outdoor photography

Shiny Cowbird For me, 2015 was a fantastic year of birding.  I've been doing this a while now, so gone are the days when I get 70+ lifers per year.  New birds are fewer and farther between for me, but that adds to the challenge.  And I've begun focusing more on county listing, which helps to keep things fresh.  This year, though, I benefited tremendously by one trip out west and two trips out of the country. These were not birding trips, but I had a little bit of time to at least check my surroundings to see what was available. Smooth-billed Ani I found 16 lifers on my visit to Antalya, Turkey White Stork  Eurasian Sparrowhawk  Laughing Dove  Eurasian Siskin  Common Buzzard  Eurasian Jay  Great Tit  White-spectacled Bulbul  Common Redstart  Black Redstart  Gray Wagtail  Common Chaffinch  European Greenfinch  European Goldfinch  Hooded Crow  White Wagtail Great Ti...

American Bittern Viera Wetlands The first Central Florida birding location I fell in love with is Viera Wetlands . You can stay in your car and drive around a loop to view the wetlands, so this may be a fun place to take your kids too. My kids are not that interested in birds, but they do like to see alligators, and you're likely to see several here.  This can be some great birding; according to eBird, 234 species have been seen here--not bad for a little park, and you can drive around it in about an hour.  It's a great, simple place to visit if you have an hour or two for some relaxing birding. You can see my field reports for more information. Blue-winged Teal Viera Wetlands As much as I love this place, though, there is one drawback for me.  I can get to Merritt Island a little more quickly than I can get to Viera Wetlands, and generally speaking I see more at Merritt Island, so over the past few years I haven't come here nearly as often as I used to--th...

Ash-throated Flycatcher Last Saturday I decided to visit Lake Apopka for the morning.  I'm participating in a competition this year called a Twelve Day BigYear.  It's a pretty fun competition--the idea is that you pick one day each month in a county (I chose Orange Co), and then find as many birds as you can in those twelve days.  It takes some planning, and to some extent the key is to find as many rarities as you can and hope the more common birds will be seen as well.  I'd love to get 200 species on the year, but that might be a bit over reaching. We'll see.  I started my January day with 92 species, mostly around Lake Apopka. Ash-throated Flycatcher Taking Off The biggest rarity was a White-faced Ibis.  It was found during the CBC in December, and thankfully it was still there.  I chose Lake Apopka just so that I could find that bird again.  It also fun to find an Ash-throated Flycatcher.  They were my best photos of the morning...

Ash-throated Flycatcher Yesterday I made it out to Viera Wetlands for a little bit during the afternoon. I much prefer to go in the morning, but even though family commitments kept me home in the morning, afternoon birding proved to be all that I'd hoped.  My biggest goal was to see an Ash-throated Flycatcher that's been seen nearby in the Moccasin Island tract of the River Lakes Conservation Area (just down the street from the wetlands). I went there first, and about 15 minutes after arriving it showed itself.  I wasn't able to get presentable photos, so after it disappeared, I went to the "click" ponds, but I returned a little later, and this time it showed itself a little better, and I had some very good looks at this wonderful flycatcher. The short drive from the click ponds to the flycatcher was also productive.  Here are some photos from along the drive. Belted Kingfisher Northern Harrier Loggerhead Shrike American Kestrel The click pon...

Ash-throated Flycatcher Yesterday on the Lake Apopka Loop Trail, I found my first Ash-throated Flycatcher. I wasn't sure what kind of flycatcher it was, and I was only really convinced it was a Myiarchus flycatcher of some sort. But some others who are more familiar with this group of flycatchers tell me it's much more likely to be an Ash-throated Flycatcher. So that's pretty cool, I think. Ash-throated Flycatcher Ash-throated Flycatcher