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Showing posts from August, 2012

Northern Parula

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Northern Parula (Lake Mary) One commenter suggested that include background info for the photos in these gallery posts I'm creating so the posts are not just photos.  I thought that was a good idea.  Northern Parula are extremely common in Central Florida.  In fact, during certain times of the year, they are our most common warbler.  Right now there are dozens at Central Winds Park, several at Mead Gardens, but some of my best photos have come from my office parking lot and the parking lot of one of our doctors in Lake Mary.  It's relatively easy to know if they're around, since their calls are very distinctive and readily heard.  Even though they're common, they're so colorful that they are still one of my favorite warblers. Northern Parula Northern Parula (my office parking lot) Northern Parula (Central Winds Park) Northern Parula (Mead Gardens)

Central Winds Park, 8/31/2012

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Yellow-throated Warbler This morning I spent an hour before work at Central Winds Park.  Northern Parula are everywhere, as usual, but a Yellow-throated Warbler posed nicely for me, and for that I'm very grateful.  I also found a Black and White Warbler and a couple American Redstarts. The last two weeks of August have been so nice for migrants (I've found 11 warbler species so far) that I can't wait to see what September will bring. Yellow-throated Warbler Other highlights were a Great Egret perched nicely in a tree and a few early morning Wild Turkeys. Great Egret Early Morning Wild Turkeys

Pine Warbler

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Pine Warbler Pine Warbler Pine Warbler Pine Warbler Pine Warbler Pine Warbler

Prairie Warbler

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Prairie Warbler Prairie Warbler Prairie Warbler

Black and White Warbler

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Black and White Warbler Black and White Warbler Black and White Warbler Black and White Warbler

Swallow-tailed Kite

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Swallow-tailed Kite I thought it would be good to prepare galleries of my favorite species of wildlife, mostly birds, of course, but certainly not limited to that.  Most of these posts won't contain any text (and eventually I'll probably delete the text from this post too).  Really I just want collect my favorite photos of a species on a single page.  I'll then organize the pages into a gallery so that people can find photos of their favorite species as well. By the way, it's come to my attention that some people have been unable to comment using Internet Explorer.  I believe I've fixed the problem (it was forcing the document type to IE7), but if you encounter any problems, please let me know.  If you click on my "About Me" profile, it should let you message me. Swallow-tailed Kite Swallow-tailed Kite Swallow-tailed Kite Swallow-tailed Kite

Central Winds Park, 8/28/2012

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Prothonotary Warlber This morning before work I went by Central Winds Park in search of warblers.  I found two Prothonotary Warblers and one Yellow Warbler, both my first of the year for Florida.  I also found several Northern Parula and American Restarts.  A few of my Prothonotary Warbler photos turned out, along with a photo of a Snowy Egret in front of a Cypress I saw on my way back to the car. Prothonotary Warbler Prothonotary Warbler Snowy Egret

Merritt Island NWR, 8/25/2012

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Yellow-crowned Night Heron On Saturday I went to Merritt Island, and I already shared my experiences at CNS  in a previous post , but here I'd like share some of what I'd seen elsewhere on the island.  When I arrived, I first went Pumphouse Rd, which is often my first destination on the island.  Easily my favorite moment here was seeing a juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron.  I had only photographed them as adults before, so I'm glad to add this to my collection.  Many shorebirds were here, including American Avocet, Black-bellied Plover, Least, Western and Semipalmated Sandpipers, a Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Semipalmated Plovers and one Wilson's Plover.  Lauging Gulls, Forsters and Royal Terns, and Black Skimmers were also there. Least Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Tricolored Heron After visiting CNS, I drove up BioLab Rd. Shortly after turning onto the road, the weather began to turn sour.  Eventually I was engulfed in a thunderstorm.  There were many

Canaveral National Seashore, 8/25/2012

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Sandwich Tern I've lived in Florida for over 2 years, and I've never walked the seashore on Merritt Island to photograph birds and wildlife.  But today I broke my normal routine and decided to give it a try, and I couldn't be happier.  Photographically speaking, I think I had one of my best days on the island.  In the parking lot, I found two Eastern Kingbirds, and then shortly after walking onto the beach, I found a Piping Plover , which I wrote about in my last post .  But I also found many other terns and shorebirds there.  I also found a couple Willets, Ruddy Turnstones, Semipalmated Plovers, Sanderlings, Royal Terns, Forster's Terns, Black Terns, a couple Common Terns and a Sandwich Tern. Black Tern Black Tern Royal Terns (the immature one is begging for food, but mom will hear none of it) The beach wasn't crowded, the birds weren't very afraid of me, and the lighting was pretty good.  This made it easier for me to crouch down and get a p

Piping Plover

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Piping Plover Today at the Canaveral National Seashore I found my first ever Piping Plover.  I was rather shocked to see it, and in fact I wanted to come home and look at my photos to make sure I was right, even though I didn't know what else it could possibly have been.  He was very active along the shoreline with a couple Semipalmated Plovers keeping him company.  The lighting was just right for me to take a few decent photos. Yea! Piping Plover Piping Plover Piping Plover Piping Plover