African Spoonbill

Late afternoons and early mornings are always the most special time to enjoy nature for me. I photographed this spoonbill flying across water one afternoon at a nature reserve near Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The African Spoonbill lives in marshes and swampy wetlands with places of some shallow water in the open. Spoonbills roost and nest in large flocks, mostly in trees or reeds surrounded by water. Although they forage and share their daytime with other birds like ibises, storks, flamingos, coots, moorhens etc, thy don’t share the roosting place with these birds. Their long legs and adapted feet enable them to wade through muddy waters where the forage for small fish, insects, crustaceans, amphibians etc., swinging its long spatulate bill from side to side through the water.

The sun goes down, it’s already late but I can’t leave now , I have to wait
With a wind that blows behind the flying bird, my eye through the lens is slightly blurred.

I feel the breeze in on the side of my neck watching the bird, a swift white speck.
The only rays now falling to earth are those on my lens that creates new birth.

The shutter goes wild just before the dark , writing a story deep inside my heart.
Another day, yet another chance. Always different, a new romance.