outdoor photography

Birdless Boardwalk This afternoon I had to pick up my daughter after school. The parking lot is too small to handle all the parents that come to pick up their children, so if you want a parking spot, you have to get there about 20 minutes early. Which I did. So what does a birder do with 20 minutes of free time? Look for birds of course. My daughter's school is right next to a public park with a lake, so I pulled out my binoculars and my point and shoot camera and walked around the park. I found nothing interesting: Black Vultures, Ospreys and Cardinals for the most part. On the way back to the school I took the above picture of the boardwalk that runs along the lake in the park. As I came closer to the school I began to hear police sirens. As I entered the parking area next to the school, I put my binoculars in the car and walked toward the parent's waiting area on the school grounds. Then one police car drove right by me and turned back behind the school towards t...

Northern Cardinal I like vibrant Reds! If you've read enough of my posts, you've probably read that I have red-green colorblindness.  My colorblindness is probably the single greatest obstacle I face in both birding and photography.I suspect I'm not the only color-blind wildlife photographer in the world, so I thought it would be helpful to describe how it affects me and how I cope with it.  In some ways, my coping mechanisms, if followed consistently, would actually be good birding and photography practices anyway. Black and White Warbler one of the few birds I see just like you For those of you who aren't colorblind, it's an interesting problem because it has to do with a deficiency in perception, so it's really impossible for me to describe how I see things compared to how a "normal" person sees things; I've never seen anything the way a "normal" person sees it.  There is a site  that attempts to duplicate how a colorblind ...

Limpkin Yesterday at E. Lake Tohopekaliga, I saw four Snail Kites , but there were several other birds worth some attention.  The Limpkins were out in force, and there were several Green Herons out and a about, as well as Little Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons and Great Egrets. It was also nice to see two Wilson's Snipe and two Lesser Yellowlegs, and even some Purple Martins. I also saw a White-winged Dove fly by, which I was kind of excited about.  There were also lots of rabbits out and about. Green Heron Wilson's Snipe Rabbit Red-winged Blackbird Here's a list of the species I saw yesterday morning: Muscovy Duck (Domestic type) 1 Mallard (Domestic type) 1 Mallard x Mottled Duck (hybrid) 3 Double-crested Cormorant 2 Great Egret 2 Little Blue Heron 1 Cattle Egret 4 Green Heron 4 White Ibis 15 Turkey Vulture X Black Vulture X Osprey 2 Snail Kite 4 Common Gallinule X American Coot X Limpkin 15 Sandhill Crane 12 Lesse...

Red-headed Woodpecker This morning I went to Rock Springs Run State Preserve with members of the Orange Audubon Society.  It's always fun going with this group.  They are very friendly and knowledgeable, and I always learn something when I go with them.  Today we walked through several habitats, and while I didn't see a large number of species, I did see three that I've never seen in Florida.  The biggest highlight for me was seeing a Red-headed Woodpecker. I didn't get very close, but I'm thankful that the photos were sharp.  The last time I saw one of those was three years ago in Maryland.  We also saw several Carolina Chickadees and Eastern Bluebirds, which I haven't seen in Florida before. We saw several warblers, most notably we saw several Northern Parula and Pine Warblers, and one Black and White and Common Yellowthroat.  We heard several Eastern Towhee, and I saw a total of three.  Some members of our group saw a Swallow...

Hooded Merganser (male) These little birds are easily one of my favorite ducks.  Mergansers have bills with serrated edges to help them catch fish and other prey, which they usually do after diving under the surface of the water.  They're beautiful birds, and even though I see them frequently here in FL, I can't help but stop to photograph them whenever I see them. The above photograph was actually taken at a retention pond at my son's school. Hooded Mergansers (Female) with one returning to the surface As you can see, males and females look very different from each other, and they also have different looks depending on whether their "hood" is up or down. Hooded Merganser Hooded Mergansers with their "Hoods" Up

About a month ago I downloaded the "BirdsEye Log" app for my Android phone (there's a similar app for the iPhone as well). I've become convinced that this little app is the best way to log your bird sightings into eBird.org website.  Now before reviewing the app, perhaps I should give a few reasons to enter your birding data into eBird: Logging your observation data lets you keep a running life list (as well as totals for each year, state, county, etc). This allows you to revisit where you saw what so that you can know where to return when in the future.  eBird's database is pretty sophisticated and allows you to get information from your own sightings you may not have seen yourself. Logging your observation data allows others to benefit from your findings.  Others can see what you've logged, so it's important to be accurate. Logging your observation data to eBird lets the Cornell Lab of Ornithology use data from you and others to track bird migr...

