outdoor photography

Northern Watherthrush A few days ago I finally had time to visit the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive. Many of the rarities that have been wintering here have made themselves scarce. I didn't see the Long-tailed Duck, the Ash-throated Flycatcher or the Vermilion Flycatcher. There were still lots of birds to see here, though.  There were lots of sparrows at the Lust Rd gate, including a Song Sparrow, two Grasshopper Sparrows, an Eastern Towhee and lots of Savannah and Swamp Sparrows. My favorite photo of the morning, however, was this Northern Waterthrush that I found along the loop trail road north of the pump house. I saw two Northern and one Louisiana Waterthrushes, but I was only able to get a photo of a Northern.

Northern Parula Central Winds is starting to get interesting. A couple days ago we had a Blue-winged Warbler there, and there's been between 8-10 species seen there each day.  There are lots of Northern Parula here, sometimes more than 20, and there have been a fair number of Redstarts, Yellow Warblers, Yellow-throated Warblers, and Black and White Warblers. Ovenbirds and Prothonotary Warblers have become regulars here in small numbers. Prothonotary Warbler Yellow Warbler Black-and-White Warbler Occasionally, we also have the pleasure of seeing a Northern Waterthrush or a Worm-eating Warbler, though they haven't been as cooperative for photos.  I'm including a couple photos here as simple ID shots. Worm-eating Warbler Northern Waterthrush We've also had one early Chestnut-sided Warbler come through. Hopefully a sign of good things to come.

Northern Waterthrush This past Saturday I visited the wildlife drive at Lake Apopka. I was hoping to get some nice migrant activity, and I was not disappointed. Yellow Warblers were everywhere! I estimated 20 of them, but I think I underestimated. In one little spot along the lakeshore there were perhaps 10 Yellow Warblers, 2 Prothonotary Warblers, 5 Prairie Warblers, 1 Northern Waterthrush, 1 Louisiana Waterthrush, and an Acadian Flycatcher. Yellow Warbler There was far less activity along the rest of the drive.  There were hardly any shorebirds at the sod fields, oddly enough, and that was a little disappointing. However, I did get a nice photo of an Eastern Kingbird, which is always nice. Eastern Kingbird A couple herons posed for photos as well. A Black-crowned Night-Heron was perched along the edge of vegetation not far from my car (this photo is hardly cropped), and a Great Blue Heron also perched in the reeds for me. Black-crowned Night-Heron Great Bl...

Veery My father and I drove out to Oak Hammock on Merritt Island today.  We'd heard some nice reports about some fun warblers there, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Unfortunately, I left my camera battery in my charger, but my dad let me borrow one his cameras, a Canon EOS 1D mark 4.  It was pretty fun to use--nice and fast, and noise levels were lower than my 7D.  I didn't see a lot of warblers there, but it was nice to find a couple Veery. It was also fun to see many Ovenbirds and a Northern Waterthrush. Ovenbird It was interesting, though.  Noise levels with the 1D mark 4 were better than my 7D, but there was a bit more noise than I anticipated. I took these shots at 2500 ISO, and noise was pretty visible, so I had to work on the backgrounds a little. The Ovenbird above is sharp, but a bit grainy; the waterthrush below is more tightly cropped, and the grain is also affecting the sharpness of the image. It just goes to show that there's no magic cam...

Northern Waterthrush We need some new weather to move through.  I've seen the same warblers for the last 3 days.  I shouldn't complain.  I saw 12 species this morning, and that's always fun. A Northern Waterthrush and a Limpkin posed for photos too. And this morning I found 3 new critters I've never seen before in the park--Raccoons. I'm not sure I'm happy about this. They're fantastic egg-robbers, and I prefer to have the birds.  But they're here, and I'm working on being content with that. Limpkin Raccoon

