outdoor photography

Lincoln's Sparrow Canal St, Feb 2013 I didn't intend to attempt a Seminole Co. big year this year.  I intended to do at least a little birding every day, and since I have a little time before work, I tended to stick to Seminole Co. on most work days, with an occasional venture into Orange County to visit Mead Gardens or Wekiwa Springs.  On the weekends, I wanted to chase birds within about an hour's drive of my home.  But as finances became tight and time became limited, I found myself concentrating more and more on Semnole County. Eventually I decided to see if I could hit 200 in the year, and then once I did, I just had to keep going. Philadelphia Vireo Central Winds Park, Oct 2013 I believe my county is under-birded compared to neighboring counties (Orange, Lake, Brevard, Volusia). Seminole Co is small and filled with suburbs. It's inland so there's no coastline, and there's surprisingly few places to look for shorebirds.  But something about that...

Red-breasted Merganser This morning I birded West Pasco County with my new friend David Gagne.  We had a fantastic time. My biggest hope was to see a Seaside Sparrow, and we found at least one at Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park.  We heard several Clapper Rails, a Virginia Rail and a Sora.  We then went to the Gulf Harbors Golf course, which is now abandoned, we saw many ducks.  At least 600 Redheads were there and lots of Red-breasted Mergansers, including one adult male (the first adult male I've seen in Florida). We also saw my first Buffleheads of the year. We also found a Northern Shoveler, a Northern Pintail, a couple Ring-necked Ducks, some Lesser Scaup and one female Greater Scaup. Red-breasted Merganser Bufflehead Redhead On the way home (outside of Pasco Co) I saw the scene below--a Great Horned Owl that has taken over an Osprey nest.  Pretty fun to see.  So while it pays to keep your eyes on the road, it also can be nice to...

American Bittern This morning I decided to drive down to Viera Wetlands.  When I arrived it was very foggy.  I was somewhat disappointed, since I couldn't photograph anything any distance away without losing detail.  So of course, this is is when the Peregrine Falcon decided to appear.  I found it perched on one of the dead trees.  It was not that far away, and on a clear morning, I think it would have given me some very nice photos, but this morning, I had to shoot through through the fog.  There were many other nice things to find here, though.  A Common Yellowthroat was very cooperative, as was an American Bittern.  Later on I found a Raccoon near the edge of the water.  After making my first pass around the wetlands, the fog had pretty much cleared, so I decided to make another pass and hope that the falcon was still around.  It was not.  But, while looking for it, I saw a flash of blue-gray and another flash of brown. ...

Bufflehead This past Sunday afternoon I was at St. Marks NWR on my way home from Alabama, and I saw 3 female Bufflehead swimming in the water near my car.  There were no adult males, so I almost just drove on.  But that of course is sexist, right?  Why should the males get all the attention?  So I stayed and photographed them for a few minutes, and these three put on a pretty good show for me.  In fact, they were the photographic highlight of my visit to St. Marks. Bufflehead These images were shot with a 400mm lens at ISO 250 and at f/5.6 with a shutter speed of 1/1000sec.   I was in Aperture Priority mode with +1/3 stop exposure compensation.  I crouched down as low to the ground as I could without ending up with my lens in the grasses. Bufflehead Bufflehead Bufflehead