outdoor photography

Yellow Warbler Yesterday my father and I drove out to Lake Apopka to see the wildlife drive. It amazes me that every time I visit something new seems to present itself.  I suppose it's not too surprising that this is the case right now, since migration is now in full swing.  The biggest find for me was a Veery--well, two of them in fact--along the lake shore loop trail.  Unfortunately, they stayed too far back for me to get good photos.  Another fun bird was a Worm-eating Warbler, though this bird took off before I could get a photo. Yellow Warbler We walked the loop trail south a little ways, and that was one of the more productive areas.  We were looking for a Snail Kite that had been seen there last week, and we had no luck relocating it.  We didn't expect to get very many good photos either, since we were walking along the eastern shore of the lake in the morning.  In order to photograph birds in the shrubbery to the east, we had to loo...

Black-necked Stilt Yesterday I made the long trek out to the St. John's River at Puzzle Lake from Brumley Rd.  I'm always impressed with place when I go. I was hoping for returning shorebirds, and I didn't get anything new for the year, but it was nice to see returning Greater Yellowlegs and Least Sandpipers, hopefully as a sign of other species to come over the next few weeks.  Killdeer and Black-necked Stilts are stilt there, of course, and it was exciting to see some little chicks running about. Black-necked Stilt Least Sandpiper (one of about 10 I saw)   I added four new birds to the eBird hotspot: Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Wood Duck, Swallow-tailed Kite and Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and I added Ruby-throated Hummingbird to my own list for the hotspot. In all I saw 47 species--here's my eBird checklist . Red-shouldered Hawk (immature) It was also fun to see this Sabatia flower, which I'm pretty sure is a Large Flower Sabatia. I've phot...

Red-shouldered Hawk This morning I dropped by Central Winds Park.  As I drove into the park, I saw lots of birds in the grass by one of the football fields.  It looked like a mixed flock of grackles, cowbirds and starlings.  On my way out I decided to drive by that area, but all the birds there had scattered.  Then I found out why.  There was a Red-shouldered Hawk in the grass with something it caught.  I angled my car to get a view of it out my passenger-side window, turned the car off, and took a few shots.  At one point, I decided to move the car a little to get a better view, but at just that moment it flew off with three other hawks following it. I never had a good look at the bird it caught. it looks like the tail feathers are sticking up in these photos; I'm guessing it's a boat-tailed Grackle tail, but I'm very open to other interpretations. Red-shouldered Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk  

Red-winged Blackbird In my last post I shared some photos of a Snail Kite at Orlando Wetlands Park. That morning I basically walked to the kite and then walked back, but I did take some photos of other birds I'd seen along the way. Along with these, I saw about 5 Least Bitterns, but none stayed in the open long enough for photos. Swallow-tailed Kite Red-shouldered Hawk Purple Gallinule

Prothonotary Warbler June Challenge is officially over. During last year's June Challenge, I logged 80 species for Seminole County; this year I ended up with 96, including a Graylag Goose, which is not the FOS list. I was hoping to hit 100 species, but I really didn't expect that to be possible.  I was away in MD and VA for a week, and even if I were here the whole month, I thought I'd have to get pretty lucky to hit the century mark.  So I'm extremely happy with 96.  I added 17 species that I didn't find last year, so I'm pretty happy about that too. Downy Woodpecker I've shown pictures of most of these birds in previous posts from this month, though for this post I used photos of these birds in different poses, so they aren't the exact same images. Limpkin Bald Eagle Red-shouldered Hawk Crested Caracara Eastern Meadowlark Carolina Chickadee In the list below, I put an asterisk (*) by birds I didn't see la...

Red-shouldered Hawk By Lake Jesup Over the last few months, I've been watching a Red-shouldered Hawks' nest at Central Winds Park.  It all started with their courtship along rte 434 just south of the park.  Then I found their nest inside the park.  I've seen the fledgings hanging out on branches by the nest, and now they're flying around the park.  I wasn't sure how many young ones there were, because there was no good view of the nest.  I knew there was at least two.  Well this afternoon I found one down by the shore of Lake Jesup, and then two near the nest area.  I can't be sure if the one by the shore made it back to the nest area by the time I did, but I have a feeling that that's what happened.  I didn't see either of the adults, but the kiddos appear to be doing fine. Red-shouldered Hawk #1 Near the Nest (same as above?) Red-shouldered Hawk #2 Near the Nest Given how cloudy/shady it was, I had to shoot both of these at pret...

Red-shouldered Hawk We had a pretty good morning at Orlando Wetlands Park. We didn't see anything terribly unusual, but there were some fun photographic moments.  Well, not so fun for rabbits.  One of the first sights we saw was a Red-shouldered Hawk with a rabbit (perhaps a Marsh Hare).  We also saw several Purple Gallinules, and one was pretty close, allowing me to get some photos.  On the way back, we saw a Sora and a Sandhill Crane fledgling walking with his parents near by. Purple Gallinule Sora Sandhill Crane Little Blue Heron

Red-shouldered Hawk We have many Red-shouldered Hawks here, and I always enjoy seeing them.  In Florida we get to enjoy our own variety of Red-shouldered Hawks with an overall lighter plumage than eastern and western varieties.

Belted Kingfisher This morning I went to Orlando Wetlands Park.  I was hoping to see the Vermilion Flycatchers that were seen there this past November, and I found both without much difficulty.  They're such a beautiful red I can't miss them even with my red-green colorblindness. They were pretty far a way, but since they're such pretty birds I decided to show you a photo from the same location last year when one was much closer. Vultures were pretty photogenic this morning, especially a couple Black Vultures picking on the remains of a turtle.  And a Belted Kingfisher decided to land on a perch very close to me, then immediately saw me and took off; thankfully I got this photo as she was leaving.  Other highlights were a Red-shouldered Hawk and Limpkins Vermilion Flycatcher (Feb 2013) Vermilion Flycatcher (Feb 2012) Black Vultures Turkey Vulture Red-shouldered Hawk Two Limpkins

American Kestrel This morning I returned to Central Winds and found an American Kestrel at the top of a goal post in the football field.  On the other end of the field was another goal post, and a Red-shouldered Hawk was occupying one side of the goal post. Red-shouldered Hawk As you can clearly see, this goal post is vastly superior to the one occupied by the Kestrel, so the Kestrel was obligated to take it for herself.  It had to be the side on which the hawk was perched, though.  The other side of this post just won't do. In for the attack So this is a dilemma.  What to do?  The hawk is much bigger than the kestrel, but that doesn't stop the kestrel from making a royal pest of herself.  She swooped the hawk several times until she finally succeeded in making it fly away.  Then she took the post for itself.  I saw this kestrel (I think it's the same one) do the exact same thing to an Osprey about a week ago.  You have to app...

Red-shouldered Hawk Mead Gardens Red-shouldered Hawks are our most common hawks, seen all year round in just about any park I go to.  It's more uncommon not to see one than to see one.  I've seen them with snakes, frogs, insects, voles, small ducks, squirrels, Blue Jay chicks and even a Pileated Woodpecker fledgling.  They're pretty fantastic bird to watch. The easiest way to recognize them, other than the red patches on their shoulders, is white "window pain" patch near the end of their wings visible in flight. Red-shouldered Hawk Orlando Wetlands Park Red-shouldered Hawk Orlando Wetlands Park Red-shouldered Hawk Orlando Wetlands Park Red-shouldered Hawk first year Viera Wetlands Red-shouldered Hawk fledgling Lake Lotus Park Red-shouldered Hawk fledgling Jay Blanchard Park