Northern Waterthrush I had a pretty good time at Central Winds this morning. I'd seen an Acadian Flycatcher there yesterday, though there was enough yellow on it that I thought it might have been an early Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. My recording of its calls was pretty terrible, but I still think it's an Acadian.  I returned to where I'd seen it yesterday in the hopes of getting a better recording, but I did not see or hear it. So I turned my attention to warblers.  There were at least 9 species in the park: Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush,  Worm-Eating, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Black and White, Yellow, Yellow-throated, and Prairie.  I also thought I heard a Prothonotary Warbler, but I never saw it.  I also found an Eastern Kingbird--my first in Seminole County for the year, and the first I've ever found at Central Winds Park. Here's a picture of the Acadian Flycatcher I found yesterday. Acadian Flycatcher Also last week (August 29th) I found...

Northern Parula This morning my son had a 9am appointment in Sanford, and I had a work obligation in Orlando at 2pm.  Not wanting to risk something going wrong, I decided to stay local and bird my way from Sanford to Orlando. I first went to Spring Hammock Preserve, hoping for a Prothonotary Warbler and Northern Waterthrush.  I succeeded with the latter but not with the former.  The place was also loaded with Northern Parula and Red-eyed Vireos; I heard both frequently all long the trail. On the way back I came across a butterfly that I later identified as a Hackberry Emperor. Hackberry Emperor From there I went to Central Winds park, hoping for a Prothonotary Warbler. No luck there, and in fact, there wasn't much at all to speak of there, but there was a Lesser Scaup by the shore of Lake Jesup.  Most of the rest of the ducks have moved on; I'm not sure why this one has stayed so long. Lesser Scaup From there I drove down to Mead Gardens, which has ...

Waterthrush #1 On my Birding is Fun post for this morning, I summarized what I have found to be the most useful ways to distinguish between our two waterthrush warblers, Louisiana and Northern.  I thought it would be fun to have a waterthrush quiz here (there's another one there too).  If you are still learning to distinguish between them, check out the post  and then look at these photos.  Some of the photos on the BiF post are the same birds in different poses here, so you'll likely get some of the answers just from comparing photos, but this is all just for fun anyway--no prizes. Feel free to include your answers in the comments below. Waterthrush #2 Waterthrush #3 Waterthrush #4 Waterthrush #5

Northern Waterthrush Waterthrushes may not look much like warblers, and you may not find them where you expect to find warblers, but warblers they are.  They like water, as you might imagine from their name, and Northern Waterthrushes tend to be low to the ground near standing water.  I found this one at Mead Gardens in an area that had been flooded by the rain we were having at the time.

Yellow-throated Warbler Central Winds continues to amaze me.  This morning before work I found 9 species in the park: Cape May, Yellow, Yellow-throated, Pine, Common Yellowthroat, Ovenbird, Northern Parula, Northern Waterthrush, and American Redstart.  The star of the show was a Yellow-throated Warbler that perched low in a tree for me.  But a Northern Waterthrush was probably the oddest find.  It was foraging perhaps 15 feet up in a tree farther away from the lake than I would have guessed.  My photo isn't that good, but I thought I'd show it just because it seems unusual to me.  Yellow-throated Warbler Northern Waterthrush

Northern Waterthrush Well I've been away from blogging for a while, but not away from birding.  I've been visiting Mead Gardens frequently as migrants have been trickling in.  The birds are teasing me right now--there aren't high numbers of species, but it's fun to see what I can.  I've been dead set on photographing both waterthrushes this fall.  As of today, I have photographs of both, but I'm only really happy with the Northern Waterthrush above.  The Louisiana Waterthrush below is my first photograph of the species, but I hope that it gives me a chance for a better shot. Louisiana Waterthrush If you're not familiar with waterthrushes, these warblers can be very difficult to tell apart, even for very experienced birders.  The Northern Waterthrush has some streaking on the throat and often a yellowish color on the belly.  The Louisiana has a bolder white stripe above the eye that is thick behind the eye with no yellow on the belly (though w...