45 - Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret__10 x 8 oil on linen panel

#45 in the Birdseed Project

SPRING!!! Brings on the cattle egrets! I see them here most of the year now (in the southern parts of Texas), but in spring they GLOW against the electric greens of the new pasture grasses. So the cattle egrets just seem more plentiful this time of year.

For you artists: if you like to photograph white birds outside (or white ANYTHING), you will want to adjust your meter to shoot DARKER, so that the white bird's shadows will show up....and so that it is not over exposed, making it a glowy blob.

Yes, I learned this the hard way :)

Pastured Impatience

Pastured Impatience__9x12 oil on linen___Passing America: The Great Plains
I had a difficult time photographing this one and figured out it is because my brushwork was causing some random glares....sorry about that.
A favorite farm scene of mine is when the cattle egrets are in the pastures following whatever moving target is there. They are not picky and will follow a tractor just as often as they will follow the cattle. They get their meals when the moving target stirs up bugs...usually grasshoppers. This egret was impatient...probably because the cow was not helping him stir up dinner...