Scrub Jay – Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge: After my first morning of shooting the bird rookery at the Saint Augustine Alligator Farm I went south to Merritt Island. I enjoyed shooting the Scrub Jays a month earlier and thought I would try them again. I arrived at the Scrub Jay Ridge Trail about three o’clock in the afternoon. I first headed south but found no jays, then north, but still no luck. However, I did find lots of mosquitoes, and I have the bits to prove it! After striking out I returned to my van to down load images from the memory cards of the mornings shoot. After down loading the images I made another run along the Ridge Trail. No sooner had I left the van I saw three Scrub Jays in the exact location I had photographed jays back in March.
As I walked down the trail I spotted this bird perched atop an old snag. The jay was on a perch without distracting branches in the foreground or background. I shot a dozen frames when then the bird jumped into flight. I continued to shoot. I could not believe my good fortune, I had captured the jay with wings spread, and a catch light in the eye. I just love it when everythngs comes together. I can’t wait until the next opportunity to photograph Scrub Jays.
Both Photos: Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f4, Digital Capture ISO 200, 1/5,000 sec. @ f7.1
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