outdoor photography

Golden-winged Skimmer There's a wonderful little trail within the Little Big Econ State Forest. It's called the Jones East Trailhead on Snowhill Rd.  It's a wonderful little area worth more exploration.  I've only been here three times, but I've enjoyed it every time.  The area is a mixture of pine flatwoods with a hardwood hammock and bay swamp near the river.  There is lots of open space, especially near the parking area, so you'll be out in the sun a fair amount.  A trail map of the area can be seen here [ map ]. Here is a link to field reports from this location. Tarflower Trails There are several trails to explore, and while the area might seem small, the trails connect to other areas of the forest. You could walk all the way to the Barr St. trailhead off of SR-426 if you chose. Due west of the trailhead you can find a nice creek. If you walk northwest, you can make it to the Econ River. Below I've attached a map of one of my visits.  Duri...

Ebony Jewelwing It's been forever since I posted on my blog--terribly long.  I had my camera equipment stolen in early March, which took me a bit out of commission, but I have most of it back now, so I'm back in the swing of things, though I haven't done any blog posts at all in April.  Anyway, yesterday my father and I decided to visit Lake Mills Park.  I've only been there a couple times, and I've never had any luck there. However, a friend of mine found a Summer Tanager there a couple days ago, and I need that for my year list, so we gave it one more try. Downy Woodpecker The most obvious thing to check out there is the walk from the parking area to the lake.  This is the only area I'd explored before, and perhaps that's why I haven't been too successful there. There were surprisingly few birds there, though there were lots of Northern Parula in the trees.  It was fun to see a Bald Eagle, a Great Blue Heron and a Great Egret flying over the ...

Econ River Wilderness Area Trails The Econ River Wilderness Area is another of my favorite places ot visit in Seminole County.  It's only about 10 minutes from my home, so I can visit there on a whim, which is nice.  The wilderness area covers about  240 acres that extends from Old Lockwood Rd to the Econ River just north of UCF.  There are approximately 3 miles of trails that will take you from pine flatwoods and and sandhill habitats into hard wood and river swamp environments closer to the river. The trails are pretty poorly marked, but if you know your east from the west, it's not much of a problem.  The area is very long from east to west and narrow from north to south, so as long as you know you're heading east, you're going to make it to the river, and as long as you're heading west, you're going to make it to the parking lot. There's one little pond on the property that is visible from Old Lockwood Rd.  There's a trail that will take you ...

Red-bellied Woodpecker Earlier this year, I had fun watching a Red-bellied Woodpecker eat berries off a tree. We often think of woodpeckers as eating only the insects and other bugs they can get to by drilling a tree trunk. But they also eat other types of food, including nuts and berries. Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Swallowing

Econ River WA This morning I drove out to the Econ River Wilderness Area.  I always enjoy this place, and one day I'll spend more time just photographing the scenery.  But this morning I concentrated on the wildlife and found three of the four birds I was looking for: Brown-headed Nuthatch, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and a Blue-headed Vireo.  It was also fun to find several Carolina Chickadees, but again they only seem to pose for me when the lighting is less than desirable. Blue-headed Vireo Carolina Chickadee Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Brown-headed Nuthatch It was also fun to find a Red-bellied Woodpecker.  This one found a berry and decided to perch out on a branch and eat it.  In the last photo, you can see that the berry is still in its throat. Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker

American Redstart It was a beautiful morning, and I've been to Mead Gardens so many times lately that I decided to try someplace I hadn't been to in a while.  I went to Central Winds Park for about an hour before work.  It was a lovely morning.  The sheer number of birds there made it fun, even though the variety wasn't great.  Easily the biggest highlight of the morning was an American Redstart perched high in a tree. Red-bellied Woodpecker Snowy Egret There were several species of animals other than birds that I found interesting as well.  In particular, an American Alligator was swimming across the pond, and a Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly was fluttering around by the lake as well.  A clump of trumpet vine flowers also caught my attention as I was leaving. Trumpet Vine Spicebush Swallowtail American Alligator Here's a list of all the species I found this morning: Wood Stork 1 Anhinga 2 Great Egret 1 Snowy Egret 1 ...

Limpkin This morning I had to drop off my pool pump to a repair shop, but I got to the shop before they opened.  I was near a lake in Maitland called Lake Lilly, so I decided to walk around the lake to see what I might find until the shop opened at 8am.  For me, the biggest highlights were the Limpkin at the shore and the Tufted Titmice that were in the trees around the lake.  I watched the Limpkin open a shell and extract its meat, and the titmice were very good at putting on a nice little show in the trees. Limpkin Tufted Titmouse Tufted Titmouse But the lake also capitalized in cuteness this morning.  The lake had many Muscovy Ducks with many cute little ducklings, and there was a nice little bunny there that let me get pretty close to take its portrait.  I figured with all this cuteness, I'd let the all-time expert on cuteness, in my six-year old daughter, give her thoughts on what follows. Muscovy Duckling Julianna likes its black a...

Chuck-will's Widow This morning I went to Mead Gardens again with the great people with the Orange Audubon Society. We had a wonderful morning.  Easily the best highlight of the morning was seeing a Nightjar, in particular, a Chuck-will's Widow.  We saw one our way to the board walk.  On the board walk, we were happy to find an Indigo Bunting and a beautiful Prairie Warbler.  When we circled back to where we saw the Chuck-will's Willow, we saw it again, and when it flew away, another came and perched on another branch. Chuck-will's Widow I don't know if this is the same as the first I saw Indigo Bunting Prairie Warbler We saw some nice Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Great Egrets, and on a few occasions, I saw Northern Cardinal fledglings.  While I saw only one at at time in the same general area, I'm pretty sure there were more than one there.  It was also great to see a Cooper's Hawk. Cooper's Hawk Cooper's Hawk Cardinal ...