Friday, February 5, 2016

How Not to do Bird Photography in February


We went to an exhibition of bird photography a few day ago in Richmond. Very inspiring. Then the next day we went to a photo shoot in El Campo where Alcy talked with a very nice lady that travels around the country photographing birds. We had been talking about going back to the rookery at High Island as soon as the egrets and spoonbills start nesting. Well the lady told Alcy that there would be a lot of activity there already as the birds would be vying for nesting space. We decided to take a shot and drive the eighty miles or so to the rookery.

We saw one white ibis, a fist full of coots and plenty of vultures. Not a single egret or spoonbill.
The highlight of the trip was when Alcy could not find her room key as we were about to head out to the rookery. I got out my flashlight and looked under the bed, behind the bed, rechecked every available flat surface of the room, stripped the bed and even when she wasn’t looking went through her coat pockets to be sure she hadn’t over looked it. She was about to cry because she was holding up getting to the rookery and offered to take me over and then go back to resume the search. Finally I asked if she had gone to the car after she was in the room and she said she thought she might have. Sure enough the key was on the driver’s seat.
I am always leaving or losing things so a few weeks ago in recounting one of my lost item stories she told me that I should be more aware of my surroundings. Didn’t set too well because it has more to do with my advancing senility than it did with being aware of my surroundings. You can probably guess the first thing I said after we located the keys.
Needless to say the ‘bird’ shoot was a disaster. We drove into Galveston, ate lunch at El Gusto and headed back to Houston. And .to think I was considering ordering a 600mm lens for the trip.

2 comments:

  1. Ohh, no! Well, I hope your time in Galveston was enough fun to make up for the disappointing shoot at the rookery! I am wondering if our Texas coastal wildlife is confused this year, given our up and down temperatures.. I love the silhouettes of the three birds with their captions :-)

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  2. Lisa, always good to hear from you. In all it wasn't much of a trip but it is always good to get out of town so it wasn't wasted. I don't know about the wildlife but I stay pretty confused. LOL

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