outdoor photography

Beautiful Hammock While on my trip to South Florida, my father and I visited Matheson Hammock Park in Miami-Dade County.  It's a beautiful park.  We visited once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  One of our target birds was a White-crowned Pigeon, and this seemed to be the best place to find one, but we struck out.  However, we did see our first Yellow-chevroned Parakeets (perhaps soon to be countable) in the morning, and in the afternoon, I was able to get some of my best photos of Least Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers. Least Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Semipalmated Plover Semipalmated Plover The shorebirds were in an asphalt parking lot in a shallow pool of water, but when I got down low enough the reflections on the water made the setting look more natural. Matheson Hammock Park Matheson Hammock Park It's a very pretty park, though, and I'd love to return again.  I spent a little time exercising my Canon Powershot G7...

Pectoral Sandpiper Last week I walked out to the St. Johns River at Puzzle Lake from Brumley Rd with a friend of mine. It was his first time out with me to this location.  We were both hoping for some new Seminole County birds--he wanted Pectoral Sandpiper and Cliff Swallow and I wanted Black Tern and, much less likely, Willet.  We walked about 8 miles and ventured a bit farther north than I've gone in the past.  It seems the farther north I go the better the birding is.  I suspect that's because the Econ River and St. Johns River are closer together and there's more sand flats and mud flats for shorebirds. We missed out on a Willet or any other more rare shorebirds, but we did see several Pectoral Sandpipers.  They were easily the highlight of the morning.  One in particular flew right by me and even landed close enough for me to get my best photos of the species. Pectoral Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Aside from this, good photos were fe...

Black-necked Stilt Yesterday I made the long trek out to the St. John's River at Puzzle Lake from Brumley Rd.  I'm always impressed with place when I go. I was hoping for returning shorebirds, and I didn't get anything new for the year, but it was nice to see returning Greater Yellowlegs and Least Sandpipers, hopefully as a sign of other species to come over the next few weeks.  Killdeer and Black-necked Stilts are stilt there, of course, and it was exciting to see some little chicks running about. Black-necked Stilt Least Sandpiper (one of about 10 I saw)   I added four new birds to the eBird hotspot: Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Wood Duck, Swallow-tailed Kite and Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and I added Ruby-throated Hummingbird to my own list for the hotspot. In all I saw 47 species--here's my eBird checklist . Red-shouldered Hawk (immature) It was also fun to see this Sabatia flower, which I'm pretty sure is a Large Flower Sabatia. I've phot...

Common Yellowthroat Earlier this year I "discovered" a new place for birding in Seminole County.  For a couple years now, I've been looking for a way to get to the St. John's River at Puzzle Lake from Seminole County. Strangely, I've birded Brumley Rd several times but I've never gone to very end of the road, so I've never seen this trailhead. And to my knowledge, no other birders have taken these trails to the St. John's River before.  So in February of this year, I decided this would be my new adventure for Seminole County.  I walked from the trailhead to the St. John's River and back. I've done so six times now, and already I've racked up 116 bird species along the trail and at the river [ field reports ]. The Trails Here's a map of the route I took on my second trip on March 7, 2015.  I'm showing this map because it allows you to see two ways to get out to the flats and back.  Since this trip, I've walked out to the S...

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...

Bobolink I had a great morning at Marl Bed Flats today.  I found two Seminole County life birds: Semipalmated Sandpiper and Stilt Sandpiper. Of course, these birds aren't all that unusual along the coast, but inland they're a little more uncommon.  I've been keeping an eye out for both species this year, hoping they would turn up, but I didn't expect I'd see both in one day. Neither species was all that photogenic though, and other species were much more cooperative. Bobolink Bobolink Red-winged Blackbird Bobolinks and Red-winged Blackbirds were everywhere, particularly Bobolinks. I estimated that there were 150 of them there. Roseate Spoonbill There were about 8 Roseate Spoonbills, and these were the first I've seen this year in Seminole County. Semipalmated Sandpiper and Least Sandpiper One of the Semipalmated Sandpipers did pose for a photo briefly along with a Least Sandpiper in the background.

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

Least Sandpiper Least Sandpipers have their names for a reason--they're the smallest peep we get to see. Consequently, I also have a hard time getting close enough for good photos.  But this one was by the shore where there' sa parking lot, so I was able to shoot these photos without leaving my car, and it wasn't disturbed by me. Least Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Least Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper Yesterday I drove out to Merritt Island for the morning. It was a little slow, but it was still a pretty good morning.  Even though I see Least Sandpipers frequently there, I rarely get to see them up close and in good light.  Well yesterday I finally got some nice shots of these wonderful birds.   Black-necked Stilts are breeding here, so it was fun to see them just about everywhere, but it was also nice to see American Avocets in breeding plumage.  Even the Willets were sporting their new breeding looks. Black-necked Stilt and American Avocet Willet