As much as I tried to summon spring weather and the earliest migrants to venture as far north as my neighborhood in Dakota, the warm temperatures that topped out at 57 degrees last week were negated by a February 18th blizzard that continued into last Thursday with blowing snow and temperatures dropping to below zero overnight during the weekend. Beyond the conditions outdoors, it was hard to find more than a single species of birds – widely scattered Horned Larks until Sunday. What a dramatic change! But to reap a positive from the change in weather and birding opportunities, a chance view of a few winter photos from my most recent trips to Florida made my creative juices flow south – south until I hit the ocean shores of Florida, Texas, and California!
I thought about the birds that brought me such a wonderful feeling when observing them, photographing them, and selecting the best of the photos I took each sunny day on the beach during mid-winter days. I lived on the beach in California for years, and have visited Florida and Texas beaches regularly, except the past 2 winters. Part of that lack of southbound migration for a winter week or so is that the Florida segment of my family relocated to North Dakota – 2 hours away – so I guess that lack of winter relief, and the recent set-back to below freezing high temperatures had me wishing for a walk on the beach with my camera Saturday.
With that in mind, I took a closer look at favorite photographs I took along beaches of Clearwater on the edge of Tampa Bay and immediately became excited to produce a short article using a few of the favorite shorebird photographs that I took during a couple beach a couple years ago. The photo conditions were very simple, the sun was low in the southern sky throughout the day, and I kept the sun at my back and the birds in front of me with my shadow pointing to the best position for me to avoid shadowing on the birds I was photographing. It all worked out very simply beyond that – all I needed was a variety of birds to photograph, and they were present in their glorious winter plumage for some, and their year-round colors for others.
Because the birds were positioned lower than me at ground level, I often tried to bend low or even kneel to get closer to their position on the sand or in the shallows. It seemed the birds came in spurts, with different species materializing one after another as I walked along the shore – until I came to a deeper side channel that created something of a barrier for birds that couldn’t wade across it and didn’t choose to fly across. That’s when I enjoyed photographing the birds that ventured closest, including Snowy Plovers, Piping Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, and American Oystercatchers; plus Sanderlings, Red Knots, Dunlins, Willets, and Semipalmated Sandpipers farther down the beach.
It's hard to convey how different and how thrilling it was to be barefooted on the sand with a variety of interesting shorebirds to focus on – woowee! Aah, I feel better now; turned up the heat in my office and enjoyed re-living those minutes and hours on the sandy Gulf Shore. If you live near the beach, enjoy it again with your camera as soon as possible, as often as possible to enjoy the birds you encounter through your lens – and include the terns, gulls, egrets, herons, and waterbirds too. And wherever you live, enjoy the birding opportunities you have, and use your camera to document the beauty and activities of the birds you encounter – Good Luck!
Article and Photographs by Paul Konrad
Share your bird photos and birding experiences at editorstbw2@gmail.com