outdoor photography

Snowy Egret  Every June in Florida we have the opportunity to participate in a friendly competition called June Challenge. The competition is designed to encourage people to get out there and do some birding during a hot summer month when many birders take a break. Migration is over, and there's often not much new to find, so the competition keeps us out and birding.  Pick a county, any county, and find as many birds as you can in that county during the month of June. The only caveat is they have to be seen; heard only doesn't count. This is my third year participating, and I was very pleased with my June Challenge results.  Every year I've done a little better. In 2012 I found 80 species; in 2013 I found 95; this year I found 104, not including two species I heard but never saw (White-winged Dove and Red-headed Woodpecker). I found 12 species I hadn't seen last year, and I missed out on three I had seen last year (White-winged Dove, Canada Goose, Black Skimmer). ...

Common Nighthawks This is the last day of June Challenge (seeing as many birds as you can in one county during the month of June).  I decided to spend the last evening of the challenge at the Econ River Wilderness Area.  Last year, I found a Common Nighthawk there, and I was hoping to get a repeat performance.  I was pleasantly surprised, not only to find two, but also to see them copulating. I first heard the male as it was flying toward me, and once I found it above the trees, it put on a display and then landed on the female. After these photos, the two flew off together. It was a dark, cloudy, and rainy day today (I half expected to get caught in a downpour), so the sky was really cloudy and ugly. These photos are not as beautiful as I would like, but this is something I don't get to see every day, and I thought they would be fun to share anyway. Common Nighthawks Common Nighthawks

Common Nighthawk The ABA bird of the year for 2013 is the Common Nighthawk (you can read more about the choice  here ).  So this summer, keep your ears tuned in the early morning and evenings!  If you hear their distinctive buzzing  peent! call, you may just be hearing a nighthawk.  Look up and you may just see them flying in graceful loops above you. I'm hoping this year to capture some more presentable photos of this wonderful species. Interestingly, you may hear these birds referred to by an older, but very odd name--goatsucker.  Yea, that's right.  The name comes from the misinformed belief that nighthawks suck goat's milk. Weird. I'm glad we don't have to call these birds by that name anymore. But, if you would like to have some fun, you can actually "prove" to your friends that chupacabras (the Spanish word for "goatsucker") exist! But instead of a legendary, blood-sucking, menacing creature, it's a bird that also sports a much...

Black-necked Stilt This morning I went to Merritt Island, and I had a pretty good morning.  We saw next to nothing at the Max Brewer Causeway, but from there we went to East Gator Creek and things started to pick up.   It was nice to see a Least Tern, and I never tire of photographing Black-necked Stilts and Reddish Egrets. Black-necked Stilts Reddish Egrets Least Tern From there we went to Blackpoint Drive.  Easily the biggest highlight of the morning was seeing three Common Nighthawks chasing each other.  They were so fast, and we were in a car unable to follow them as they flew, so I have blurry photos of them up close, and relatively sharp images of them far away.  There were many Black-necked Stilts at their nests, and one Reddish Egret came a little too close to one, causing the stilts to jump into action to defend their nest--it was pretty fun to watch.  It was also nice to see a Semipalmated Plover up close walking on Blackpoint Dr...