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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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Anhinga 0331
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Anhinga 0664
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Anhinga 0726
This was a very polite Anhinga... waving to its many fans as they took its picture.
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Anhinga 0745
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Anhinga Drying Wings 2193
Unlike other waterbirds, Cormorant and Anhinga feathers have no oil, so they must dry their wings.
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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.
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Anhinga 0708, 0739
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Black-Bellied Plover Sunrise 1371
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Black-Bellied Plovers Sunrise 1388
When these Plovers grow their mating feathers, they live up to their name.
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Blue-Winged Teals 0410, 0411
Blue-Winged Teals approaching the beach en-masse.
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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
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Brown Pelican Flight 1596
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Brown Pelican Sunrise 0565
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Brown Pelican Sunrise 0574
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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.
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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.
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Brown Pelican Hunting Sunrise 1287
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Brown Pelican Hunting Sunrise 1292
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Brown Pelican Landing 1396
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Brown Pelican Landing 1402
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Brown Pelican Landing
click for 1500 x 654 version
Available as an SXXL Composite (7412 x 3450)
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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Cormorant with Prey 0313
I couldn’t resist this closeup pair with prey.
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Cormorant with Prey 0312
That fish has really sharp dorsal spines. Swallowing it must be very tricky.
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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.
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Florida Crocodile 1815
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Florida Crocodile 1823
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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.
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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
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Ibis 0291
The American White Ibis is a wading bird that is found from the mid-Atlantic south on the coast.
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Ibis Dawn Flight 1163
Like many other birds (exc. herons and egrets) the Ibis flies with its neck and legs extended.
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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.
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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).
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Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1494
The early morning light in Florida is beautiful.
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Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1497
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Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1506
They are very successful hunters. These were mostly after little jellyfish seen in shots below.
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Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1514
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Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1510
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Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1523
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Ibis Feeding Sunrise 1532
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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.
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Ibis and Snowy Egret 0366
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Ibis and Snowy Egret 0368
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Ibis Portrait Sunset 0963
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Ibis Portrait Sunset 0975, 0978
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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
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Merlin Sunset 1023
A perched female Merlin at sunset. Normally a prairie bird, she was on a Florida vacation.
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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).
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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”.
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Osprey 0506
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Osprey 0530
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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.
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Osprey 1559
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Osprey 1571
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Osprey 1574
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Osprey 1585
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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.
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Osprey 1634
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Osprey 1660
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Osprey 1662
An exceptionally attractive image of an Osprey spreading its wings. Big smile.
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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
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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.
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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.
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Roseate Spoonbill Flight 9901
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Roseate Spoonbill Flight 9902
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Roseate Spoonbill Flight 9911-9916 (a composite flight study)
click for 2250 x 675 version
Available as an SXXL Composite (7500 x 2100)
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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.
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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.
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White Pelican Landing
click for 1406 x 1200 version
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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.
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Willet 0008
He is a very good-looking Willet though.
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Willet 0012
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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).
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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.
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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.
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Bunch Beach Sunset 1829
How’s that for drama? Some sunset, eh?
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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
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Egrets and Herons page
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