outdoor photography

Anhinga with Fish Back in August I visited Lake Apopka and found an Anhinga right after it speared a fish, giving me lots of opportunities for photos.  This one is my favorites because the fish looks completely surprised to be having such a bad day.

Magnolia Warbler It was another very fun day at Mead Gardens.  A bunch of us were there for the birdwalk with the Orange Audubon Society.  It's always a great time; this time there were probably more than 50 people there, but it didn't seem all that crowded.  The star of the show this morning was a beautiful Magnolia Warbler in breeding plumage.  We don't get that many of these; this one was occasionally cooperative for photos, but you had to be ready. Hesitate a second and he was off to another branch. Magnolia Warbler In all I believe 13 species of warblers were seen by the time I left: Ovenbird 4 Worm-eating Warbler 3 Northern Waterthrush 1 Black-and-white Warbler 10 Prothonotary Warbler 1 Common Yellowthroat 4 American Redstart 15 Northern Parula 4 Magnolia Warbler 1 Blackpoll Warbler 12 Black-throated Blue Warbler 8 Palm Warbler (Western) 2 Prairie Warbler 2 Worm-eating Warbler The Prothonotary Warbler was in the t...

Red-headed Woodpecker During lunch today I had to get a crown replaced on one of my teeth.  Not fun at all.  But my dentist's office is right near Mead Gardens, so after my crown was placed I decided to briefly walk through the park.  If you don't stop too much, you can see most of the park inside of a half-hour or so.  There were three birds I was hoping to see, and thankfully I found them all.  First, Northern Parula are coming back here to breed, and I wanted to get one on my Orange County list for this year; one was singing practically as I got out of the car. Second, I wanted a Hermit Thrush; there are a few places here that are good for finding them, and I've missed them a couple times before this year, but this time one did oblige me with a brief look (though it was always behind tree limbs, so I couldn't get a clean view for photos).  Then I walked over to one of the places a Red-headed Woodpecker has been seen.  It was right out on a tree ...

Anhinga This morning I decided to visit Mead Gardens for a few minutes.  I haven't been visiting this park as much recently; traffic in the morning has just become ridiculous.   But I always enjoy the park after I arrive, so I try to visit from time to time.  There wasn't a lot here this morning, but it was fun to find a Hermit Thrush, Cooper's Hawk, Yellow-throated Warbler and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  And an Anhinga decided to pose nicely for a photo as well. Hermit Thrush Unfortunately, I blew the highlights of this Hermit Thrush, so you can't see detail in the chest feathers.  I was following it flying under tree cover, and it happened to land in the sun just for a second before disappearing back into the trees.  I didn't have time to adjust my exposure, but I like the shot anyway. Cooper's Hawk

Little Blue Heron This morning I decided to try some place new.  There's a park in Casselberry called Lake Concord Park, and it's little more than a stones throw from my office.  There's not much to it: just a playground, some trees, a small lake and a boardwalk.  The birding at Central Winds and Mead Gardens has been extremely slow the last couple days, though, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  I didn't find anything there that you wouldn't expect, but it's a pretty park with a nice boardwalk, and the lighting was good, so it was a good morning.  Highlights were a Little Blue Heron, Anhinga, several Palm Warblers and a Red-bellied Woodpecker. Palm Warbler Anhinga When I arrived at work, I noticed that 9 Ring-necked Ducks have returned to Grassy Lake by the parking lot of my office. The lighting was pretty poor, but the photograph should be good enough for an ID. Ring-necked Ducks

Tricolored Heron It's been interesting to witness the changes in what I've been seeing at Central Winds. Some species are disappearing from the park, like Yellow and Prothonotary Warblers, but this morning I had my first Blackpoll Warbler of the fall, and I also found a Marsh Wren at the shore of Lake Jesup. I found seven other warblers there: Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler, and a Yellow-throated Warbler. Marsh Wren Anhinga

Anhinga Many of Canon's newer DSLRs contain a feature called "highlight tone priority" (HTP). Canon claims this feature will help to prevent you from overexposing the highlights of your images. If you enable this feature, you'll see a D+ appear on the panel of your camera. I'm always concerned about retaining detail in the highlights of my images, so I decided to find out how this feature works and test it out to see if there's any improvement to the image quality of my photographs. Here's how it works. Your exposure is determined by three factors: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Once you (manually or using the automatic features camera) determine the proper exposure, your camera lowers the ISO setting by one stop, effectively underexposing your image. This is why when HTP is on your minimum ISO is 200. This of course will also underexpose the darker portions of your photograph, so the camera brightens the darker portions so that they will m...

Red-eared Sliders Over the past couple years I've been to Mead Gardens many times, and there's one little spot on the southeast corner of the lake that is my absolute favorite part of the park.  There are some tree limbs that come out of the water there, and often it seems that wildlife is posing there just waiting for me to photograph it.  It's not the most productive spot in terms of finding the most species of wildlife, but it's just a beautiful setting.  It's easy to get separation between the subject and the background, and it seems there are always nice reflections on the water. Peninsula Cooter Tricolored Heron Tricolored Heron Anhinga Great Blue Heron

Great Egret This morning at my office I had the privilege of seeing my first Great Crested Flycatcher of the year.  These are wonderful birds, and probably my favorite of the flycatchers you'd hope to see in FL (the Vermilion Flycatcher is even prettier, but you're lucky to find one in FL).  So that was my best find of the morning, but I must say I prefer the photographs of the Great Egret and the Anhinga. I decided to visit the south side of the lake this morning (I normally only visit the north side), and these two birds will willing to let me photograph them.  Thankfully I could get on the east side of them so that the sun would be at my back, making exposure not a big problem. Oh, and a squirrel looked particularly photogenic this morning, so I photographed him too. Anhinga Great Crested Flycatcher Squirrel

Great Blue Heron Yesterday morning a friend and I headed out towards St. Petersburg, FL.  We got a late start, but we decided to go to Circle B Bar on the way to see what we might find. It was a pretty good morning, though not as fantastic as it was when I was here last in November. Highlights for me were seeing several Limpkin, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and Roseate Spoonbills. We saw a Sandhill Crane sitting on a nest, but we didn't want to watch it for very long.  I saw very few ducks; in fact, I only saw Blue-winged Teal, and the American Bitterns we were hoping to see eluded us.Others there told us that there was a Bobcat that was chased off by several River Otters before we were able to see the Bobcat. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Roseate Spoonbill Common Gallinule or Moorhen Anhinga Red-bellied Woodpecker Here is a list of species I found between about 9:30am and 12:15pm yesterday morning. Blue-winged Teal X Pied-billed Grebe 5 Double-crested Corm...

Anhinga On December 23rd, I was at Viera Wetlands, and I saw an Anhinga capture a catfish.  I found it interesting how it prepared the fish for eating.  After piercing the fish with its bill, it scraped both sides of the head of the fish against the rock to remove the barbels.  He worked on the fish for several minutes, and unfortunately, I had to leave before he consumed it. Anhinga Anhinga Anhinga Anhinga Anhinga

Anhinga Anhingas are one of the most interesting birds you'll find in Florida.  Some call them snake birds because they swim in the water with their bodies submerged and only their heads exposed to view.  They have small, funny-looking heads that add to their snake-like appearance when swimming.  You often find them by the shore or on a tree sunning their wings.  They cannot produce the oil that ducks use to waterproof their wings, so they spread them in the sun to dry them off.  This allows them to dive deeper to catch more prey under water. Anhinga feeding Young Anhinga Juvenile Anhingas Anhinga Anhinga Anhinga