outdoor photography

Florida Red Belly Turtle Yesterday afternoon I dropped by Secret Lake Park for a few minutes to check on breeding birds.  The last time I was here the place was hopping with activity, and I was able to log breeding evidence for Brown Thrashers, Common Grackles, Osprey, and Common Gallinules.  Yesterday was much quieter, though the begging Ospreys and Common Grackles were still making a racket.  It was fun to find other types of animals, though.  A Florida Redbelly Turtle posed for me, as did a couple species of dragonfly.  I don't know my dragonflies well at all.  I'm pretty sure one was a male Eastern Pondhawk; the other I was unable to identify, but the great people at BugGuide.net identified it as a Slaty Skimmer. Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) Slaty Skimmer (Libellula incesta) Ospreys are there in abundance.  I confess I get pretty tired of photographing them, and often I just ignore them, but it was a slow birding d...

Prothonotary Warlber This morning a friend and I kayaked the Wekiva River (with a short stint up Rock Springs Run) looking for breeding birds.  I brought my camera with me, but I didn't take a lot of photos--that's partly because of low light conditions and the fact that it poured down rain on us a couple times.  I'm so glad I didn't forget my waterproof case.  We found only one Acadian Flycatcher and three Prothonotary Warblers, along with an assortment of the kinds of birds you'd expect to find.  I also took some photos of a Florida Red-bellied Turtle. Florida Red-belly Turtle