outdoor photography

Seaside Sparrow My daughter and I decided to drive seven hours up to Myrtle Beach to visit my parents who were renting a house there.  We had a fun weekend.  The last morning before we left, we had a couple hours to do some birding.  So my father and I went over to the Huntington Beach State Park. We knew nothing of the park, we found a boardwalk that went out to the middle of a salt marsh.  We thought that might be good for Seaside Sparrows.  We had about an hour to see what we could find before we had to return.  We made it out onto the boardwalk about 15 minutes after sunrise, and we were not disappointed.  The Seaside Sparrows put on a little show for us.  We saw at least 4 at one time, and I conservatively estimated that we saw eight all together.  Three of them came to the vegetation right in front of us--as close as they could be and still have a place to land.  It was really just too easy--just look for gray among the green, ...

Merritt Island NWR This morning I went to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and I had a fantastic time.  I went to Parrish Park (just past the bridge), Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, and Canaveral National Seashore.  I brought my new Canon Powershot S100 camera with me and took the above photo with it.  I'm pretty impressed with the camera so far.  Other highlights were seeing many Belted Kingfishers, a few Reddish Egrets, lots of Yellowlegs, and both Least and Western Sandpipers.  There were many ducks and shorebirds there, but nothing too out of the ordinary.  When I stopped by the restrooms to walk the trails (near where I took the above picture), I saw a Sora and a Clapper Rail.  The Clapper Rail was not acting much like a rail.  It spent a considerable amount of time out in the open--always near cover, but in plain sight.  These are my first sharp photos of a Clapper Rail. Belted Kingfisher Reddish Egret Least Sandpiper...