American Oystercatcher - Fort Myers Beach, Florida

American Oystercatcher, Fort Myers Beach, Florida. Canon 1D mk IV, Sigma 300/2.8.

For about a decade, my family spent the Christmas holidays in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. We were lured here by the warm weather, inexpensive wine, great seafood and the incredible bird photography on the beach. Fort Myers Beach is one of the best places on the continent to shoot shorebirds and waders. I'd lug my big lens and tripod up and down the beach every day at dawn and dusk to shoot birds along the beach or in the tidal lagoons. Many of my best bird photos were shot here.

It has been about 5 years since I've been to Fort Myers Beach, so when I arrived here this afternoon it was complete nostalgic bliss. I took a scouting walk down the beach tonight carrying only a 300 mm lens, with no expectation to actually shoot anything. To my great amazement, I found the most cooperative American Oystercatchers I've ever seen on the beach. I ended up shooting hundreds of photos of them at point plank range with a 300 mm lens (typically I use a 500mm-800mm lens).

I'm looking forward to much more shooting along the beach and capturing a ton of photo ideas that are brewing in my brain.