Least Bittern Today was a great day at Viera Wetlands.  I mentioned in a previous post that I saw a Gray Kingbird on my way into the wetlands.  That was easily the biggest highlight for me, since it's the first I've ever seen.  But there were a couple other species I saw for the first time this year today: two Least Bitterns and one Sedge Wren.  It was also very nice to see an American Bittern, a Sora, and a Cooper's Hawk.  There were several Great Blue Herons nesting in the wetlands, and one couple was particularly active repairing their nest and feeding their young, but I'll put those photos in a future post. American Bittern Hooded Merganser with one Rising Sora Red-winged Blackbird Loggerhead Shrike Anhinga On the way to Viera, I found two Swallow-tailed Kites, and on the way back I saw five Wild Turkeys.  This makes my grand total for the day 62 species.  Here's a list of the 60 species I saw at Viera: Blue-winged ...

Cattle Egret This morning on the way back from St. Petersburg we dropped by Circle B Bar Reserve one more time.  The weather wasn't cooperative; it was cloudy and even a little chilly, but we had fun spending the morning at Circle B Bar. Highlights from the morning were seeing two Sandhill Cranes by their nest, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher that posed for me, and an Anhinga prepare a fish for consumption. It was also very nice to see my first Black-bellied Whistling Ducks of the  year. On the way back to the car, a couple Giant Swallowtail butterflies came out to play with us as well. Sandhill Cranes Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Anhinga with Fish Great Blue Heron Giant Swallowtail Here's a list of species we saw this morning at Circle B Bar from about 9am to 12pm.Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 15 Blue-winged Teal 20 Pied-billed Grebe 5 Wood Stork 3 Double-crested Cormorant 10 Anhinga 10 Great Blue Heron 5 Great Egret 10 Snowy Egret 12 Little Blue H...

Great Blue Herons It's Valentines' Day. I'm a way from home until tomorrow afternoon, missing my wife, and well, I gotta post something.  I thought it might be fun to dig up some old photos from shortly after moving to Florida (the heron and Anhinga photos) and combine them with some newer photos (the ducks).  Love is in the air, it seems, and the birds know it. Anhingas Anhingas Wood Ducks (facing away from each other, do you think he forgot it's Valentines Day?) Mallards

Eastern Phoebe It occurred to me  a couple years ago that birds don't care about whether they'e in a "birding hot spot."  Given the right habitat, you can find birds anywhere, even in boring places like where I work.  And so, beginning in 2011, I started to use my workplace as an experiment.  I work in a relatively unattractive office park, but there's a pond in front my building, some nice trees in the parking lot, and behind my building, there's a row of trees that form the southern border of a recreational park.  So I decided that I would do 15 minutes of birding here several mornings per week, just to see what I might find.  I rarely bring my camera to work, and I've taken no pictures at this location with my SLR.  This is just a time for "pure" birding before the start of the day.  The photos you see in this post are of the species of birds I've seen at my workplace though the actual photos were taken elsewhere. Pine Warbler So...

Willet This morning I went to Merritt Island and had a great morning.  I first went to the Max Brewer Causeway and saw many gulls and skimmers, but only one shorebird: a Willet.  Next I went to Pumphouse Loop--not much was there, a bunch of Dunlin, Black-bellied Plovers and Willet.  Things picked up on Blackpoint Drive.  Of the 8 Reddish Egrets I saw, two of them were white morph.  I found an American Bittern between stops 6 and 7.  He was nice enough to come out and wade in the stream.  By the restrooms I also saw a Sora.  From there I went to the Scrub Ridge Trail and found 4 Florida Scrub Jays.  From there I went down Biolab Rd, where the only birds I saw of note were Sanderlings,  Savannah Sparrows and an Eastern Phoebe.  From there I was going to head home, but I saw a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road and a raft of ducks in the water, so I pulled over and found hundreds of American Widgeon; one Eurasian Widgeon ...