!

[RJSorensen]

Those are very nice . . . very.

[tupe]

Amazing shots!

[JMAS]

Wonderful photos. #1 is simply stunning.

[marie]

they are wonderful close ups

:cool:

[PhotosGuy]

Well...

[RJSorensen]

I need to say something . . . and, well, ummmm . . . I don't want to. Do some of you remember when I went hunting for "Little Birds' my first time. The time in sub-arctic weather. The time I waited for six hours, two of them pre-dawn, the coldest time of the day. Well I froze my mustache white. Nearly pure white. It has not come back into color, which prior to this event, was brown of some sort.

Well my wife made me . . . don't take this lightly . . . use that hair color for men. There I said it. What is the tag line for this product? No play for mister gray? Yes, my wife made me color my upper lip back to some color of brown. How embarrassing . . . men using hair color. On the lip no less.

And all of this was for a picture of the back end of a little bird that I did not know the name of. What the heck was I thinking. Ninga Binga . . . I froze solid. Birds landed on me. I think . . .

I am going to Lazy's to shoot Little Birds next winter. Good luck to the rest of you. Anyone know how to restring a lawn chair?

http://www.boingboing.net/2004/09/26/lawn_chair.html

[sparker1]

I'm guessing the egret was on smoke break and wanted to share Lazy's smoking area. Birds of a feather, etc. BTW, great shots. Scottes, you gotta relax, man.

[skade]

Lol that was some great reading!! I like the photos too lol

[Scottes]

Scottes, you gotta relax, man.

RELAX? I **can** relax! I can relax so much that I...

Ya know, I'm beginning to see the value of lawn chairs...
:-)

[Fer]

GREAT SHOT

[LazyPhotographer]

Thanks everyone for the comments!