How Still's the Water, Mama?

What’s Up?

Well, there was no feeding spree on Thursday morning. But there was zero wind; the runover tidal pool was as still as glass, a deep mercury blue. And there were a few birds along with their perfect or close to perfect reflections. We started with a lovely young Tricolored Heron. When it flew off, Clemens and I worked a solitary, young Great Egret. We moved along to do the Marbled Godwits and Willets. An hour later, that same Great Egret had not moved an inch. By 8:15am, we headed to my favorite morning back-up spot. There was not a lot of action there either. We were headed home before 9:00am!

We had a great afternoon at the rookery in North Tampa. There were lots of fledged chicks and many close to fledging. It was a great year. I got some good stuff on just-out-of-the-nest baby Wood Storks, a very young Black-crowned Night-Heron, and several fledgling Tricolored Herons. The night-heron was silly, silly tame. I made 1678 images at the rookery. Those included 929 of the young black-crowned. After the first edit there were 135 images, 51 of those were of the night heron.

Today is Saturday 29 May 2021. The forecast for St. Pete is for mostly sunny with a light southwest breeze. Not bad. We will head to DeSoto early, get back to the AirBnB in time for a shower, and be headed back to our respective homes by 11am or so. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you have a great day.

This blog post took about an hour to prepare, and makes 154 consecutive days with a new one. Please remember that if an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords and is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great if you opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to save 3% at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And doing so always earns my great appreciation.

Five Feet High and Rising
How high’s the water mama?

Music and lyrics by Johnny Cash

I’ve spoken of my affection for the music and life of Johnny Cash before. This song is a first person account of the 1937 Mississippi flood that Cash, then aged four years and 11 months, endured with his family. They had to leave their home and flee.

Listen or sing along here.

How high’s the water, mama?
Two feet high and rising
How high’s the water, papa?
She said – it’s two feet high and rising
We can make it to the road in a homemade boat
‘Cause that’s the only thing we got left that’ll float
It’s already over all the wheat and the oats
Two feet high and rising
How high’s the water, mama?
Three feet high and rising
How high’s the water, papa?
She said – it’s three feet high and rising
Well, the hives are gone
I’ve lost my bees
The chickens are sleeping
In the willow trees
Cow’s in water up past her knees
Three feet high and rising
How high’s the water, mama?
Four feet high and rising
How high’s the water, papa?
She said – it’s four feet high and rising
Hey, come look through the window pane
The bus is coming, it’s gonna take us to the train
Looks like we’ll be blessed with a little more rain
Four feet high and rising
How high’s the water, mama?
Five feet high and rising
How high’s the water, papa?
She said – it’s five feet high and rising
Well, the rails are washed out north of town
We got to head for higher ground
We can’t come back till the water goes down
Five feet high and rising
Well it’s five feet high and rising

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New and Better Bedfords Discount Policy!

You can now save 3% on all of your Bedfords photo gear purchases by entering the BIRDSASART coupon code at checkout. Your discount will be applied to your pre-tax total. In addition, by using the code you will get 2nd day air shipping via Fed Ex.

Grab a Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III and save $14.99. Purchase a Canon EOS R5 and your discount will be $116.97. Purchase a Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and save a remarkable $389.94! Your Bedford’s purchase no longer needs to be greater than $1,000.00 for you to receive a discount. The more you spend, the more you save.

Money Saving Reminder

Many have learned that if you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H and would enjoy free second-day air shipping, your best bet is to click here, place an order with Bedfords, and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If an item is out of stock, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell phone at (479) 381-2592 (Central time). Be sure to mention the BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order to save 3% and enjoy free 2nd-day air shipping. Steve has been great at getting folks the hot items that are out of stock at B&H and everywhere else. The wait lists at the big stores can be a year or longer for the hard to get items. Steve will surely get you your gear long before that. For the past year, he has been helping BAA Blog folks get their hands on items like the SONY a9 ii, the SONY 200-600 G OSS lens, the Canon EOS R5, the Canon RF 100-500mm lens, and the Nikon 500mm PF. Steve is personable, helpful, and eager to please.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs (remember those?) and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

This image was created on 28 May 2021 at Fort DeSoto Park. I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 255mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 1000. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/2500 sec. at f/6.3 (wide open) in Manual mode. AWB at 7:14am on a dead-clear morning. Upper Zone/AF-C was active at the moment of exposure and performed as expected: perfectly. Click on the image to see a larger version. Great Egret, juvenile and reflection

How Still’s the Water Mama?

When I saw this image, I immediately thought of Five Feet High and Rising. And from How high’s the water, Mama, came How still’s the water, Mama? I am not sure why, but it stuck. How still was the water on Friday morning? It was so still that the bird’s eye in the reflection is as sharp as the bird’s eye. In my 38 years of photography I do not recall ever seeing that before. Have you?

If there is the slightest bit of breeze, the water will move a bit and the refection will be distorted. The funny thing is, I have two other images of this bird (made minutes after) and one of a Reddish Egret (made 20 minutes later) that have the eye sharp in the reflection. It was as still a morning as I have ever seen.

The Fort DeSoto Site Guide

Though a bit long in the tooth (like me), the Fort DeSoto Site Guide will get you to my two favorite morning spots. DeSoto is one of very few locations where there is the potential for great photography every day of the year.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.