Flamingos Feeding
France 2018
Years ago I would have demurred if you had suggested we visit a bird sanctuary. But now I’m a flamingo aficionado, albeit one lacking in knowledge.
There were hundreds if not thousands of flamingos at the sanctuary on the outskirts of Saintes Marie de la Mer. Here they are feeding. The caretakers had thrown buckets full of tiny seeds into the water and the flamingos ran to gobble them up. They put their heads into the water and sifted it through their beaks (water came bubbling out of the underside of the beak as they ate). It all looked like a chore to get a full stomach.
I stood by and just shot frame after frame hoping that the rising and falling heads would make a nice pattern above the feathered backs. It was a good idea only because I could take nearly a hundred photos and choose one that pleased me. Even then, I had to crop it.
My daughter shot with her phone and was deliberate, choosing a foreground of green to contrast with her pink birds. She got a great shot by being patient. And she didn’t have to crop.