outdoor photography

Rambur's Forktail This morning I decided to head out to Marl Bed Flats to see what birds and bugs I might find. I was pleased to see that the flats aren't nearly as dry as they were the last time I visited. There was standing water near the slough, and that was encouraging to me. I didn't see a lot of birds, but there were bugs everywhere. I saw several species of dragonflies and damselflies. The biggest treat was seeing two mating Rambur's Forktails. They didn't mind me getting close with my camera, so I got my first decent photos of a mated pair. Blue Dasher Blue Dasher Little Blue Dragonlet Eastern Amberwing I only photographed three butterflies: Little Yellow, Southern Skipperling, and Common/White Checkered Skipper. Little Yellow Little Yellow Southern Skipperling It was also fun to find a different species of bee fly (I think  Poecilanthrax lucifer )  and a new species of assassin bug (I think  Acanthocephala termin...

Southern Skipperling On April 17th, I visited Marl Bed Flats, and I did something I haven't done in years. I took my 180 mm macro lens and not my 400 mm telephoto lens. My bet was that I wouldn't see any birds that needed photographing but I would see bugs that needed photographing. Thankfully, I was right. I walked out to Lake Jesup looking for birds, and walked back looking for bugs. There were lots of butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies that took a good deal of my attention. I got my first presentable photos of a Southern Skipperling and my first ever photos of a Big Bluet. Here are the dragonflies and damselflies I'd seen. Rambur's Forktail Big Bluet Four-spotted Pennant Eastern Amberwing Here are some more of the butterflies I saw.  Including the Southern Skipperling above, I only saw three species, though there were several of each, especially Little Yellows. Fiery Skipper Little Yellow

Marl Bed Flats at Sunset On April 7, I visited Marl Bed Flats to view the sunset. I also wanted to see what shorebirds might be present, and a number of them flew in to the area right at dusk (about 100 Least Sandpipers, several dowitchers and yellowlegs, 2 Stilt Sandpipers, and about 5 Black-necked Stilts). But the sunset turned out to be the highlight of the evening.  We don't have anything resembling topography here in Central Florida, and the highest point in this whole park may be only about 5 ft above sea level (Lake Jesup is below 3 ft about sea level). So to make a sunset interesting, you have to use trees. There's a row of trees marking the "trail" out int he flats, so I decided to use those trees for the foreground. Marl Bed Flats at Sunset Before sunset, I played around with photographing solitary trees in the flats--one alive and one dead. It gave me a sense of solitude that mirrored my own experience out there. There was no one within perhaps ...

Swamp Sunflowers Shortly after I moved down to Florida, I heard about the beautiful Swamp Sunflowers that bloom in Late September and Early October at Marl Bed Flats.  However, I've never remembered to go visit while they were blooming. I'm always too early, too late, or I forget all together.  Earlier this week, however, I made it there while they were still blooming. Swamp Sunflowers Swamp Sunflowers Swamp Sunflowers

Ruff This morning I drove out to Marl Bed Flats. It rained last night, and I was hoping something interesting might show itself out on the flats.  I got my wish when I saw a couple Semipalmated Plovers in the muddy areas along the lake shore.  I also flushed a Wilson's Snipe--a common species in March, but pretty rare this time of year. I would have arrived at work happy just to see these. Ruff However, down by the shore of Lake Jesup I came across a loose flock of yellowlegs and Black-necked Stilts. As I was taking photos of the yellowlegs, one turned its head and the bill was too short for a yellowlegs. Then I saw a profile view of the bird and a flight shot, and I was blown a way.  A Ruff, practically in my back yard! This bird is about 20 minutes from my home.  I still can hardly believe it. Bobolinks with 2 Least Sandpipers Another highlight was about 150+ Bobolinks in the same area.  I got one pretty fun flight shot of them, mostly males wi...

Red-footed Cannibalfly Late last week I drove out to Marl Bed Flats. It has historically been my favorite place to look for shorebirds, but it has all but dried up, and the shorebirds are all gone.  I was hoping with all the rain we've had recently that things might change, so I gave it another shot.  Still no shorebirds.  The highlight of the morning was a flyover Eastern Kingbird--it didn't even have the decency to land in the park for a photo. Spicebush Swallowtail So I turned my attention to butterflies and other insects.  If I were more devoted to butterflies, I suspect I would see far more than I do. I see lots of them but I'm usually too tired and sweaty to give them much attention.  I photographed three butterfly species and one robberfly. I also learned something new about checkered-skippers.  I've seen Common/White Checkered-Skippers before (the two species are essentially identical), but I also saw a Tropical Checkered-Skipper.  Yo...

