060/365 Sooty Gull Larus hemprichii

To complete February’s images off, todays image is of a Sooty Gull displaying.  Watching your subjects can often reveal extra action shots that you wouldn’t normally achieve.  Like most gulls when they call, they do something interesting.  Watching this species of gull over a few days, I noticed that whilst calling they would often throw their heads back.  Most of the time they did this out of camera range, but one morning, I managed to get close enough to this individual preening.   It was just a matter of patience and hoping that it would call when it had finished.  I wasn’t dissapointed.

Sooty Gull, Larus hemprichii, Red Sea, Egypt, April, 2009.
Canon 40D with Canon 500mm f/4 L IS lens

059/365 Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe

Heres yesterdays image. 
Image 059 is a migrant Northern Wheatear with a rather large dragonfly! I found it like this so dont know whether the dragonfly was dead already or whether the Wheatear caught it.  With a few head flicks the dragonfly broke up easily allowing the wheatear to continue its journey north on a very full stomach.

Northern Wheatear, Oenanthe oenanthe, Red Sea, Egypt, April, 2009.
Canon 40D with Canon 500mm f/4 L IS lens.

058/365 Western Reef Egret Egretta gularis

Since the last image of this species was so popular (here), image 58, is of the same individual but showing the hunting technique of running through the shallow water with its wings up for balance.  This image was taken at sunset giving the warm glow to the image. 

Western Reef Egret, Egretta gularis, Red Sea, Egypt, April, 2009.
Canon 40D with Canon 500mm f/4 L IS lens

As always, click on the image to view larger.

057/365 White eyed Gull Ichthyaetus leucophthalmus

A very smart looking bird indeed, image 057 shows an adult White-eyed Gull. An endemic species to the Red Sea area, it can be found in small flocks along with the Sooty Gull (here). We usually encountered these birds along the stretch of beach just after sunrise, before all the holiday makers woke up.

White-eyed Gull (Ichthyaetus leucophthalmus), Red Sea, Egypt, April, 2009.
Canon 40d with Canon 500mm f/4 L IS Lens.

056/365 Western Reef Egret Egretta gularis

Todays image, number 056, is of a Western Reef Egret.  Very similar to our Little Egret that occurs in the UK, the main difference between them is that the Western Reef Egret has a yellowish bill, rather than black.  These were great birds to watch chasing small fry in the shallow waters on the beach.

Western Reef Egret, Egretta gularis, Red Sea, Egypt, April, 2009.
Canon 40D with Canon 500mm f/4 L IS lens.