(Early) Motif: Feeding Wilson’s Phalarope

© Heather Forcier, all rights reserved

Wilson’s Phalarope
Texas Gulf Coast Intracoastal Waterway

Bird photography has led me to a growing fascination of birds. A 2003 trip to Texas was my first trip out with my new Canon system, and it was also the first time I had ever seen a phalarope.

These delicate, energetic birds can be a real challenge to photograph. They are quite small and move constantly and quickly. They swim in small circles and have been likened to “tops spinning”. This circular motion in the water helps draw their foodstuffs towards them.

On this mucky Texas shoreline the bugs were plentiful, and it was amazing to watch these small birds maneuver after and catch tiny bugs with their bills. They seemed to be keenly aware that any movement by the Laughing Gulls along the shore would push bugs towards them in the water and often hunted in close proximity to these other birds.

In researching a bit more I didn’t come across any illustration of this scooping behavior, so I thought I would share it. Since that Texas trip I have seen and photographed each of the North American phalarope species. A final interesting note about phalaropes is that the females are larger with more colorful plumage than the males, uncommon in the avian world.

I wish the water weren’t high-key, but I did reduce it a bit using flash while darkening the ambient settings.

Digital capture with Canon EOS 1D
Canon 500mm f/4 with 1.4x teleconverter
Manually exposed at 1/500, f/13 (to help darken the high key water with flash)
ISO 250
Tripod with Wimberley Sidekick
Flash with Better Beamer -.7

Image comments / critiques appreciated!