outdoor photography

Wood Duck The Wood Ducks on Grassy Lake, the pond by my office parking lot, are now the proud parents of four little ducklings.  This morning I saw the mom with the four ducklings, and as she swam around the lily pads, the ducklings would walk on top of them following her around.  It looked like they only entered the water to get to another lily pad. The dad was on the other side of the lake with his wallet showing all the other birds his photos and handing out cigars. Wood Duck Wood Duck Wood Duck Wood Duck Wood Duck Wood Duck Wood Duck (showing all four ducklings)

Wood Ducks This morning I got to work a little early to see what may be hanging out around my office parking lot.  There wasn't much of interest there, but there were 8 Wood Ducks on the lake, so I took a few photos of them. Red-shouldered Hawk This evening I decided to drop by the Spring Hammock Preserve--I've never been there before.  There's a wonderful trail that takes you to the western edge of Lake Jesup.  As you get close to the lake shore, the trail becomes a boardwalk, and you can find giant Cypress trees there with Ospreys frequently heard in the trees.  I saw two Purple Gallinules at the lake shore, but I didn't get any photos. Osprey Osprey

Killdeer I didn't have any time for birding this morning, but I did get the opportunity to walk around my office parking lot a little before driving home this afternoon.  I had heard a Pileated Woodpecker from my office window, so I went out to find it--it's the first I've seen from my office parking lot.  But as I was walking by the lake, I noticed a Killdeer was out with two little chicks.  I immediately lost interest in the woodpecker and decided to focus on the Killdeer chicks.  I was able to go down to lake level without alarming them, and I spent a few minutes photographing them before getting in my car.  I hope to see them again in better light, but a few of my photos are worth sharing.  Killdeer  Proud Killdeer Parent Killdeer

Snowy Egret Friday morning I was at my office and I saw a couple Snowy Egrets at the pond by the parking lot.  As I was watching one, it decided to fly over the water and grab a fish off the surface of the water.  As it went, it flew in and out of sunlight.  At 8am, the sun was fairly low in the sky, creating a pleasing color to the egrets wings.  When the egret was in the shade, I had no complaints, but a little bit a sunlight makes a pretty big difference.  Here's some photos of the egret in changing light as it flew across the pond. Snowy Egret Snowy Egret Snowy Egret Snowy Egret

Great Crested Flycatcher I immediately heard two Great Crested Flycatchers when I got out of my car this morning.  They were both in a tree very close to my car.  As I got out and walked over to them, they took off, but that allowed me to get one in flight.  Then, where they landed, I finally got a photo of them perched in a tree, rather than on a wire like I normally see them. Great Crested Flycatcher I love seeing Wood Ducks in trees.  I normally see one or two pairs here, but this morning there were 8 of them, one female and 7 males.  They posed for me in a Live Oak Tree for a while; I partially concealed myself with the dumpster right by their tree.  A Mockingbird didn't like that at all and swooped me.  So I moved to a different vantage point, and the ducks were fine with me until one of the janitors came by and scared them off.  They flew to the lake, so I took a few photos of them there. Wood Duck Wood Duck Wood Du...

Northern Parula This morning was  pretty fun at my parking lot.  Two Great Crested Flycatchers called out and made their presence known as I got out of my car, though neither one of them would perch in a tree for me.  They were either on a telephone wire or a metal rail.  A Red-bellied Woodpecker was out drumming on the light posts again; a fellow blogger informed me they do this to mark their territory.  A Mourning Dove flew by in really nice light, and a Northern Parula came out and sang his song for me to see and photograph. Northern Parula Northern Parula Wood Duck Morning Dove Great Crested Flycatcher Red-bellied Woodpecker on a Light post I also noticed several flyovers: 2 White-winged Doves, 4 Cattle Egrets and about 20 Cormorants, as well as a Royal Tern.  The tern was flying so high I couldn't identify it until I zoomed in on the photo with my computer. Here's a list of what I saw this morning.  It was a pretty...

