outdoor photography

Purple Gallinule On April 8, I drove out to Orlando Wetlands Park, one of my favorite destinations in Orange County (second only to Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive). I was not disappointed. I decided this year I would try to diversify my photography and make a special effort to photograph scenery, wildflowers and wildlife other than birds. Orlando Wetlands Park is a great place for this. Thee were lots of Prairie Irises blooming all over the park. Prairie Iris And a Blue Dasher dragonfly was also perched photogenically. This is to me a stunning male. Blue Dasher But I simply can't tear myself away from the birds entirely. There was so much there to photograph and enjoy. The only rarity was a group of three Stilt Sandpipers mixed in with a flock of Long-billed Dowitchers. Stilt Sandpipers with Long-billed Dowitchers The Purple Swamphen has left the park (or was removed?), but the Purple Gallinules are still abundant and as beautiful as ever. Purple Gall...

Bank Swallow The Lake Apopka North Shore Restoration Area arguably boasts the best inland birding in the State of Florida.  But until recently most of the area has been closed to the general public most of the year. During the annual Christmas Bird Count, birders are granted access to the restoration area, but most of the area has been off limits for most of the year.  However, earlier this year God smiled up on the lowly birders of Central Florida and opened up a Wildlife Drive that takes you through the heart of the restoration area.  This has opened up a huge area for birders and wildlife enthusiasts to visit during the weekends (and national holidays).  The drive is 11 miles long, and I normally take about 4 hours to get through from one end to the other. Northern Rough-winged Swallow So this morning my father and I arrived around 6:15 am and took our time making our way through the drive until we left around 10:30 am. We saw a Great Horned Owl on a t...

Green Heron About a week ago I drove down to Viera Wetlands, hopefully to find a Lark Sparrow that had been seen a couple days earlier.  We missed that, and we hardly saw anything else either. And the wetlands were closed off.  However, there were many Green Herons there, and one in particular posed for photos.

Northern Parula I drove out to Marl Bed Flats this morning hoping to find shorebirds.  I found none--not even a Killdeer.  I did have a pretty good time though.  I saw a juvenile Purple Gallinule, Coopers Hawk and a Belted Kingfisher. There were also many of the normal blackbirds, grackles and wading birds. Boat-tailed Grackle Green Heron More of these hibiscus-like flowers are blooming here, and they look to me to be Saltmarsh Mallow, though I wasn't in a salt marsh. I wish I'd brought my diffuser for this photo. Saltmarsh Mallow? Dragonflies where also there in abundance. I photographed a beautiful male Four-spotted Pennant. Four-spotted Pennant As I was leaving, I found a butterfly I've never seen before. That didn't surprise me, since I'm pretty much a novice at identifying insects. I took a few photos with my point and shoot camera and then searched my Audubon Butterfly Guide and could not find this butterfly. The best I could find...

Green Heron Green Herons are pretty fun.  They're one of our smaller herons, but they're one of the prettiest too.  In Florida, you might just find one at just about any pond or lake, but I enjoy finding them on Merritt Island. In the Spring, there's always a couple nests you can see from the restrooms on Blackpoint Dr, and they don't seem to mind people taking pictures of them from a safe distance. Green Heron Green Heron Green Heron Green Heron Green Heron Green Heron Green Heron

Cooper's Hawk I finally had a little bit of time to give my new Canon EOS 50D camera a little bit of a workout at Mead Gardens.  For the most part, I'm pleased with the results.  Especially at lower ISOs, the 50D gives me more detail than my 40D without any more noise.  At higher ISOs, though, it's a different story.  I'm not sure that the 15 megapixel sensor is any benefit over the 40D's 10 megapixel sensor at ISO 800 and above.  Part of the problem, though, may well be that I also decided to try out Canon's new "highlight tone priority" (HTP) feature.  I'll explain more about this in a future post, but for now, suffice it to say that I do not think it's beneficial for wildlife photography--in fact, I think it makes my photos noisier (and more importantly, uglier noise) in the shadows.  The next time I go out, I will turn HTP off an compare my results. Wood Ducks and a Green Heron Wood Ducks Other than that, I had a pretty good h...

Bobcat This morning I returned again to Merritt Island to see what we hadn't seen yesterday. We went to Pumphouse Loop Bio Lab Rd, Scrub Ridge Trail and the visitors center.  Pumphouse Loop was hardly worth mentioning but I did find a Green Heron that sat still very nicely for me and let me take its picture. Green Heron Dragonfly Bio Lab Rd was much more fun.  We decided that we should start from the south and work our way north.  Right off the bat we saw two Bobcats, and I was able to take my best photographs of this wonderful animal.  Then we were treated to a Great Blue Heron killing and swallowing what I believe is a Southern Water Snake.  We saw several species of shorebirds including Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, many Black-necked Stilts, a Stilt Sandpiper, a Spotted Sandpiper, and a Ruddy Turnstone.  We also saw many Semipalmated Sandpipers and a couple Western Sandpipers.  On the north end of the roa...

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...