and that was almost immediately
confirmed. After two miles of cantering along with the Jack Flash, he
dashed into the brush, found a recent
kill he’d stashed and began enjoying
lunch.
photography. So
they were on a
mission aboard
the Jack Flash spectacular photos of Whooping
Cranes for Gary’s
manuscript.
Ok, it’s now just 10:00 am, however,
given all that has transpired can we
really turn back now? What else
could happen?
How
about a “pod”
of dolphins
that
have
spent nearly
half an hour
cavorting
around the
Jack
Flash!
As our hour at the small pond concluded with the Crane family moving off to
forage in the grasses, then flying away
in a spectacular lift-off, Mike told the
Clarks: “After this morning’s activities,
your Whooping Crane photo shoots
are downhill from here.”
That was certainly easy to believe!
Such grace, such access, such quietude is
unique to jaunts on the Jack Flash. We
were all impressed with Captain Sims’ expertise in handling the shallow draft boat
as well as keeping it steady when barges
with large wakes came by “eager to disrupt” its position. And he is no slouch in
the photography department himself.
We could happily have returned to the
Sea Gun Marina in Lamar right then––
delighted with the time spent. However,
suddenly emerging from the grasses to
trot, then canter, along the shoreline was a
stunningly beautiful coyote! (I have lived
in Texas much of my life and have never
seen a coyote here.) Red silken coat, sleek,
well fed, he did not resemble in any way
the coyotes in Big Bend which the Clarks
visit often and write about. This one was
certainly enjoying banquets somewhere––
30
Well, if we must
stay.....let’s!
Finally, at 11:00
AM we decided to
“call it a day.” What
else could top
this? We headed back, only to spot a
Whooping Crane pair who just happened to be feeding in grasses with
numerous Great White Egrets, Snowy
Egrets, and Great Blue Herons. The
latter three species were flying in
and out - the Whoopers turned not
a plume. Gary Clark exclaimed: “In fifty
years of birding, I’ve never seen this scene
- Whooping Cranes feeding with these
other species.” We were all surprised and
transfixed.
Finally, we concluded it would truly be
“downhill from this.” Totally whelmed,
if not overwhelmed, we directed Captain
Sims to head back to the marina. We were
exhilarated by the bounty of our viewing,
opportunity and photography.
Enroute as Captain Sims approached a
sand bar appeared covered with birds:
Cormorants, Oyster Catchers, Pelicans,
Skimmers, Gary Clark, with his honed
keen birding eye, saw two terns next to
one another: a Caspian Tern with red
beak and the Royal Tern with orange. His
comment was that this is “a good opportunity to compare the two terns”. Another
viewing coup!
As we motored back to shore, we sat in
the cabin comparing notes. In a sense, the
real workshop began. We had retired the
photo equipment, the 500 mm lenses
and the tripods. Captain Sims confided
that he was always glad to have professional photographers aboard because
they managed the tripods, the three
levels of the Jack Flash, and the large
lenses with grace. Kathy would simply
state: “I’ve got it” as she went up and
down the stairs and levels.
Some of the
notes compared were:
“What
do
you
do?”
Mike’s “day
job” is with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which sends him around
the world. His passion is photography
and he leads workshops in several regions.
I write and photograph for Texas NOW
Magazine. Kathy and Gary teach, photograph, write, and lead birding photo tours