Birds - Photography and Paintography by Ray Bilcliff
Birds in the Everglades.
Great White Egret. The Florida Everglades has many different species of birds about 350 of them. I spend a lot of time in the fragile ecosystem I call the beautiful swamp. An amazing place where these birds have been nesting and feeding for thousands of years.
At one point the Great White Egret was in danger of extinction as it's numbers declined due to the killing of them by feather collectors. The magnificent plumage was used as decoration on women's hats!
Public outrage and conversationalists eventually put a stop to the mass commercial hunting of Americas wading birds by the plume industry where the Great White Egret was the number one bird on the feathered hit list. Isn't it amazing just how stupid people really are?
The Great White Egret is now the symbol of the National Audubon Society, one of the oldest environmental organizations in North America. The Audubon Society was founded to protect all species of wading birds from being killed for their feathers. It is an amazing fact that it took more than 300 Great White Egrets to yield just one kilo of feathers with the plumes selling for more than the value of their weight in gold.
Join me on Google Plus for #WadingBirdWednesday post your photos to the G+ community. More G+ Themes
Photographing The Birds.
Photography Tips. Photographing the birds is a great experience, best done at dawn or sunset, during the golden hours. Lots of swamp birds will rest up during the day and only feed in the morning and evening. Birds are very easily spooked so a long zoom is needed at least a 300mm or longer. I like to use shutter priority of about 500th sec or higher but you will need a tripod, birds don't stay still for too long and catching them as they fly off is a treat. remember to boost your ISO up to 800/1600 if you can't get enough shutter speed.
Great White Egret. The Florida Everglades has many different species of birds about 350 of them. I spend a lot of time in the fragile ecosystem I call the beautiful swamp. An amazing place where these birds have been nesting and feeding for thousands of years.
At one point the Great White Egret was in danger of extinction as it's numbers declined due to the killing of them by feather collectors. The magnificent plumage was used as decoration on women's hats!
Public outrage and conversationalists eventually put a stop to the mass commercial hunting of Americas wading birds by the plume industry where the Great White Egret was the number one bird on the feathered hit list. Isn't it amazing just how stupid people really are?
The Great White Egret is now the symbol of the National Audubon Society, one of the oldest environmental organizations in North America. The Audubon Society was founded to protect all species of wading birds from being killed for their feathers. It is an amazing fact that it took more than 300 Great White Egrets to yield just one kilo of feathers with the plumes selling for more than the value of their weight in gold.
Join me on Google Plus for #WadingBirdWednesday post your photos to the G+ community. More G+ Themes
Photographing The Birds.
Photography Tips. Photographing the birds is a great experience, best done at dawn or sunset, during the golden hours. Lots of swamp birds will rest up during the day and only feed in the morning and evening. Birds are very easily spooked so a long zoom is needed at least a 300mm or longer. I like to use shutter priority of about 500th sec or higher but you will need a tripod, birds don't stay still for too long and catching them as they fly off is a treat. remember to boost your ISO up to 800/1600 if you can't get enough shutter speed.
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Great White Egret - Paintography of the Everglades Birds