The right light

This is one of my favorite pictures. I took it about five years ago at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, FL. My wife and I, along with our friends Debbie and Eugene, had gone there in search of roseate spoonbills. We had arrived there just after 7:00 on a morning in late January. We were standing just off the road that goes through the refuge, looking out over a lake and trying to communicate telepathically with some spoonbills hundreds of yards out in the water. We thought maybe we could coax them to come closer to us. Apparently, none of us possessed the super-powers necessary for such a task.

But then I turned around and looked at the lake on the other side of the road and saw what you see in this picture. The water was calm and the early morning sunlight was perfect. It is gospel in the photography world that the best times for taking pictures outside is the first few hours after sunrise, and last few before sunset. The light is soft and diffuse. No harsh glares or shadows. Those are also the times when birds are most active; breakfast and supper are their favorite meals.

I guess these white pelicans where still trying to figure out what to do with their day. White pelicans are larger and less common in the U.S. than their brown cousins. The best places to find them in the winter is south Florida and along the Gulf Coast. They breed much further north, up into Canada.