So this is what we were searching for in the clump of trees in the photos Everglades 5 and Everglades 6. I'm not an ornithologist so I'm not going to make an attempt to say what types of birds these are. Birds is good enough for me.
It looked to us as though the thunder storm ahead was moving away so my pilot set the airboat in motion once more and we bounced across the water and grass towards the clump of trees in the middle of yesterday's photo. In today's image you can see how the frequent passing of the airboats has worn a trail through the sawgrass.
On the horizon in the middle of this shot is a clump of trees that we were heading for but first we had to watch where the storm beyond it was going. Sitting atop an aluminum airboat in a huge flat expanse of wetlands is certainly not one of the recommended behaviors in the Boy Scout handbook for what to do in a thunderstorm!
Another thunder storm was rolling across the horizon. We could see the lightning but not hear any thunder over the roar of the 68' Chevy engine and huge fan that were propelling the boat. Bottom left you can see Captain Greg's boat heading across the sawgrass.
Having crossed an expanse of inundated grassland, we turned into a firebreak canal in search of some alligators and that was when I got the shot below. It's a handheld 3-shot, 4EV HDR, finished in a beta version of onOne Software's Perfect Photo Suite 7, which is due for general release on October 31!.
The vertical framing of this shot has changes the overall exposure with the layer of cloud above the aircraft more dark and ominous looking. The sun is setting on the far side of the cloud wall with rays of sunlight streaking through the gaps in the clouds lighting them up like they're on fire while sheets of rain fall on the communities just inland of the coast.