Red-tailed Tropicbird
© Mitchell Walters
Published:
April 2, 2012
A Red-tailed Tropicbird sails past Hawaii's Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on March 14, 2011, in this shot by gallery contributor Mitch Walters. He photographed it on a day off from his duties as a field assistant for the Kauai Forest Bird Recovery project and posted it to our
U.S. and Canada Gallery.
"More often, I see tropicbirds when birdwatching from boats, which makes photographing them difficult," he tells us. "The Kilauea Point Lighthouse sits on the top of a tall cliff and provides a nice 360-degree view of seabirds in flight. The Red-tailed Tropicbirds were the most frequent flyers in this area when I visited, and this one in particular got in very close proximity to me. It was wonderful to be able to photograph this bird from the comfort of a bench and railing rather than a jerky boat. Because of this I was able to truly appreciate their beauty and delicacy."
Mitch, a 2010 graduate of Cornell University, today works as a field assistant for a Black-capped Vireo project operated by Texas A&M University in Bracketville, Texas. He photographed the tropicbird with a Canon 5D and a 400mm lens.
See more of Mitch's photos:
Kauai Elepaio
Rainbow Lorikeet
Lazuli Bunting
Great Black-backed Gull
Read about birdwatching at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge.
A picture you take could win you a subscription to
BirdWatching!
We choose a new photo every Monday. And every other month, we ask a
professional bird photographer whose work we’ve
published in the magazine to pick the best Photo of the Week over the
previous two months. We’ll give the winner a free one-year subscription
to
BirdWatching. Plus, we’ll publish his
or her photo in the magazine!
Send
us your photo today!RulesWinnersSpecies
List
Join us on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr!