{"id":3757,"date":"2013-03-12T14:09:25","date_gmt":"2013-03-12T20:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/enmagic-of-mayakoba-encoreesla-magia-de-mayakoba-%c2%a1bis"},"modified":"2015-04-14T18:02:43","modified_gmt":"2015-04-14T18:02:43","slug":"enmagic-of-mayakoba-encoreesla-magia-de-mayakoba-%c2%a1bis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/magic-of-mayakoba-encore\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic of Mayakoba, Encore!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MagicOfMayakoba_Bis_300px\"Our previous post was a full report of a delightful photo trip by electric boat on the waters of the Mayakoba hotel complex. If you haven\u2019t read it, you can check it out\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In that report I expressed hopes for a second visit. I did not anticipate the opportunity\u00a0 would arise so soon, so I was thrilled to learn that our enthusiastic friend and host, James Batt, had quickly made arrangements for an encore. \u201cBring your tripod\u201d, he said, \u201cwe\u2019ll be using a different boat, with a platform on the bow\u201d.<\/p>\n

And so it happened: minutes after 3:00 p.m. on a sunny Thursday afternoon we were back in Mayakoba. As James had announced, I was able to set my tripod on the platform and adjust it to shoot from either a seating or standing position. However, tracking birds in flight from a moving platform using the conventional three-axis head on my tripod is far from the ideal solution (a Wimberley-type head is mandatory). I soon put the tripod aside and continued shooting hand-held, at times lying on the platform face down in order to achieve shooting angles closer to the water\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/dt>\n
\n
\"Un<\/a>

A Bicrested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) puts on a show for the camera in Mayakoba. (Photo \u00a9 Iv\u00e1n Gabald\u00f3n).<\/p><\/div>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Having learned from my previous visit, this time I used two cameras bodies, one with the 300mm\/f4 (minus the TC-1.4, which has been causing me grief by failing to connect reliably with the D90 bodies), the other one with the 80-200mm\/f2.8 zoom lens, granting me flexibility in composition when coming closer to the birds (as is often the case in Mayakoba).<\/p>\n

Today I present a few images from that second visit. I have also asked James for permission to share the link to his own collection of images on Flicker<\/a>, where he showcases some of the\u00a0 amazing shots he has achieved during his frequents outings in this privileged location.<\/p>\n

So here it is: the magic of Mayakoba, revisited! Hope you enjoy it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Close-up portrait of an adult male Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga). (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A rare and brief sight: Anhinga chicks in their nest!. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

An Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) watches attentively as our boat quietly slips by… (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

… then dives! (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Look up!, said Rose, and we spotted a bright patch of red: a Summer Tanager! (Piranga rubra). (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Two adult Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus). (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Adult Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) stand guard on their nest. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A trio of White Ibises (Eudocimus albus), in their first spring plumage. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A living sculpture, this breeding adult Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor). (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Quite a character: Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in adult breeding plumage (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Again the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), now in flight, a proper farewell for our visit to Mayakoba. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

I.G.H.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our previous post was a full report of a delightful photo trip by electric boat on the waters of the Mayakoba hotel complex. If you haven\u2019t read it, you can check it out\u00a0here. In that report I expressed hopes for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[23,27,46,57,72,74],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3757"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8409,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3757\/revisions\/8409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}