Anhinga, Cormorants, Ibis, Osprey, Pelicans, Shorebirds, Storks and more

This page has over 75 images and composites of Anhinga,
Cormorants, Ibis, Osprey, Pelicans, Shorebirds and Storks
along with some other wildlife from Sanibel Island, Florida.

Click an image to open a larger version.
Use your back button to return to this page.

Images in this section are in several different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Wildlife Collections page where a Gallery can be selected.

Images are in the Birds Collection and Featured Birds Collection
(except for the sunrise, sunset and Crocodile images)
and can be found in the following Galleries (Direct Links)

Anhinga     Assorted Shorebirds     Pintails, Teals & Ruddy Ducks
Brown Pelican          Cormorants              Ibis & Roseate Spoonbill
Falcons & Kites       Osprey       White Pelican        Assorted Birds

Bunch Beach Sunrise 1150

A monumentally intense Florida sunrise.
This sunrise and the sunset at the bottom
of the page are on both pages of this section.

Anhinga 0709

The Anhinga (or American Darter) is a member of the Cormorant family.
It has a very long neck, eats fish, and swims either completely submerged
or with its neck above water. When swimming with the neck above water it
looks like a snake swimming, which led to its nickname, the Snakebird.

Anhinga 0331

Anhinga 0664

Anhinga 0726

This was a very polite Anhinga... waving
to its many fans as they took its picture.

Anhinga 0745

Anhinga Drying Wings 2193

Unlike other waterbirds, Cormorant and Anhinga
feathers have no oil, so they must dry their wings.

Anhinga Swimming 0883

The lack of oil allows them to submerge easily as
they are less buoyant than other waterbirds. The
extra weight of the water causes them to have
to run on the water to achieve takeoff speed,
so they dry their wings to reduce weight.

Anhinga 0708, 0739

Black-Bellied Plover Sunrise 1371

Black-Bellied Plovers Sunrise 1388

When these Plovers grow their mating
feathers, they live up to their name.

Blue-Winged Teals 0410, 0411

Blue-Winged Teals approaching the beach en-masse.

Images in this section are in several different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Wildlife Collections page where a Gallery can be selected.

Images are in the Birds Collection and Featured Birds Collection
(except for the sunrise, sunset and Crocodile images)
and can be found in the following Galleries (Direct Links)

Brown Pelican Flight 1596

Brown Pelican Sunrise 0565

Brown Pelican Sunrise 0574

Brown Pelican Hunting Sunrise 1223

A 2464 x 821 single-shot panorama of Brown Pelicans herding fish into a dense ball.
Once they have the fish concentrated, they gain altitude and dive to fill their pouch.

Brown Pelican Sunrise 1277

For more Pelican shots, there is a Pelican page in the Wildlife Studies section
and some shots of White Pelicans on the Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge page.

Brown Pelican Hunting Sunrise 1287

Brown Pelican Hunting Sunrise 1292

Brown Pelican Landing 1396

Brown Pelican Landing 1402

Brown Pelican Landing

click for 1500 x 654 version

Available as an SXXL Composite (7412 x 3450)

Brown Pelican Hunting Sunrise

A 1510 x 1325 composite of crops from the larger composite (click here for preview).
This shows a Brown Pelican diving on a fish ball, accompanied by an opportunistic Gull.

Images in this section are in several different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Wildlife Collections page where a Gallery can be selected.

Images are in the Birds Collection and Featured Birds Collection
(except for the sunrise, sunset and Crocodile images)
and can be found in the following Galleries (Direct Links)

Cormorant 0303

The Cormorant (like the Anhinga) is a fish-eater and has no oils on its feathers, allowing
it to submerge for long periods of time to find fish. It also dries its wings often to reduce weight
and allow for a takeoff without running on the water to gain speed. They do take off quite often without
drying their wings though (it takes a long time to dry them), so you can often get cool running shots.

There are a number of shots of Cormorants in flight and doing those running takeoffs on the
Cormorant page in the Wildlife Studies section and in the Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge section.

Cormorant 0298

I just took a few Cormorant shots in Florida
as I have a large number from local refuges.
This fellow was quite good-looking though.

Cormorant with Prey 0313

I couldn’t resist this closeup pair with prey.

Cormorant with Prey 0312

That fish has really sharp dorsal spines. Swallowing it must be very tricky.

Florida Crocodile 1816

Speaking of closeups, this Crocodile was shot with a 70-200mm from about 8 feet.
I stayed on my toes and leaning back when taking these shots. This one was taken at
70mm and only covered 1/3 of the 12 foot long creature. Way too close for comfort. These
guys move slowly on land, especially when basking in the sun to warm up, but can lunge quickly.

Florida Crocodile 1815

Florida Crocodile 1823

Florida Crocodile 1819

The above three headshots were taken from five to six feet away at 200mm.
I cropped some foreground and background out to keep file size down, but
otherwise these are showing the entire frame. These were very close shots.

Images in this section are in several different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Wildlife Collections page where a Gallery can be selected.

Images are in the Birds Collection and Featured Birds Collection
(except for the sunrise, sunset and Crocodile images)
and can be found in the following Galleries (Direct Links)

Ibis 0291

The American White Ibis is a wading bird that
is found from the mid-Atlantic south on the coast.

