Snowy Egret at New Smyrna Beach Florida

Snowy egrets congregate regularly at Ponce Inlet near New Smyrna Beach.  They are also pretty adjusted to people being nearby so the opportunities for great photos are readily available.

This snowy egret was hunting on the Ponce Inlet jetties.  These are large blocks of granite that are ut sed to block the force of inbound waves at the inlet.  You can also find pelicans, plovers, great egrets and other birds at this location.

Snowy Egret Sneezing

Here is photographic evidence that birds sneeze.  This snowy egret was hunting along the banks of the Ponce Inlet in New Smyrna Beach and apparently got water up the nose, or beak I suppose.  I've never seen this and captured the evidence by pure luck and the 5 frames per second on the digital camera.  If you click on the image and get the larger view it's much more noticeable.

Portrait of a Snowy Egret

This Snowy Egret was an extremely cooperative subject.  He sat very still showing his best side and in great light.  It's very difficult to get the proper exposure with these birds, especially when the background is so much darker so the extra time was greatly appreciated.  The image was made in Mt Dora on the Palm Island Boardwalk.  This is a great place to go for a variety of birds although parts of the boardwalk have fallen into disrepair.  Lake County generally does a great job maintaining facilities such as Palm Island but for whatever reason this one continues to deteriorate.  It's still a great place to go.

Snowy Egret

This is another snowy egret shot from New Smyrna Beach.  There are always a few of the birds feeding in the tidal pools around the jetties on the south side of the Ponce Inlet.  Since the jetties usually have a lot of activity from fishermen they have become relatively accustomed to people.  In addition to the snowy egrets there was a large flock of skimmers, a number of Ruddy Turnstones, a pair of dolphins hunting within 100 feet of the shore and much more.  It's a great place to visit.  I recommend entering through Smyrna Dunes Park and taking the boardwalk to one of the beach access points.  Along the boardwalk you'll see a number of gopher tortoises and a couple of lucky people have even photographed an eastern diamondback rattlesnake.  Kudos to Volusia County for maintaining such a great facility for wildlife.

Snowy Egret Portrait

Another shot of a snowy egret taken at Ponce Inlet in Volusia County.  These birds hang out by the jetty and are very accustomed to people, especially the fisherman that give them handouts.  It's a photographer's paradise although it seems a little too easy to get close to these birds.  If you are at all interested in the technical aspects of photography I'll share with you the fact that this photo was taken with a Nikon D1H with all of 2.7 megapixels.  I never got on the more pixels are better train and just concentrate on focus, camera stability, low noise and getting in close to the subjects.