I have done a lot of traveling in an attempt to photograph eagles from Alaska to Washington to Canada to national parks. However, I never expected to have an opportunity to make images of a nesting pair of bald eagles fifteen minutes from my home in Waco, Texas. Not only was I blessed with such a wonderful occurrence, but also during the spring of 2009 I had the pleasure of sharing this incredible experience with my good friend, Brian Boyd. During those months we logged over 100 miles of hiking which turned out to be advantageous to my health as well as an experience yielding many new images for my files.

Each year, I join the thousands of tourists who travel to Hawaii during the winter. Unlike many who make the journey primarily to escape the cold, I am traveling to photograph and observe the North Pacific humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).

 

Article and Photography by Cynthia Hedgecock, Field Contributor

I am fascinated by pelicans. Watching their incredible plunge diving is as exciting to me as watching the Blue Angels flying team, and much quieter. Their awesome ability to skim just inches above the waves and water, seemingly forever, is mesmerizing. But in years of watching pelicans, I had neither heard of nor seen stalking behavior.

One of the most commonly encountered birds that I see while photographing birds in Florida are White and Glossy Ibises. They can be seen wading and feeding individually, in small groups with other ibises, and/or in mixed groups with other ibises, egrets, herons, spoonbills, etc.

“Certainly it can’t be done. Swallows are so fast and agile, certainly I wouldn’t be able to photograph them flying without sophisticated camera traps and high-speed flash equipment.” This is what I would say to myself about the issue of trying to photograph swallows in flight.

As a resident of Illinois, when I travel to Florida I often seek to photograph birds that are not common in my state. One of my Florida favorites is also one of its most beautiful: the Roseate Spoonbill.

I was sitting high on a hilltop on the Island of Kaua`i while my horse nibbled at the green grass underfoot, adding to the symphony of nature encircling me with the sounds and fragrances of our Island.

Just a short twenty minute drive from Lafayette, Louisiana, the Lake Martin Sanctuary in early spring through mid-summer is a bird watcher’s paradise. A forest combined of oak, bald cypress and tupelo, the lake offers a unique habitat that attracts nearly sixty percent of all U.S. bird species.

The largest heron in North America—the Great Blue—lives, breeds and nests year-round in South Florida, so I have the opportunity to photograph them in every season.