Hidden in Plain Sight

Fourth and final photo in a series of a female Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) guarding her nest in the middle of a city park. While she was trying... more

by Gary Holmes

Title

Hidden in Plain Sight

Artist

Gary Holmes

Medium

Photograph

Description

Fourth and final photo in a series of a female Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) guarding her nest in the middle of a city park. While she was trying to lure me away, I returned to photograph the clutch of three heavily camouflaged eggs, which were remarkably difficult to find. She had selected a site with pieces of large gravel and concrete from a recent replacement of a disc golf target basket, and the pebbles were almost the same size as the eggs, further adding to the deception. After three shots of the eggs, I rapidly left to allow her to return to the nest, and to minimize attention from the nearby playground. It is remarkable that the nest has remained untouched in the middle of this field for more than a week now, 30 feet from a disc golf target basket, about 60 feet from a children's playground, and with hundreds of grackles and other aggressive birds nearby. The grass had also been mowed since I first located the nest.
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Gary Holmes, photographer: I am an opportunist photographer of nature, landscapes, abstract, and other found objects of interest. I prefer to capture the spontaneity of things and events as they are occurring, and rarely photograph staged subjects other than portraits. Although I have been a photographer for decades, I have only started posting them for others to see since about September 2012. Please see my largest collection of photographs posted at http://500px.com/holmesidepi. I had sufficient encouragement from posts on other sites to try putting some up for sale on Fine Art America (FAA), which offers a wide range of printing and mounting options not currently available on 500px. As a result, I have successfully sold some of my works. Unfortunately, photography is not my primary field, and I have limited time to expand my online presence, but I will continue to steadily post more of my best works on 500px and/or FAA every week. Please revisit my sites periodically.
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Uploaded

April 20th, 2013