outdoor photography

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...

Blue-Winged Teal Blue-winged teal are lovely ducks that I have the opportunity to see in the winter and spring.  The males in particular are easily identified by the white, crescent-shaped patch between the bill and eye.  Blue-winged teal have returned to FL in the last month or so, so I thought I'd share a few pictures.  These that I'm sharing with you were actually taken back in May during breading season.  Well, I suppose that's obvious from the photos, isn't it?  These are two happy ducks!  These photos are in chronological order, as you might guess. Yea, I'm not saying anything here Happy Female Blue-Winged Teal Blue-Winged Teal