outdoor photography

Sprague's Pipit Yesterday I met up in the early morning with a couple of my friends to explore the Little Big Econ WMA. Our biggest hope was to find the Vermilion Flycatcher that has been hanging out along the Econ River. We found that bird without much trouble, though it was very early in the morning, and we had terrible light (so I'm not sharing a photo).  From there we decided to walk northeast to see if we might pick up some nice sparrows. We didn't have high hopes, since it was rather windy, but we did pick up a Grasshopper Sparrow and a Le Conte's Sparrow.  The Le Conte's Sparrow was pretty amazing.  It flushed and flew into a clump of grass right in front of us. Then it crawled out of its hiding place and sat exposed for about 10 seconds while we fired off as many photographs as we could, then ducked under cover.  It did the same thing again, allowing us to get even more shots. Unfortunately it was always facing away from me, but at one point it turned it...

Great Horned Owl Nestlings The park rangers were kind enough to put of an orange fence around this tree to keep people at a safe distance. If you follow signs and barriers, you are likely not going to cause harm. I've been an avid photographer for just about all this millennium, but I only became significantly interested in birding and wildlife photography after I received my 400mm lens and moved to Florida. I spent my early months here driving around wildlife loops and photographing whatever birds I saw. Eventually, I wanted to photograph more diversity of birds and wildlife, so I became involved with a local Audubon Society.  I'm very thankful that I learned my birding and wildlife photography ethics from birders and conscientious wildlife photographers. Black-Necked Stilt in Distraction Display These kinds of displays are a good sign that you're close enough to a nest or young to cause stress. Best behavior is to give the bird more distance. It wasn't ...

Grasshopper Sparrow There are six Ammodramus sparrows that occur in Florida, and now I have presentable photos of all of them. This may be my favorite group of birds in the world. I know the Henslow's Sparrow photo below is terrible, but I'm not complaining. I suspect I won't get a better photo unless I see one up north in the summer.  Full disclosure, though: my Seaside Sparrow Photo was not taken in Florida; it's from South Carolina.  But I have seen them here in FL too--just too far away for photos.  Would someone please send a Baird's Sparrow here please? Saltmarsh Sparrow Nelson's Sparrow Seaside Sparrow Le Conte's Sparrow Henslow's Sparrow

Le Conte's Sparrow I found this park around November of last year, and the first time I visited I thought it might be a great place for some fun sparrows to show up.  However, despite many visits, until this morning I've only seen Savannah and Swamp Sparrows here.  But this morning I got to add a third sparrow species to the list--Le Conte's Sparrow! I'm still hoping there may be more treasures to be found in this wonderful little park, but I'm really happy with this one.  This is the prettiest sparrow I've ever seen. When I first saw the sparrow, I had my ISO set at 1600, since it had been pretty dark. The sparrow popped up when the lighting was starting to improve. But after a few minutes the lighting was better I decided to lower my ISO to 125 and try again. The sparrow was up as I walked back to the area, and I took the above photo. The photos below were the first ones I took. They aren't nearly as good, but they let you see different views of th...

Lincoln's Sparrow Canal St, Feb 2013 I didn't intend to attempt a Seminole Co. big year this year.  I intended to do at least a little birding every day, and since I have a little time before work, I tended to stick to Seminole Co. on most work days, with an occasional venture into Orange County to visit Mead Gardens or Wekiwa Springs.  On the weekends, I wanted to chase birds within about an hour's drive of my home.  But as finances became tight and time became limited, I found myself concentrating more and more on Semnole County. Eventually I decided to see if I could hit 200 in the year, and then once I did, I just had to keep going. Philadelphia Vireo Central Winds Park, Oct 2013 I believe my county is under-birded compared to neighboring counties (Orange, Lake, Brevard, Volusia). Seminole Co is small and filled with suburbs. It's inland so there's no coastline, and there's surprisingly few places to look for shorebirds.  But something about that...

Lark Sparrow This past fall I've decided to concentrate my birding on sparrows in Florida.  We have three sparrows that are extremely common this time of year: Savannah, Chipping and Swamp Sparrows. I have seen and photographed these more times than I can count. Happily, Eastern Towhees can be found here all year round. But aside from these four, sparrows here can be somewhat of a challenge. Here's my progress so far.  I'm including photos of a couple sparrows (Lark and Bachman's) that I happened to find before this past fall. Bachman's Sparrow Clay-colored Sparrow Nelson's Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Le Conte's Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow I see Song Sparrows very infrequently, and I've seen one White-crowned Sparrow and one Saltmarsh Sparrow, but I have no decent photographs of these species yet.  I'm still hoping to find a Fox, Henslow's, Field,White-throated and Seaside Sparrow in Florida. H...

Le Conte's Sparrow This morning I returned to Marl Bed Flats with a couple firends to look for Le Conte's and Henslow's Sparrows.  There's an area there where we've been seeing Le Conte's Sparrows, and another area just beyond it that should be good for Henslows Sparrows.  We decided to walk through the Le Conte's area first, and we saw no less than 5 Le Conte's Sparrows, and two posed for photos. Then we spent a few minutes looking for Henslow's Sparrows and had no luck at all.  However, the area still looks good, and that was my first time looking.  We didn't get there until an hour after sunrise, so I'm still hopeful that the area my yield a Henslow's this winter. Le Conte's Sparrow Le Conte's Sparrow

Le Conte's Sparrow Well, third time's a charm.  I've seen a Le Conte's Sparrow twice here before this morning (both times with a group), but no photos.  This morning I walked out by myself, hoping to find one and finally photograph it.  Score!  Le Conte's Sparrows have now skyrocketed in my estimation to the prettiest sparrow I've photographed, beating out Nelson's, Saltmarsh, and Grasshopper Sparrows.  What an awesome bird!