I was fortunate enough to spend a good chunk of the day with a photographer friend whose niche is wildlife photography. She knows the names of most birds, at what point they come out to play, and the best location to capture beautiful images. I’m a lover of Landscape, Street & Portrait Photography; however, I’m not going to lie, I’ve fantasized about getting up close and personal with Bambi, Thumper, Dumbo & Poo. So, I jumped at the chance to plan a photography adventure. It didn’t even matter that it was Friday the 13th; we were doing it!

Initially, we had planned to head to Salisbury Beach in Massachusetts in an attempt to catch the seals lounging about in the area. As it turned out, we got off to a late start at 11 a.m., instead of the desired window between 6 – 8 a.m. Due to my lovely scheduling mishap, we switched our plans and headed to the Parker River Wildlife Refuge in Newburyport, MA.

We walked the trails for roughly 4 hours on this beautiful day, and for the first couple of hours, I was convinced that the evil Friday the 13th spirits had abducted all the local wildlife. Come on now, I was equipped with a 200-600 mm lens on loan from my eldest sibling, and I wanted to take some super clear long-range shots!! All in all, the day did not disappoint. The beauty of the landscape, the fresh air, and the wind, which I later learned was the reason the wildlife was lying low, all aspects of the day were wonderful.

We did run into some luck later in the day when I captured my first Egret! She was beautiful, as you’ll see, even if she was adamant about masking herself behind the reeds!