Photo and caption by Matthew Feist

As soon as the sun rose, I took my coffee and camera outside to get photographs of birds bathing in the tidal pools. I was photographing when I heard a loud splash off in the distance, where I could see a brown splotch in the water that was moving not far from where the splash took place. I followed the shadow of the creature in the water with my lens all the way until it was right in front of me, and then suddenly - an eagle ray was in flight, as if it were trying to live up to its namesake.

Location: Heron Island, Capricorn Island Group, Queensland, Australia