outdoor photography

On Saturday, I visited Hal Scott Preserve to look for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. I found two, which was really nice to see. I also saw several Carolina Satyrs, and I got my best photos of the species. I then went to Tosohatchee, where I saw lots of interesting bugs. I'm playing with the video capabilities of my new Canon 7D mark ii with fluid head, so I put my photos in the above video using ProShow Producer. I also added the photos from the slideshow below. Red-cockaded Woodpecker Hal Scott Carolina Satyr Hal Scott Lilac Tasselflower Hal Scott Pine Hal Scott Oak Toad Tosohatchee Oak Toad Tosohatchee Crambini Moth Tosohatchee Long-headed Toothpick Grasshopper Tosohatchee Common Green Darner (Teneral) Tosohatchee

Henslow's Sparrow A few days ago a friend of mine visited Hal Scott to monitor the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers that breed on the grounds. As he walked through the wiregrass, he flushed about 3 Henslow's Sparrows.  There is so much good habitat for this species in this park, but I've never really gone searching for them because they're so hard to find. But it seems this Spring, they've started singing, and they even pop up onto branches to be seen. Henslow's Sparrow So a group of us set out yesterday morning to find these sparrows. The spot was about 4 miles away from the parking area, and we needed to be there around sunrise, so we rode bikes to get to the spot. It didn't take long, but my bike was woefully unprepared for the journey. I only have a road bike with thin tires, and the bike is over 20 years old. It's a very good bike, but I found out it's in disrepair. Tires are dry rotted, and as I rode out there, the rear tire frayed on one s...

Red-cockaded Woodpecker Well, third time's a charm it seems. Today I made my third visit to Hal Scott Preserve (I went twice in the summer of 2013 and then today).  This is the one park I know of where Red-cockaded Woodpeckers can be found in Orange County, but until today I haven't been able to find them here.  I've seen lots of trees with white rings around them (indicating that at some point in time there has been a nest in the tree), but never any sight or sound of them.  Until today, when I took a different route and got lucky I suppose.  I found a pair of them together.  One of them was pretty perturbed with a Downy Woodpecker.  The Downy just seem like it had to be working the same tree with it, but every once in a while the Red-cockaded Woodpecker would chase off the Downy.  It was pretty fun to watch.  I just stood in one spot, and the woodpeckers were so interested in each other they didn't seem to mind me at all. Red-cockaded Wo...

Red-cockaded Woodpecker This year I decided to try my hand at a little competition, called a 12 day big year.  You pick one day per month for 2014 and count as many species that you can find within those 12 days within the State of Florida.  I decided to join January 30th, giving me one day to get my January totals in, and it rained that day.  Then in February, I picked a day when I needed to be home by a little after lunch.  So I began the year woefully behind the leaders.  Not that it would matter much, since even on my best days I can't do a lot of traveling, and there are some very experienced birders in the competition. I'm not really in it to win it; it's just a fun little competition to participate in. I enjoy the atmosphere of friendly competition embodied by the competition. But yesterday was a pretty great day.  I totaled 103 species on the day and added 27 to my total for the year, giving me 131 so far.  I started out at Three Lakes Wild...

Red-cockaded Woodpecker This morning I joined the Orange Audubon Society at the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area.  My biggest hope was to see a Red-cockaded Woodpecker.  It was wonderful to see two of them.  We also found a Summer Tanager, the first I've seen this year. Other highlights were many Eastern Bluebirds, Carolina Chickadees, Pine Warblers, Eastern Towhees, about three Bachman's Sparrows, several Northern Bobwhites,  and a Crested Caracara. The Red-cockaded Woodpecker was a life bird for me. Red-cockaded Woodpecker Summer Tanager