Ibis Dawn Flight 1163

Like many other birds (exc. herons and egrets)
the Ibis flies with its neck and legs extended.

Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1457

They feed by dipping their long, curved beak into the mud to stir up frogs,
fish, and invertebrates, but they also eat some insects and small reptiles.

Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1467

While I have seen Glossy and White-Faced Ibis at Bolsa Chica and Bosque del Apache
(usually at a great distance), Sanibel Island was my first opportunity to see the White Ibis.
I took advantage of the opportunity and got a number of good shots (many are on this page).

Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1494

The early morning light in Florida is beautiful.

Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1497

Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1506

They are very successful hunters. These were mostly after little jellyfish seen in shots below.

Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1514

Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1510

Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1523

Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1532

Ibis and Snowy Egret 0361

A jealous Snowy Egret watches as this Ibis catches a Horseshoe Crab.
He followed along for quite a while, probably to learn the technique for success.

Ibis and Snowy Egret 0366

Ibis and Snowy Egret 0368

Ibis Portrait Sunset 0963

Ibis Portrait Sunset 0975, 0978

Images in this section are in several different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Wildlife Collections page where a Gallery can be selected.

Images are in the Birds Collection and Featured Birds Collection
(except for the sunrise, sunset and Crocodile images)
and can be found in the following Galleries (Direct Links)

Merlin Sunset 1023

A perched female Merlin at sunset.
Normally a prairie bird, she was on a Florida vacation.

Osprey with Prey 0806, 0807

An Osprey carries off what appears to be a Knifejaw (or beakfish), which as far as I know
is normally a northern Pacific fish and must be rare in the Atlantic (not to mention in Florida).

Osprey on a Stick

Often, raptors can be found perched on a bare branch or dead tree where they can
watch in all directions for prey to appear. Photographers dub these “bird on a stick”.

Osprey 0506

Osprey 0530

Osprey 1572

Some of the best Osprey shots I have ever acquired were taken of this bird above a
small river just inland from the mouth, where it met the Gulf of Mexico. The background is
busy, but this is one of those rare opportunities where the bird is not too far above eye level.

Osprey 1559

Osprey 1571

Osprey 1574

Osprey 1585

Osprey 1596, 1641

The Osprey is a sea hawk and eats mostly fish. In many images of this particular bird,
you can see the unusual outer toe of the Osprey, which reverses to allow it to grasp prey
with two toes in front and two in the rear. Ospreys also turn the fish head-forward to reduce
drag (see image above). They have a natural advanced degree in aeronautical engineering.

Osprey 1634

Osprey 1660

Osprey 1662

An exceptionally attractive image of an Osprey spreading its wings. Big smile.

Images in this section are in several different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Wildlife Collections page where a Gallery can be selected.

Images are in the Birds Collection and Featured Birds Collection
(except for the sunrise, sunset and Crocodile images)
and can be found in the following Galleries (Direct Links)

Roseate Spoonbill Flight 9885

The Spoonbill is an inordinately difficult bird to shoot
in flight in a clear sky due to the lack of contrast, and
getting a clean shot can be a frustrating experience.

Roseate Spoonbill Flight 9888

It took me a few tries to determine that the only
way to get a decent shot was to track the base
of the wing where the shadow adds contrast.

Roseate Spoonbill Flight 9901

Roseate Spoonbill Flight 9902

Roseate Spoonbill Flight 9911-9916
(a composite flight study)

click for 2250 x 675 version

Available as an SXXL Composite (7500 x 2100)

White Pelican 0262

The White Pelicans were for the most part
just hanging around at Sanibel and didn’t
offer very many good shot opportunities.

White Pelican 0266

For an extensive study of the White Pelican,
you may want to visit the Pelicans Wildlife Study
section or the Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge section.

White Pelican Landing

click for 1406 x 1200 version

Willet 0004

The Willet is a very large Sandpiper with distinctive banding on their wings.
They are quite common, and to be honest, the reason why I shot this fellow
was because there weren’t any other birds around at the time. Siesta time.

Willet 0008

He is a very good-looking Willet though.

Willet 0012

Willet 0017

If you want to see some interesting shots of Willets in flight,
click here or here (or stop by the Bolsa Chica Wildlife page).

Wood Stork Dragonfly Flight 1687

The only stork that breeds in North America,
the Wood Stork has a few endangered colonies
in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. They eat
fish, frogs and large insects in shallow water.
This guy seems to be after a dragonfly.

Wood Stork Flight 1694

This overhead fly-by is the only opportunity
I had at a Wood Stork while I was at Sanibel,
and I was very glad that they came out so well.
This is a pretty large bird, with a roughly
six foot wingspan and a bald head.

Bunch Beach Sunset 1829

How’s that for drama? Some sunset, eh?

Images in this section are in several different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Wildlife Collections page where a Gallery can be selected.

Images are in the Birds Collection and Featured Birds Collection
(except for the sunrise, sunset and Crocodile images)
and can be found in the following Galleries (Direct Links)

Click the Display Composite above to visit the Egrets and Herons page