Big red dancing

"I'm going to have a nice quiet morning fishing all by myself."

"Uh Oh, here comes some photographers."

"I better start doing my dance so they can get good pictures."

"I'll make this a good one and then maybe they'll all leave so I can eat in peace."

"They're still here? I'm leaving."

If you want to know where to find bird photographers, head to Fort Desoto beach on a sunny morning and look for the reddish egret. I was there on a recent Sunday morning and was walking around looking for something to snap and was thinking I was the only one there. I walked around the corner and saw a group of people all knee deep in water and mosquitoes. There's a handful of reddish egrets that hang out at the beach. Most people call them "Big red". They are not a common bird here in the Tampa bay area. I think Fort Desoto is probably the only place I've seen them. They are the most active bird when feeding. They run back and forth stalking the fish. They raise their wings to shade the water so they can see the fish better. From a distance, it's looks like they are doing a dance. Or maybe a drunken stagger depending on how comical they get. They are fun to watch and are fairly tolerate of the crowd watching them. Luckily I had taken a handful of shots before a kid went running up to it and scared it off. Talk about pissing off a group of photographers. What can you do, it's a public park.