Smallish Great Egrets - Smith Oaks Rookery, High Island, TX - April 2021

It is difficult to get open looks of the eggs and chicks in the nests at the Smith Oaks Rookery. I did manage to obtain a few images in which parts of the birds were not obscured. .

Great Egrets - Smith Oaks Rookery, High Island, TX -April 2021

Olympus E-M1X camera
150-400mm f4.5 TC lens @ 236 mm
1/2000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1000


Great Egrets - Smith Oaks Rookery, High Island, TX -April 2021

Olympus E-M1X camera
150-400mm f4.5 TC lens @ 445 mm
1/2000 sec at f/7.1, ISO 1250


Great Egrets - Smith Oaks Rookery, High Island, TX -April 2021

Olympus E-M1X camera
150-400mm f4.5 TC lens @500 mm (built-in tc employed)
1/2000 sec at f/6.3, ISO 4000


Great Egrets - Smith Oaks Rookery, High Island, TX -April 2021

Olympus E-M1X camera
150-400mm f4.5 TC lens @500 mm (built-in tc employed)
1/2000 sec at f/6.3, ISO 4000


Great Egrets - Smith Oaks Rookery, High Island, TX -April 2021

Olympus E-M1X camera
150-400mm f4.5 TC lens @419 mm (built-in tc employed)
1/2500 sec at f/6.3, ISO 4000

David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit.