Bunche Beach Receding Tide

The 2011 rainy season has begun with welcome relief to alleviate extremely dry conditions that had previously led to reports of Lake Okeechobee at a depth of 10 feet and wildfires in the area in recent weeks.

The Osprey juvenile above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

I had considered returning to Harns Marsh to improve my photography of Black-necked Stilts attacking a Bald Eagle.

The first opportunity this week to do so was lost to what I believed overcast conditions too ominous where a downpour seemed imminent.

The Osprey juvenile above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

My second day off from work had conditions less than favorable for wildlife photography again.

I attempted to wait out the inclement weather for at least brighter conditions.

The Marbled Godwit above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

With it past midday I chose to return to Bunche Beach in an attempt to photograph the Black-bellied Plover no matter what.

It was in fact still drizzling when I left for the venue that I hadn't visited since late March.

The Semipalmated Plover above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

A very high tide was receding upon my arrival as expected.

There were no birds in sight save an Osprey perched in a tree very close to the beach access point.

The Fish Crow above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

I studied this bird for an extended period while the raptor did little more than preen itself.

It was interesting to see it on occasion attentively stare into the water of San Carlos Bay below.

The Little Blue Heron above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

After giving up on the possibility of the Osprey taking flight, I began my walk further to the west.

While I always consider it a special occasion in visiting Bunche Beach, this trip was especially so for a couple of reasons.

The Little Blue Heron above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

Tim Rucci gave me the heads up on a great deal for a 32GB CF memory card through Newegg.com that I received this week and was using for the first time.

This card allows me to photograph in RAW format without significant concern of running out of memory with a backup 8GB SD card in the camera as well.

The Little Blue Heron above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

I have pushed SD cards of 4GB and 8GB to their limits on a number of occasions, so where I typically find myself in the water when this event has happened, I've since always been conscious of failing to miss a shot.

Realistically, I don't think this new card will be satisfactory in time as I have begun shooting continuous shots with the camera set at its greatest capability on this trip to Bunche as well.

The Brown Pelican above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

This camera feature is one that I struggled with as I took shots consecutively when I didn't mean to.

However, the technique worked flawlessly in capturing prey between the beak of a Willet I was observing which has been an accomplishment for me in the past, but I think done out of pure luck with the conservative approach I had been using.

The Tricolored Heron above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

With anticipation that memory card prices will fall in time, I will be looking for a 128GB card that I hope will allow for a lifetime of use without a concern for the number of images I may take on a trip with no need to change the card in the camera.

While the lighting conditions remained dull on my trip to the beach, the rain had stopped falling getting a sunburn nonetheless in the few hours at the Preserve.

The Willet above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

The less than ideal light conditions required a higher ISO equivalent setting on the camera to keep the shutter speed higher while choosing to photograph the wildlife with an elevated exposure bias in most instances.

I've become very familiar with Bunche Beach Preserve having visited the venue numerous times and knew what to expect for the most part.

The Short-billed Dowitcher above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

Perhaps my greatest surprise was a flyby of American Oystercatcher that I hadn't sighted until they were disturbed by a beach comber a couple of hours after my arrival.

All the other regular shore and wading birds became more prolific as the tide receded further.

The Willit above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

It would certainly be interesting to do time lapse photography of the tide change at this venue.

My greater interest has otherwise developed into photographing bird behavior.

The White Ibis above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

It was a particular intent of mine to capture images of birds engaged in feeding behavior on this trip.

A Semipalmated Plover capturing a worm is always interesting to observe.

The Roseate Spoonbill juvenile above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

A Tricolored Heron had captured a sea creature that it was surely going to consume before dropping it and losing interest for some unknown reason.

And a Snowy Egret had a smaller morsel that must be researched for its identification as well.

The American Oystercatcher above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

Willet were the most successful at capturing small crustaceans while an ibis was observed with food as an extremely rare sight.

The birds overall were too close to be using the 1.4X extender I had attached to the camera thus having difficulty in acquiring focus many times.

The Snowy Egret above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.

I attempted to photograph every close flyby of bird as well, while it was a common event for the bird to be looking slightly away making the image less dramatic.

I never saw the Black-bellied Plover, but the overall experience at Bunche Beach Preserve this week was rewarding under conditions I almost made the mistake of cowering from twice.

The Tricolored Heron above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in June 2011.