outdoor photography

Black-and-white Warbler On April 25, I returned to Maitland Community Park. One of my friends had seen a male Blackburnian Warbler there the day before. I did not find that bird, but I did see 8 species of warblers, which is pretty good for this Spring. There were a couple species that let me get fairly decent photos. I particularly like the  Black-and-white Warbler photo, but American Redstarts give me fits when it comes to photography. This photo has some room for improvement, but this will do for now. American Redstart

American Redstart Yesterday at Central Winds I had the opportunity to photograph a female American Redstart.  She was in under a dense canopy of trees before it was fully light, so these photographs were taken at 3200 ISO.  This just creates a lot of work for me in my computer, but a couple of these I thought were clean enough to show. One day, just one day, I'd like for this bird to pose for me like this where there's some good lighting. American Redstart American Redstart

Black-throated Blue Warbler It was yet another great morning at Central Winds with 15 warbler species, much the same as yesterday but I had a Blackpoll Warbler.  This morning it was a female Black-throated Blue, a male American Redstart, and a Worm-eating Warbler that decided to pose for photographs.  I've been trying for years to get presentable photos of Worm-eating Warblers. They never seem to cooperate with me. Now there have been two cooperative warblers in two days. Today I found the Worm-eating Warbler in a palm tree, a different kind of setting from what I'm used to. Worm-eating Warbler American Redstart

Osprey I went to Central Winds again this morning.  I needed to be home a little early, so I decided to stay local. I think I startled an Osprey while it was eating its fish.  We saw each other at the same time; I stood still, but it decided to take off anyway.  And a young Red-tailed Hawk was soaring above the trees.  I don't often see them here. Red-tailed Hawk There was nothing new there this morning by way of migrants, seven warblers: Ovenbird, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Black & White, Yellow, Yellow-throated and Prairie Warbler. I'm really hoping to get a Blue-winged Warbler and Hooded Warbler soon. American Redstart Prairie Warbler I took a little time to photograph some of the butterflies and damselflies that were there: in particular, a Spicebush Swallowtail and a Rambur's Forktail Damselfly. Spicebush Swallowtail Rambur's Forktail

American Redstart American Redstarts are one of the more common warblers that I see during migration, but for some reason I have a terrible time getting shots where the composition isn't cluttered with tree limbs and leaves.  So far these are the best I've been able to capture. American Redstart

American Redstart It was a beautiful morning, and I've been to Mead Gardens so many times lately that I decided to try someplace I hadn't been to in a while.  I went to Central Winds Park for about an hour before work.  It was a lovely morning.  The sheer number of birds there made it fun, even though the variety wasn't great.  Easily the biggest highlight of the morning was an American Redstart perched high in a tree. Red-bellied Woodpecker Snowy Egret There were several species of animals other than birds that I found interesting as well.  In particular, an American Alligator was swimming across the pond, and a Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly was fluttering around by the lake as well.  A clump of trumpet vine flowers also caught my attention as I was leaving. Trumpet Vine Spicebush Swallowtail American Alligator Here's a list of all the species I found this morning: Wood Stork 1 Anhinga 2 Great Egret 1 Snowy Egret 1 ...

American Redstart This morning I had to go pick up my pool pump at the repair shop, but, rather than going to Lake Lilly again, I decided to drive a little farther and go to Mead Gardens.  This is dangerous business, though, since I only had about an hour to be there before the repair shop opened, and then I had to go to work.  It's awful hard to leave Mead Gardens after only an hour.  Things started kind of slow, but about 15 minutes before I had to go, things started to really pick up around the Azalea bushes.  There I saw several American Redstarts, one Prairie Warbler, one Cape May Warbler, and about 3 Northern Parula. I also saw at least one (probably 2) Swainson's Thrush there. By the shore I found one Common Yellowthroat and a couple Great Crested Flycatchers.  They were very active, and about the time I turned to leave, they were feeding on insects.  I didn't have time to photograph them with their prey in their mouths; unfortunately, I had to g...