Whooping Cranes

Recently, I had the opportunity to photograph the rare Whooping Cranes and a variety of shorebirds at the Aransas Wildlife Refuge in Texas. There are only about 500 Whooping Cranes in the world and 280 migrate to Aransas for the Winter. It is very difficult to get close enough to get good photos of these huge birds that reach 5' in height and a wingspan of 7 1/2'. Most of the images were taken from a boat that could navigate in very shallow water. You are restricted by the Federal Gov't from getting on shore to photograph the Whoopers. More images can be viewed at http://bobkarcz.zenfolio.com/p232625489


#1

#2 Adult and juvenile Whoopers fishing for Blue Crabs

# 3 Great Blue Heron with Crayfish

# 4 White Pelican walking on Water

# 5 White Pelican & Great Egret admiring each other

# 6 Roseate Spoonbill in flight

Love 3,4,5! Very nice!

Great stuff, tough to pick a #1.

I really like the shots of the whoopers. It's great that they are growing, be it ever so slowly, in population. They are beautiful birds!
Bob, there is some great light in #3 and #5 and your processing makes these images sing! Marvelous detail in both of those.

Nice, nice shots! I especially love the pelican and egret; it would be nice with just the birds, but the ripply reflections make it even better.

What a haul! The first few could use some contrast, but these are all excellent.

Damn, Bob! These are all fantastic! This is a really nice mix of portraits and "moment" shots. The fact that some were captured from a boat makes them that much more impressive.

An excellent portfolio here, Bob! I like 'em all, but #'s 3, 4 &5 are extraordinary!!
You did a great job in keeping the exposures all in check, which has to be difficult when shooting white birds.

Thanks for the comments! Looking forward to meeting the faces behind the names tonite at the Shindig!

Very cool shots, especially like the Whoopers since they are such a rare bird, and to get them that close is just huge! Did you handhold your 500 for these (with 1.4x), or was the boat close enough to use a shorter lens? NANPA's convention is in McAllen, TX this March, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to go..

Don- used the 500 w/ 1.4 on a tripod along with the MKIII. The boat was about 23' long with a shallow draft set up for photography. Upper and lower decks to set up a tripod. Weather over the 4 days was terrible except for about 8 hours. Don't think people realize how rare the whooper is. Down to 20 birds in North America in the 1940's. Great place with a variety of birds. Next stop- Ding Darlings late February.

Bob, Great capture on the Whooper! Very difficult bird to find and then capture the pose you did. Years ago a few used to migrate into Monte Vista but haven't seen them in years. Excellent job.

Bob, Wonderful shots. Shooting from a boat and getting that kind of clarity is something. Good stuff.

Great images! Looks like a great trip!

I really like image #5, it has a great mood to it.