outdoor photography

Chipping Sparrow When I moved to Florida I was very new to birding, and I knew next to nothing about sparrows.  I remember going to take our dog Ella to a dog park. I didn't know at the time that right next to this dog park was the best place to find warblers in Seminole County, Central Winds Park.  Anyway, I remember walking from the dog park to Lake Jesup and seeing sparrows.  I had no idea what they were, but I took a couple photos (terrible ones with a point and shoot camera), and later determined they were Chipping Sparrows. Chipping Sparrow The odd thing is that since that first visit I've been to Central Winds (including the dog park area) 250 times and seen 152 speices in the park.  However, I haven't seen single sparrow since that first visit--no Savannah Sparrows, no Swamp Sparrows, nothing. Chipping Sparrow However, this week I've started seeing Chipping Sparrows here again.  And a couple have even been pretty cooperative.  Now it...

White-crowned Sparrow I was traveling up to Alabama this morning, and so I left early to see what I could find at Payne's Prairie.  I walked the La Chua Trail; it was somewhat breezy out, so I suspect many sparrows were hiding, but I did get to find eight sparrow species: Field Sparrow (my first in Florida), White-crowned Sparrows (my first photos in Florida), a funny-looking Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow and several Eastern Towhee. White-crowned Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Chipping Sparrow This Song Sparrow looks odd to me Swamp Sparrow It was also fun to find several Sora and an American Bittern, an American Kestrel and a couple White-tailed Deer. I missed seeing the female Vermilion Flycatcher, the Groove-billed Ani, and the Fox Sparrow that has been seen nearby. American Bittern Sora American Kestrel White-tailed Deer

Brown-headed Nuthatch I went to Wekiwa Springs State Park this morning hoping to find some Pine Siskins.  I didn't find any (at least none that I could be sure of), but the morning was still fun.  I found dozens of American Goldfinches, especially in the sand hill areas with pines and taller grasses.  Also numerous were Pine Warblers and Eastern Bluebirds.  It was fun to find my first Brown-headed Nuthatches in the park (and in fact, Orange County).  I was looking more for Red-breasted Nuthatches, but these will do for now.  I walked the wet-to-dry boardwalk trail a couple times, and I found a variety of warblers I haven't seen since October: Palm, Yellow-rumped, Orange-crowned, Pine, Black-and-white, Yellow-throated, and an American Redstart. Eastern Bluebird Pine Warbler Chipping Sparrow American Goldfinch

Chipping Sparrow This morning I found my first Chipping Sparrow in Florida this year.  My photos from this morning weren't all that great, but I thought I'd still take the opportunity to share some of my favorite Chipping Sparrow photos from Maryland this past July.  This sparrow was hanging out in front of one of my friends homes, and I heard it singing when I came to visit. Thankfully I had my camera with me and was able to take a few photos before going inside. Chipping Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Chipping Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow I drove to a friend's house in MD the other day, and as soon as I got out of the car, I heard what seemed to be a Worm-eating Warbler song.  This seemed rather strange to me, since I was in a residential neighborhood.  I decided to play a Worm-eating Warbler song to see what was going on.  As soon as I did, a Chipping Sparrow flew over my head and landed in a tree behind me.  Well, that makes a bit more sense.  But this Chipping Sparrow's song had a faster trill that I've come to identify with the Worm-eating Warbler.  So what's interesting to me is that while this bird fooled me into thinking it was a warbler, I also fooled it, since it thought my warbler song was the song of a Chipping Sparrow.  If you're interested in how these birds sound, Sibley has an excellent article about the similarity of their songs and how to distinguish them.  Here are some photos of the Chipping Sparrow I found. Chipping Sparrow Chippin...