American White Ibis
I am a stalker. At least that’s what this American White Ibis was most likely thinking as it kept his eye on me.
Most of the traffic around this pond at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center didn’t pay any notice as the ibis foraged for food along the water’s edge. Riders and horses travel back and forth along a sandy path adjacent to the water, which takes them from the show grounds to their home barns off the property. The humans, horses and birds may glance toward one another now and then, but generally there’s little interaction. That is, until I showed up.
Twice I photographed this lone ibis as it fed. The first time it allowed me pretty close, maybe thinking I was just a random human acting strangely. Eventually, it flew up into a nearby tree and stared down at me. About an hour later I returned to the pond to see it back in action. This time, though, it was watching for me and immediately turned to walk the opposite way.
I pretended to pay no notice and sat in the grass. Eventually, it forgot about me (or chose to ignore me) and my large lens and resumed its stroll around the pond, approaching to within 15 feet of me. I shot some fun photos of it catching various creatures, but when another ibis arrived at the opposite end of the pond it flew off . Maybe the ibis wanted to defend its territory or check out a new friend, but I like to think it was warning its comrade to stay away from this side of the pond because there was a stalker on the loose!
Tricia Booker Photography 
I want to tell you that I have nominated you for the Kreativ Blogger Award, because your blog is incredibly creative and inspiring. For more info about the nomination, have a look at my post More Rain.
Wow, Otto! What a wonderful surprise! Thank you so very much. Such an award coming from you is a huge honor. Your work is an inspiration to me!
Hi Tricia,
I thought I’d check out the other blogs that Otto nominated in his “Raining awards” post. I’m so glad I did. Your photos are fantastic.
(I went to your photography site and was blown away by your close ups of hummingbirds. How on earth did you manage to capture those little creatures? )
I also really really love your gravatar photo. Wow!
Hi Rosanne! Thank you so much for visiting my blog and my website. I appreciate your kind words.
The hummingbird photos were such fun. I set up a feeder and flowers on my deck and sat on a chair inside my house (with the door open) to be less obvious. I actually wasn’t able to get as close to them as I hoped, so I did purchase a teleconverter this winter to use this summer when they return. I had to crop them quite a bit, so I hope that with the teleconverter I can enlarge the photos to 11×14 or larger and still have crisp images. Maybe they’ll even get used to me so I can sit on the deck with them!
I look forward to exploring your blog as well!
Great photo Tricia!!!
Thank you, David! Love those birds!!