outdoor photography

Sandhill Cranes A few weeks ago at Circle B Bar, it was great to see two Sandhill Cranes at their nest caring for their eggs. Two eggs were visible from the path; we dared not leave the path for fear of disturbing the nest.  It was fun to see them take turns guarding the nest while the other left to forage for food. Sandhill Cranes Sandhill Cranes 

Trees at Circle B Bar This past weekend I spent two mornings at the Circle B Bar Reserve.  As I was returning to my car from a morning a bird photography, I found myself walking through many Live Oaks.  These are absolutely beautiful trees.  I don't often photograph them because I frequently only take with me my 400mm lens.  But more and more I've been bringing a long my 10mm-22mm lens and 17mm-85mm lenses just so that I can be ready for more wide angle photographic moments.  These trees captured my attention so much that I decided it was worth changing lenses to spend time photographing the trees. Trees at Circle B Bar For these photos, I simulated a "slide montage" in my image editing software.  I duplicated the image as a separate layer, applied a Gaussian blur to the bottom layer (set to 45) and then set the layering mode to "multiply."  This gives you one "color" layer and one "detail" layer.  When these two layers are com...

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 Heron Yesterday morning a friend and I headed out towards St. Petersburg, FL.  We got a late start, but we decided to go to Circle B Bar on the way to see what we might find. It was a pretty good morning, though not as fantastic as it was when I was here last in November. Highlights for me were seeing several Limpkin, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and Roseate Spoonbills. We saw a Sandhill Crane sitting on a nest, but we didn't want to watch it for very long.  I saw very few ducks; in fact, I only saw Blue-winged Teal, and the American Bitterns we were hoping to see eluded us.Others there told us that there was a Bobcat that was chased off by several River Otters before we were able to see the Bobcat. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Roseate Spoonbill Common Gallinule or Moorhen Anhinga Red-bellied Woodpecker Here is a list of species I found between about 9:30am and 12:15pm yesterday morning. Blue-winged Teal X Pied-billed Grebe 5 Double-crested Corm...

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker This morning I went to the Circle B Bar Reserve.  Just the name of it makes it worth a visit.  Apparently, the reserve used to be a cattle ranch.  We had a pretty good morning. The highlights were a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker and 3 Roseate Spoonbills, and in one tree we saw a Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher, a Yellow-throated Warbler, a Black & White Warbler, a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, a White-Eyed Vireo and a Tufted Titmouse.    The Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker was the first I've photographed, so this was a pretty good day.  I'll have to come back again to the Circle B Bar again soon. Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher Little Blue Heron Roseate Spoonbill Osprey Savannah Sparrow Circle B Bar Reserve is in Lakeland, FL.  Here's a list of species that I saw: Black-bellied Whistling-Duck X Mallard X Blue-winged Teal X Pied-billed Grebe X Wood Stork X Double-crested Cormorant X Anhinga X Great Blue Heron X Great Eg...