Birds in the Everglades.

Ibis. Sometimes called the Lawn Chicken. The Florida Everglades has many beautiful and different species of birds 16 are in the wading bird category. I spend a lot of time in this very fragile ecosystem I call the beautiful swamp. An awesome place where these birds have been nesting and feeding for thousands of years. One of the most common of these swamp birds is the Ibis.

Ibis Species. There are 28 living species of Ibis in the world of many different colors, and many organizations have the Ibis as it's mascot, most notable is the Israeli Special Forces, it has the African Sacred Ibis as the units symbol. The White Ibis was at one time the royal bird of Egypt, chosen for this position by Cleopatra.

Ibis. The Ibis is a medium sized long legged water bird and it's distinction is it's long down curved beak which it uses very effectively to probe the mud for shellfish and other edible morsels. The lawn chicken can often be seen in a flock of a dozen or more wandering and feeding across lawn in many housing areas, I see them around my home in Florida all of the time.

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Photographing The Birds.

Photography Tips. Photographing the swamp birds like the Ibis is a great experience, and is 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 sometimes easily scared off so a long zoom lens 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 due to low light levels.