Solitary Sandpiper I lamented earlier today that the most interesting thing I found to photograph this morning was a Blue Jay . Well, I made a phone call this afternoon and walked outside during the call, which I often do for calls that do not require me to write anything down.  The summer rains have not yet come, and the lake level is very low, leaving beautiful, mucky, wet soil.  Well, I don't think it's beautiful, but this Solitary Sandpiper apparently did.  He was having a blast foraging while I was on the phone.  So as soon as I got off the phone, I ran back in, got my camera, and spent about 5 minutes photographing him in terrible light (around 2:30pm)--he's the first I've seen here.  I had to over-expose by about a stop to get even this shot, but I'll take it.  I also heard and then saw a Killdeer that also was here, and a Snowy Egret flew by. With the Solitary Sandpiper sighting, my species count for my office area rose to 65. So my birding d...

Blue Jay This morning I walked around my office parking lot to find most of the usual suspects, but very few were willing to come out and pose for a photograph.  This morning, it was really the Blue Jays that were most willing, and so I decided concentrate on them, since I don't know that I have ever really tried to get a good photo of a Blue Jay. Blue Jay Blue Jay And as is my usual custom when I have a bad bird photography morning, here's the most interesting squirrel I saw as I was walking around. Gray Squirrel Here's the list of 17 species I found this morning: Pied-billed Grebe 2 Great Egret 2 Green Heron 1 Osprey 3 Common Gallinule 3 Ring-billed Gull 1 Rock Pigeon 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 1 Blue Jay 3 Fish Crow X Northern Mockingbird 3 Cedar Waxwing 10 Northern Parula 1 Northern Cardinal 12 Common Grackle X Boat-tailed Grackle X

Red Bellied Woodpecker This morning was a drizzly morning and I left for work a little later than normal, so I almost decided not to go birding around my office parking lot.  But the rain cleared, and thought perhaps some new birds would come in with the weather.  So I took a little bit of time (only about 25 minutes) to walk around.  I heard many birds, but few wanted to come out and play.  Eventually, I gave myself the "all birds are equal" speech, and I resigned myself to photographing the birds I normally don't pay much attention to.  I did see a Red-bellied Woodpecker that perched itself on a light post and proceeded to drum on it like it was a tree--first time I've seen that. Northern Mockingbird Later I saw a Northern Mockingbird fly down and grab a tasty morsel.  He then found a concrete perch and proceeded to cut it into pieces, and then it flew off.  I wonder if it was preparing to feed its young. Northern Mocki...

Great-blue Heron This morning my office parking lot wasn't quite as active as it was yesterday, but I did find a Great Blue Heron and a Pied Billed Grebe that were particularly photogenic.  Really this morning was the morning for flyovers.  I saw about 100 Double-crested Cormorants, 100 Cedar Waxwings, and 4 Glossy Ibises (the first I've seen here).  So that somewhat made up for the lack of activity here. Pied-billed Grebe Double-crested Cormorants Here's a list of the species I saw this morning: Wood Duck 2 Mallard x Mottled Duck (hybrid) 3 Pied-billed Grebe 1 Double-crested Cormorant 100 Great Blue Heron 1 Great Egret 1 Glossy Ibis 4 Black Vulture 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 Mourning Dove 3 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Downy Woodpecker 1 Blue Jay 4 Fish Crow 1 Carolina Wren 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1 Gray Catbird 1 Northern Mockingbird 1 Cedar Waxwing 100 Northern Cardinal 9 Red-winged Blackbird 5 Common Grackle 2 Boat-t...

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher This morning I went early to my office area and had a pretty wonderful time birding.  I found two species that I had not seen at my office before today: a Northern Flicker and a White-winged Dove.  The latter was quite surprising for me. A Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher came out to see me and so did a Northern Parula.  These guys are hard to photograph, but a couple I took today came out. Common Grackle Northern Parula Northern Parula White-winged Dove Below is a complete list of the 24 species I found today; my total number of species seen in my office area rose to 61. Wood Duck 4 Anhinga 1 Great Egret 1 White Ibis 1 Osprey 1 Common Gallinule 3 Rock Pigeon 2 White-winged Dove 1 Mourning Dove 3 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Downy Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 Blue Jay 3 Fish Crow 5 Carolina Wren 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2 Gray Catbird 1 Northern Mockingbird 2 Brown Thrasher 3 Cedar Waxwing 10 Norther...