outdoor photography

Since May, I've been doing a lot of hiking at the Little Big Econ State Forest. The area is one of my favorite places to hike, especially in Central Florida. You can see major portions of the Econ River as well as some of the St. John's River, and there's a beautiful mix of pine flatwoods, marshy flood plains, and everything in between. During the summer the only birds here are breeding birds that I've photographed many times before, so I decided to bring my macro lens with me and focus on flowers, insects and other wildlife. The culmination of these efforts is a vastly expanded catalog of photos with a much greater diversity of species. I decided to celebrate this with a video slide show focusing on all the tracts and trails of the State Forest and Wildlife Management Area. I hope you enjoy it.

A few months ago I purchased a point and shoot camera, the Canon Powershot G7X.  I wanted to be able to quickly take photos of landscapes while I'm out birding without having to carry two DSLRs or switch lenses.  I had very little desire to take video with the camera.  However, it's very easy to do, so lately I've taken some short videos just see if I could make something interesting.  Last week I was up in Maryland, and I took 20 second videos of all the scenes I photographed.  Then I put them together as short movies with background music. I visited Patapsco Valley State Park in Baltimore and Swallow Falls State Park in western Maryland. I love the photos I took of these parks, but when I put together the video footage, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they seemed a bit more interesting. When I returned home, I figured I would visit a waterfall in my home county. It's nothing like what I can visit in Maryland.  It's tiny and not very pict...

Rose of Plymouth Brumley Rd Trailhead The Little Big Econ State forest is a fairly large stretch of forest with many trailheads that allow you to see quite a variety of habitats and a diversity of wildlife that I have just recently come to appreciate.  These locations have some of the best birding within Seminole County. Thanks to the wonder of eBird "patches," I can tell you that so far I've seen 145 bird species among these trails and parks, though I've only given much attention to them this year. I've divided my treatment of the SF into two headings: west and east.  As you can see in the map below, there are two main sections of the SF connected by a thin strip along the northern shore of the Econ River. Click Image for PDF view I've visited four trailheads in the state forest.  Snowhill Rd bisects the two main areas. West of Snowhill Rd are the Barr St and Jones East (mountain bike) trailheads, as well as an equestrian trailhead I've not tr...

Barn Swallow This past week I decided to go to the Little Big Econ State Forest to look for migrants.  As I pulled into the parking lot, I found about 50 or so Barn Swallows perched on the utility lines.  I decided to walk over to see if I could find any Cliff or Bank Swallows among them.  No luck there, but I did have some fun photographing the Barn Swallows too.  Some of them were juveniles, so they look a little different than the adults. Barn Swallow Barn Swallow Barn Swallow

Black-and-white Warbler Every time I visit this place I can't help but wonder why they couldn't decide if the Econ State Forest was little or big.  But what I have decided for myself is that I love this place, and I can't believe I've neglected it my first two years birding in Florida.  This morning was pretty fun.  Great Crested Flycatchers are moving back into the area, and I photographed my first of the year this morning.  Warblers were also fun.  I found seven this morning: Ovenbirds, Black and White Warblers, Northen Parula, Palm Warblers (including one "yellow" variety), Pine Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a Yellow-throated Warbler.   I've seen Black and White Warblers occasionally throughout the winter, but their numbers seem to be increasing right now.  I heard several White-eyed Vireos and two Red-eyed Vireos, and the Red-eyed Vireos were the first I've seen this year. Black-and-white Warbler looking for its keys Great Crest...

Savannah Sparrow at Marl Bed Flats When I first moved to Central Florida, the first places I visited for nature and bird photography were in Brevard and Orange Counties.  I didn't know of any good places to visit in Seminole County where I live.  Every new place I found was in another county. But last year I began discovering my home.  It turns out that, while Seminole Co may not have quite the same variety of birds that its surrounding counties my have, if you know where to go, you can actually do pretty well here.  And there are some places in the county that are quite beautiful for nature photography and  landscapes.  So I thought it would be good to collect my favorite birding and photography locations within Seminole County and share them. Econ River Area My favorite places in eastern Seminole Count are located near the Econ River.  I began discovering places around here in June of last year.  It was so fun to begin finding pine fores...

Little Big Econ State Forest This afternoon I decided to drop by the Little Big Econ State Forest for a few minutes.  I've driven by this place many times on my way to Geneva WA and other places.  I don't know why I've never come here before.  Maybe it's because they couldn't decide if it was little or big.  But it was hard to believe how pretty this area is, and I'm kicking myself for not visiting this place sooner.  As pretty as it was today, I suspect it will be even prettier when the water level is higher on the Econ River. Little Big Econ State Forest Little Big Econ State Forest There were plenty of birds to be seen here as well.  I found White-eyed Vireos, Blue-headed Vireos, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Palm Warblers (including one "yellow"), a Pine Warlber and a Yellow-throated Warbler.  The biggest treat, though, was a Hermit Thrush--this is my first Hermit Thrush of the year. Blue-headed Vireo Palm Warbler (Yellow)...