A couple days ago I upgraded my ProShow Gold software from Photodex. I've fallen out of use with this wonderful product, but my son needed to do a slideshow, so I upgraded my software. I figured since I spent the $45 on the upgrade, I should use it myself, right? So I put together about 40 photos from Marl Bed Flats , one of my favorite birding locations, and put together a slideshow. Trail to the Flats ProShow Gold is making it easier and easier to make slideshows look really nice. I used a wizard to collect and arrange my photos and choose music (you can now use royalty free music provided by Photodex, a nice touch). Then I modified some of the themes to suit my needs and used three of them throughout the slideshow. After getting them set the way I want, it was was a very quick process. I then exported it to my smugmug site. The fact that Photodex now supports uploading to SmugMug was a big reason for me deciding to upgrade. There is a lot more that can be done wit...

American Pipit I see these wonderful little birds all the time during the winter.  My favorite place to see them is Marl Bed Flats, where a flock of 50 or more may fly overhead at any moment.  I have a terrible time getting photos of them, though.  I get shots of them in flight, usually far away, and I can never seem to get close enough to them after they land to get a photo.  Well, yesterday a flock of about 20 flew by, and then one little straggler followed and landed not too far in front of me. As I made my way a little closer, it seemed okay with me.  Here's my best shot.  There's certainly room for improvement, but at least I don't mind showing it to you.

"Krider's" Red-tailed Hawk On Friday I went to Marl Bed Flats, which is my favorite place to look for shorebirds and ducks in Seminole County--well, let's be honest. Marl Bed Flats and Central Winds are my two favorite places to bird in Seminole County.  Marl Bed Flats has been pretty much flooded since October, and it's it's only become passable in the past month or so.  Even now it's wet--you need wading boots to get anywhere good. "Krider's" Red-tailed Hawk But the upper slough (where it's more shallow) is just filled with birds--hundreds of birds: ibises, herons and egrets, ducks (mostly Blue-winged Teal and Shovelers), and shorebirds (mostly yellowlegs, snipe and killdeer). "Krider's" Red-tailed Hawk The biggest surprise came when I heard a Red-tailed Hawk behind me. I went to look at it, and it was flying relatively low over the trees and towards me. It was all white on its undersides.  So I decided to ...

Spicebush Swallowtail Central Winds Park I just discovered a new website that I think is pretty wonderful.  It's the butterfly equivalent of eBird, called e-butterfly.org (don't forget the dash). This site lets you enter your butterfly sightings, keep track of your life list, and see what else has been seen near you.  The site seems self-consciously patterned after eBird, so if you use eBird, learning this site should be pretty easy.  This site is brand new, so there's still a few kinks to be worked out, and there appear to be very few users of the site, especially in Florida.  I'm a novice at butterflies, and for the most part I only record butterflies I photograph while birding.  I'm still currently ranked third in the State of Florida for sightings in 2014 out of nine others.  You get the picture. However, my guess is that this site will take off just like eBird has, and when it does, it will be an even more valuable resource for birders and butter...

Tricolored Heron On Monday I went to Marl Bed Flats in an effort to score some last minute birds for my June Challenge. A friend of mine had seen a Bobolink there, so I wanted to find that, but I also was hoping a couple new shorebirds might have flown into the area.  My favorite photo from this last ditch effort is the one above, a pretty, young Tricolored Heron out at the shore of Lake Jesup.  But I also wanted to try an app from Google called My Tracks.  It's a simple GPS tracking software. You press "Record" at the beginning of your trip and "Stop" at the end.  Then it gives you a map of where you went and some some nice stats about your journey. On this particular trip I walked 2.69 miles over 2 hours and 25 minutes and burned 485 calories. While you're walking you can put down markers for things that interest you, like a Boboloink or Tricolored Heron (though I didn't notice this feature until today).  After you're done, you can sync your tr...

Semipalmated Plover Yesterday morning I visited Marl Bed Flats again.  I'm pretty amazed at how good this place has been in May.  It's given me several Seminole County firsts, including a Short-billed Dowitcher, Stilt Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper and now a Semipalmated Plover. Black-necked Stilts are still here, though in much smaller numbers; now only about 4 remain (out of over 40 in April). I've seen 12 species of shorebirds here over the last week--I'm not sure what it is about this inland location that's attractive to them, but I'm not complaining. Greater Yellowlegs Black-necked Stilt And strangely enough there's also at least one Savannah Sparrow still here.  It's three weeks late in leaving us. As best I can tell it's healthy, so it's really puzzling to me. Maybe it wants to stay for the June Challenge, but I suspect that's too much to hope for. Savannah Sparrow

Stilt Sandpiper and Greater Yellowlegs Yesterday a friend and I returned to Marl Bed Flats in search of shorebirds.  We didn't find anything new, but we were able to get photos of the Stilt Sandpiper I'd seen a few days earlier.  It was pretty fun to find it again. It was in nice breeding plumage, and spent its time associating with a Greater Yellowlegs. Stilt Sandpiper and Greater Yellowlegs Stilt Sandpiper In other news, we heard a pair of King Rails in the same area, allowing us to record a probable breeding pair for the Breeding Bird Atlas II.