I remember when I first started becoming interested in wildlife photography. I would look over thousands of great images and imagine the beautiful locations those images where shot in. I would picture that the photographer hiked miles into a secluded area in search of there subject...a land untouched by humans. Truth is this isn't the case for most images you see. It does happen this way sometimes but often the images are taken in the most common and unlikely spots.
Every location is worth checking..whether it be a local pond right in the heart of a city, or along a busy highway. Maybe a small patch of trees/bushes behind a building or a stream along a residential area. You will be amazed at the amount of subjects you can find in a 5 mile radius from your ho. I learned that lesson these past few weeks.
About a 10min walk from my house is a local pond which flows out into the ocean. Its a great location to see many common species and as also been known to have the occasional uncommon visitor like the wood duck. At the end of this pond near the ocean and to the east it runs out into this swamping/marsh area. It's an area I have always wondered about but never took the time to check. Over the past few weeks the town has cleaned up the rail way bed that runs along the ocean and passes by this marsh. My family and I have started using this path which allowed me to get my first looks at the marsh.
I noticed at low tide the water is almost completely sucked out of the marsh
To my surprise it seems to be a perfect feeding ground for a number of shorebirds. Over the past week I have seen the following:
6 - Semipalmated Sandpipers
1 - Least Sandpiper
1 - Semipalmated Plover
3 - Spotted Sandpipers
1 - Lesser Yellowlegs
5 - Greater Yellowlegs
1 - Female Green winged teal
Not large numbers of birds but a variety none the less. With the surrounded vegetation and shallow pools of water this spot is proving to be a great photography location for me. Here are some of my recent shots
Semipalmated Sandpipers
Semipalmated Sandpipers
Below are shots of a Least Sandpiper which aren't always easy to find around here so it was great to have an up close look at this guy.
Least Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
On the same day as the above shots were taken I had checked out one of my usual spots for shorebirds. Again it is an unlikely area you would think to photograph wildlife but I have gotten some nice results from here. (I apologize for not having an image of the area to show)
Here are some shots of a Semiplamated Plover from that day
So make sure you check ever location. As with many wildlife photos the photographer brings us in close and tight to the subject leaving very little to tell about its surrounds, which can be very deceiving. Leaving us to believe it was captured in some breath taking scenery.
I will leave you with one final image. This image was taken last year of a very uncommon bird to the island. It is a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron who was spotted over a month hanging out in Torbay in a residential area. The below image was shot as the Heron decided to take a rest on a front porch of one of the houses. Yet it could have been shot at a pond in the middle of no where.
