At the Rookery

Last April was the first time I had ever been to the Rookery on High Island where this egret was photographed. It was quite an amazing sight to see hundreds of several kinds of shore birds nesting just inches from each other. The babies were in various levels of development from eggs to juveniles and several large alligators (crocodiles?) waited below in the water for any chance of a snack (which thankfully happened just before we arrived but not while we were there). This experience made me want one of those huge telephoto lenses but I was able to get some nice images with my inexpensive zoom. Sadly Hurricane Ike destroyed much of the area last September although many birds have returned to nest where they can. I have not had a chance to return this Spring but still hope to do so.

Camera info: Nikon D200, 70 - 300mm f4.0- 5.6 at 300mm, f 5.6, 1/250, ISO 100, cloudy white balance

Post processing: cropped the image, removed some distracting spots on the branch, ran Kubota PopSickle action to bring out the details, added a curves layer for black and white points and a levels adjustment to make it slightly lighter.