I have always prided myself on being the all-around nature photographer.  Landscapes, macros and wildlife of all sorts.   Add the occasional non-nature subject and I think that makes me a well rounded photographer.  Still there can be no question that in my life I have made more pictures of birds than anything else. They are in abundance everywhere.  365 days a year.  Most of them are out in the daytime when photography is possible.  Below are a few of my favorite species.   I had one opportunity only with the skimmer and the ibis.  You are basically seeing the only images I have ever made of them. I have had two shots with roadrunners and a few opportunities with cattle Egrets and many chances with the American Bittern.

Black Skimmer / Texas / 2006

I enjoyed the day that I spent with a large group of Black Skimmers.  These are rather odd birds with their uneven top and bottom bill.  Still in the end they are typical gulls.  Gregarious and willing to scavenge when the fishing is not good.  This one seems to be taking a bath but it is actually one of the methods they used to fish.

White Ibis / Texas / 2006

I would have liked to have gotten a better and a more interesting photo of this bird but you are seeing not only the one photo I ever made of this species, but the only White Ibis I have ever seen.  I have seen and photographed both the Glossy and White-faced Ibis.  When you have exactly one photo of a species that you have only seen that one time, they become special.

Greater Roadrunner / New Mexico / 2006

You may be seeing a pattern here.  One trip to Texas and New Mexico in early 2006 brought more new species of birds to my camera than any other trip.  The roadrunner is an absolute favorite bird of mine.  They are funnier than the cartoon and they are easier than the cartoon character on Wiley Coyote.  I had seen roadrunners twice before this trip but no pictures.  This bird is in fact running along a small dirt road.  It appeared to be hunting insects and looking for lizards.

American Bittern / Horicon Marsh NWR, Wisconsin / 2009

I have been photographing American Bitterns for several years.  The stock photographer/story teller in me has been very grateful for the images I have made.  They have all been either in the marsh grasses or cattails.  Head pointed upward and camouflage in full use.  Still there is another side of me that hoped for at least one shot with a clean and beautiful background.  This bird was on a small hill alongside the road.  It was too close for an entire body shot, but I will take this portrait.  The fact that the bird was in breeding plumage was just a bonus.

Cattle Egret / Wisconsin / Mid 1990s

I have been fortunate to photograph this species four or five times over the years.  Some are great shots but they are all made while they were in their pure white winter plumage.  I eventually made some very distant shots of a bird in total breeding plumage but the photographer (me) did not do his job and they were simply not sharp enough to hold up to the necessary crop.  So this bird, which is just beginning to transition into its salmon colored finish will have to be the image I call my keeper.  They are fascinating birds that eat mostly insects.  They love to follow horses and cattle around the pasture and grab all the grasshoppers as they jump out of the way.

Happy trails,

Wayne