outdoor photography

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...

Spotted Sandpipers on a Stroll Together Yesterday morning I got up early and made it to the end of Brumley Rd at the ungodly hour of 6am. It was still dark out, and I was not looking forward to the 3 mile walk out to the St. Johns River, but it just had to be done, and I had to leave this early if I wanted to be back in time for work.  I walked 8 miles and took a slightly different route than I've done in the past. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn off My Maps when I got in my car, so the map below also shows me driving down Brumley Rd for a little ways: There have been so many good shorebirds seen at Lake Apopka over the last week or so that I was hoping they would share some of their wealth with me at what may be the best shorebird spot in Seminole county (it's only competition is Marl Bed Flats, but that appears to be dried up at the moment). Black-necked Stilt Alarm Call My morning wouldn't have competed with Lake Apopka, but it was still an enjoyable morni...