outdoor photography

Neotropic Cormorant Jan 2, 2016 On New Year's Day our family drove down to Palm Beach County to visit my brother-in-law.  The following morning I decided to visit Wakodahatchee Wetlands. It's a wonderful place with a beautifully maintained board walk that takes you through the wetlands.  My primary hope was to see the Neotropic Cormorant that has been hanging out here.  It took a while, but eventually it showed itself--a nice, bright white line surrounding its gular pouch. My father and I also visited the park on Dec. 27th, so I thought I'd share photos from both of my visits.  My December visit was the first day I'd seen a Neotropic Cormorant in the U.S. Neotropic Cormorant December 27, 2015 I also saw another cormorant that looks like it might be a hybrid Neotropic x Double-crested Cormorant, but I'm no expert on these things.  It seems to have the white outline to the yellow gular pouch, but it's more faint than it should be. Neotropic x Doub...

Northern Waterthrush This past Saturday I visited the wildlife drive at Lake Apopka. I was hoping to get some nice migrant activity, and I was not disappointed. Yellow Warblers were everywhere! I estimated 20 of them, but I think I underestimated. In one little spot along the lakeshore there were perhaps 10 Yellow Warblers, 2 Prothonotary Warblers, 5 Prairie Warblers, 1 Northern Waterthrush, 1 Louisiana Waterthrush, and an Acadian Flycatcher. Yellow Warbler There was far less activity along the rest of the drive.  There were hardly any shorebirds at the sod fields, oddly enough, and that was a little disappointing. However, I did get a nice photo of an Eastern Kingbird, which is always nice. Eastern Kingbird A couple herons posed for photos as well. A Black-crowned Night-Heron was perched along the edge of vegetation not far from my car (this photo is hardly cropped), and a Great Blue Heron also perched in the reeds for me. Black-crowned Night-Heron Great Bl...

Black-crowned Night Heron I drove to Spring Hammock Preserve this morning hoping to find my first Great Crested Flycatcher of the year.  I didn't see one, but I did hear one calling.  The biggest surprise, though, was this Black-crowned Night Heron.  It had flown up into the branches of a tree overhanging a stream, so my guess is that it's going to try to nest somewhere along the stream.  I'm going to have to come back here more often now.  It would be wonderful to confirm breeding of Black-crowned Night Herons in this block.

Sedge Wren Every year in March I make a trip from my home in Central Florida to a conference in Dothan, Alabama. It's a perfect opportunity for me to get up early and visit Payne's Prairie, La Chua Trail just south of Gainesville. So Friday morning I left before 6am to arrive at La Chua Trail before 8:30am.  I was hoping for some fun sparrows, but it's getting a little late in the year, I think, and it was a little windy. But I did get my best photos of White-crowned Sparrows in Florida, as well as a few others. White-crowned  Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Savannah Sparrow There were also plenty of wading birds. One Snowy Egret was particularly photogenic, and an American Bittern came out in the open to at least get to see most of him, even though surrounded by grasses.  There were several Black-crowned Night Herons here too, some immature.  The immature below I found quite interesting. It kept its head raised and neck extended the whole time I watched i...

Black-crowned Night Heron Yesterday we visited a bridge in Clearwater to do some birding, and we found three Black-crowned Night Herons under the brdige.  I was completely surprised by how tame they seemed.  I walked right by one, and it made no move.  I was able to get some of my best photos of these wonderful birds. Black-crowned Night Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Once I noticed that there were several fisherman there, all this made sense. I suspect that they've been fed, which is why they're so tame. I don't feed or bait birds to get photographs; I don't even have feeders at my house.  But I suppose in these photos I've benefited by what others have done; so I figured I should say so in the interest of full disclosure.

Northern Harrier Well, yesterday went a little better than predicted--the world didn't end, and I had a great time at the Zellwood/Mt. Dora Christmas Bird Count.  I was in the area around Lake Apopka--particularly to the north and east of it.  It was a cold (by Florida standards) and blustery day, but it was a great day for raptors.  We began the morning with a couple Barn Owls, and as morning broke, we also had Osprey, Bald Eagles, dozens of Northern Harrier and Red-tailed Hawks, many Red-shouldered Hawks, one Sharp-shinned Hawk, several American Kestrels, and one Merlin.  As the sun was setting, we found a couple more Barn Owls and at least one Short-eared Owl.  But the biggest highlight, though, was a Krider's sub-species of a Red-tailed Hawk. Red-tailed Hawk "Krider's" Red-tailed Hawk Merlin Sharp-shinned Hawk Barn Owl Ducks and water birds were also there.  We had 18 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and several Gadwall, Malla...

Black-crowned Night Heron This morning I walked the Lake Apopka Loop Trail.  It's a 4 mile walk from Magnolia Park to the end of phase 1 of the trail.  I was hoping to see something for my year list, but I didn't.  It was a pretty fun morning, though, despite my sore feet after an 8 mile walk.  There were some nice photographic highlights: a Black-crowned Night Heron, an American Bittern, a Little Blue Heron, and a Great Blue Heron.  The trail was crawling with Eastern Phoebes. They were everywhere. Along with many Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers, it was fun to see one Prairie Warbler with a catch. American Bittern Little Blue Heron Great Blue Heron Eastern Phoebe Prairie Warbler

Black-crowned Night Heron Black-crowned Night Herons are just plain fun to see.  I rarely see them hunting for food, since they generally do that at night when I'm home with my family.  But they can be seen during the day in several places I go to around Central Florida.  The best places I know of are Viera Wetlands and Orlando Wetlands Park.  In fact, all these photos were taken at Orlando Wetlands Park.  They can be distinguished pretty easily from other herons.  Unlike Yellow-crowned Night Herons, these birds have black crowns and a black stripe down the middle of their backs visible during flight.  Juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons look very different from adults; they look more like juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Herons.  However, the bills of Black-crowned Night Herons are not all dark; the lower half of their bills are yellowish. Black-crowned Night Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Black-crowned Night Heron