outdoor photography

Common Loon Common Loons are not too hard to find along the coastlines of Florida in the winter, but for some reason, I almost never see them up close.  They seem always to be far off, so my photos usually amount to being little more than an ID shot for eBird.  But when I was at Fort De Soto on Feb. 1, this particular Loon gave me a very good photo opportunity.  What I love about this particular bird is that is was swimming along the shoreline, and as it crested the wave, you could see its feet under the clear water.  This made my day. Common Loon As I was enjoying this loon, a flock of Black Skimmers flew by too. Icing on the cake! Black Skimmers  

Herring Gull At Fort De Soto this past Saturday I had a very fun time watching a Herring Gull with its prey.  It would fly up about 30 ft in the air, drop its prey and then come down and inspect it. I saw it do this about 5-7 times before I had to move one. He was working pretty hard at getting his morsel out, but I suspect it will take him a long time, since all he had to drop his prize on was compacted sand. Herring Gull I've read that crows and gulls both exhibit this behavior, but I've never  been able to photograph it before.  If I had more time, it would have been fun to  watch this for a while longer to see if he was able to extract his prize. Herring Gull

Reddish Egret I told myself when I arrived at Fort De Soto that I wasn't going to do it. When I realized I'd forgotten to charge my camera batteries, and I had one battery dead and another one blinking "I'm going to die soon," I strengthened my resolve not to do it.   But I did. I photographed a Reddish Egret.  It was begging me, honestly. It was standing in pretty water in pretty light, and I tried walking by, I really did.  But it must have used it's jedi mind trick on me--"this is the bird you're looking for."  I knelt down, turned on my camera fired off about 10 shots, turned my camera back off to save my battery, and walked away. It seems like there's always a couple of these beautiful herons at North Beach. You're pretty likely to see both the light and dark morphs, and I have a billion photographs of them, along with other photos taken on my coast. I didn't need this photo at all, but I confess I kinda like it.  ...

American Oystercatcher The first time I saw one of these birds I thought I was going a little crazy.  I mean, it's hard to see how there's a need for a bird to look like this.  But I'm really glad they do.  I visited Fort De Soto last weekend, and you're almost guaranteed to see them at North Beach there, and on Saturday I saw 6--four at North Beach and two at the boat ramp.  The birds at the boat ramp were far more cooperative, so that's where these photos came from. American Oystercatcher Unfortunately, these birds were standing on solid concrete.  That was almost enough for me to skip photographing them. However, I normally crouch down as low as I can, and I thought if I did, I might be able to minimize the how man-made the ground looked. There was some debris near the birds as well, and I thought that might add to a more natural feel. American Oystercatcher One of these birds has an eye issue. It looks to have a blown out eye. I don't know to...

Reddish Egret Last week my wife decided it might be fun to go to the beach on the Gulf coast (calmer waves), and she asked me if there was a good place there go visit.  Fort De Soto, of course!  So yesterday we spent the day there. My father and I got there early to do some birding and photography, and we were not disappointed. We found many terns and wading birds, including 2 Common Terns and a Black Tern, but shorebirds the most fun finds.  It's great to see them returning. Between the east beach turnaround and north beach we found 12 species of shorebirds, and most of them were pretty cooperative. Semipalmated Plover Western Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Willet Short-billed Dowitcher East Beach was filled with Least Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Semipalmated Plovers. There was also one Western Sandpiper there. Willets were everywhere. Spotted Sandpiper Marbled Godwit Piping Plover Wilson's Plover North Beach is great...

Least Sandpiper Last week at Fort De Soto I had the opportunity to pretty little Least Sandpiper on the shore of East Beach. This one was pretty cute running around the beach. Least Sandpiper Least Sandpiper

Black-throated Green Warbler My father and I had a fantastic time at Fort De Soto this morning.  We went hoping for some nice migrants, and we came home with twelve species of warbler, including my first Black-throated Green.  Here's a list of all the warblers we saw in the park: Black-and-white Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warbler, American Redstart, Cape May Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Palm Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler. Hooded Warbler Yellow Warbler Blackpoll Warbler On top of these we saw two Eastern Kingbirds, one Veery, several Indigo Buntings, a Painted Bunting, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a Blue Grosbeak. We found both a Scarlet and Summer Tanager. Rose-breasted Grosbeak Scarlet Tanager But the biggest surprise was seeing two Whimbrel.  One was pretty far a way near the Least Tern breeding platforms.  The second landed ...

Black-legged Kittiwake I had plans to find a Seaside Sparrow this morning, but those were foiled by the weather.  The morning was foggy, rainy, and windy where I was going to look.  So I had a last minute change of plans.  I drove down to the Skyway Fishing Pier and found the Black-legged Kittiwake that has been seen there--a lifer for me. Black-legged Kittiwake Then I went to Fort De Soto, which is only about 25 minutes away.  I love this place.  On the way I saw a Nanday Parakeet, and once in the park, it was fun to see a mixed flock of gulls and shorebirds, and also this Red-breasted Merganser. Also seen here were Royal, Forster's and Sandwich Terns, a couple American Oystercatchers, and many Willets and Marbled Godwits. Red-breasted Merganser Marbled Godwit Willet Forster's Tern American Oystercatcher Then I found a Long-billed Curlew actively feeding on crabs. I think I remember reading that one was seen here, but I'd forgotten...

Red Knot I found these Red Knots back in May at Fort De Soto.  These are the first I've ever photographed. One of them, pictured in the last photo, had suffered some sort of head trauma. These birds alone were reason enough for me to make the trek to the other side of the state. Red Knot Red Knot Red Knot Red Knot

Red Knot This past weekend at Fort De Soto I was very pleased to find about 40 Red Knots feeding by the shore on North Beach.  There were a few Short-billed Dowiichers mixed in with the group, and there was this strange looking shorebird--it looked like a Red Knot with feathers that were a little too light and a bump on its head. After getting home, I zoomed in on my photos, and it became clear that this bird has a growth of some sort on its head. Red Knot Head A "Normal" Red Knot Red Knot I hope that this deformity is temporary that will heal over time, but it could also be a tumor.  The bird seemed to be acting normally and was not impeded by the deformity. Perhaps it will be okay.

Red Knot Yesterday I went to Fort de Soto.  It was a consolation prize for having to miss a pelagic trip due to Tropical Storm Beryl.  I successfully avoided the thunderstorms that were predicted for the morning and had a wonderful time.  There were too many highlights for one blogpost, but here are a few.  My favorite moment was seeing many Red Knots--a simply stunning shorebird. Red Knot It was also great to watch a Wilson's Plover search for food on the beach.  He caught something a couple times and showed it off to me. Wilson's Plover Wilson's Plover Wilson's Plover Ruddy Turnstones and Dunlin were also there in their breeding plumage.  A Yellow-crowned Night Heron was out on the beach standing not 10 ft away from me. Ruddy Turnstone Dunlin Yellow-crowned Night Heron It was also great to see a Sandwich tern, and there were many breeding Least Terns at North Beach.  They are extremely fun to watch. Sandwich...