African Spoonbill

(Platalea alba)

South Africa - Rietvlei Nature Reserve

Rietvlei Nature Reserve (open grass land) is situated on the outskirts of Pretoria, perhaps one of the more difficult places to produce wildlife images. From time to time Rietvlei provides wildlife photographers with some unique opportunities.

This African Spoonbill foraged near the Otter Bridge the entire afternoon and occasionally resting on a perch nearby.

Foraging sessions provided me with some great opportunities to capture the feeding habits of the African Spoonbill.

The African Spoonbill provided the ideal opportunity to capture some behavioural portraits resting on the perch.

Sometimes we get overwhelmed with the opportunities presented to us, that we ignore all the variable that contribute to the success of an image.

Directly behind the perch was a wall of reeds, unfortunately the wall was not far enough from the subject to provide the desired out-of-focus background. To the side the reeds opened up providing a reed background far enough to capitalize on the out-of-focus effect.