outdoor photography

Common Yellowthroat Earlier this year I "discovered" a new place for birding in Seminole County.  For a couple years now, I've been looking for a way to get to the St. John's River at Puzzle Lake from Seminole County. Strangely, I've birded Brumley Rd several times but I've never gone to very end of the road, so I've never seen this trailhead. And to my knowledge, no other birders have taken these trails to the St. John's River before.  So in February of this year, I decided this would be my new adventure for Seminole County.  I walked from the trailhead to the St. John's River and back. I've done so six times now, and already I've racked up 116 bird species along the trail and at the river [ field reports ]. The Trails Here's a map of the route I took on my second trip on March 7, 2015.  I'm showing this map because it allows you to see two ways to get out to the flats and back.  Since this trip, I've walked out to the S...

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Wekiva River I just completed my fourth June Challenge.  For those of you who are not familiar, June Challenge is a friendly competition here in Florida.  The gist is this: pick a county in Florida and find as many bird species in that county in Florida during the month of June--they must be seen (heard only doesn't count).  My totals have risen every year: 2012     81 (80/1) Species 2013     96 (95/1) Species 2014     105 (104/1) Species 2015     114 (112/2) Species The main number is the total species followed by the ABA countable and ABA uncountable species in parentheses. Greater Yellowlegs and Black-necked Stilt St. Johns River Short-billed Dowitchers St. Johns River Semipalmated Sandpiper St. Johns River When I began my June Challenge this year, I seriously questioned whether it was going to be possible to beat my 2014 total, but in the beginning of this year I found a g...

Bobolink I had a great morning at Marl Bed Flats today.  I found two Seminole County life birds: Semipalmated Sandpiper and Stilt Sandpiper. Of course, these birds aren't all that unusual along the coast, but inland they're a little more uncommon.  I've been keeping an eye out for both species this year, hoping they would turn up, but I didn't expect I'd see both in one day. Neither species was all that photogenic though, and other species were much more cooperative. Bobolink Bobolink Red-winged Blackbird Bobolinks and Red-winged Blackbirds were everywhere, particularly Bobolinks. I estimated that there were 150 of them there. Roseate Spoonbill There were about 8 Roseate Spoonbills, and these were the first I've seen this year in Seminole County. Semipalmated Sandpiper and Least Sandpiper One of the Semipalmated Sandpipers did pose for a photo briefly along with a Least Sandpiper in the background.

Roseate Spoonbill Yesterday my father and I went out to Merritt Island.  We saw nothing terribly unusual (we went in part to find a Neotropic Cormorant that was seen the day before, but we never located it), but there were several photographic moments.  We went first to Black Point Wildlife Drive, and the lighting was pretty good.  There was one pool with many wading birds and shorebirds close together.  Rather than just giving a simple photographic overview of what we saw, I thought it would be fun do a series of posts of some of my favorite photographic moments from the hour we spent at this pool.  Here's a series of photos of a Roseate Spoonbill coming in to land.  There must have been 15 or so spoonbills here, and over the course of the morning, I suspect we saw close to 50.  But this one landing caught my attention. Roseate Spoonbill Roseate Spoonbill

Eastern Kingbird I spent this morning at Merritt Island NWR.  I first went to Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, and that was pretty fun. The biggest highlights were seeing several American Avocets in breeding plumage and my first Eastern Kingbird of the year.  The Eastern Kingbird was right near the restrooms, where I seem to find them every year. American Avocet At one of the stops there was a large mixed flock of wading birds and shorebirds (where I saw the avocets).  Photographically, this was the best part of my morning. At one point, a Peregrine Falcon dove in to attack, I suspect one of the many shorebirds, but pulled out of his dive. I was only able to get a photo after it decided to fly away.  Man, those birds fly fast! Snowy Egret White Ibis Lesser Yellowlegs Roseate Spoonbill Great Egret Peregrine Falcon After Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, I drove down Biolab Road and East/West Gator Creek.  The only significant find...

Northern Shoveler I spent the last morning of the year at Merritt Island. We went by Blackpoint Wildlife Drive and then Biolab Rd.  I was hoping to find one more species for the year, but it looks like I'll have to end the year at 259 Florida birds.  Still, it was a nice, sunny day, and there lots of fun highlights.  I don't think I've ever seen so many spoonbills on the island.  There were easily upwards of 50 Roseate Spoonbills, plus many Glossy and White Ibises.  Ducks were also plentiful, and at times the lighting was pretty good to photograph the numerous Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, and American Wigeon and Hooded Mergansers. Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Northern Pintail Hooded Merganser Hooded Merganser Wood Stork Roseate Spoonbill Glossy Ibis White Ibis Caspian Tern Red-winged Blackbird On the way back, we decided to drop by the visitor center to check the bird feeders for Painted Bunti...

Great Blue Heron Yesterday morning a friend and I headed out towards St. Petersburg, FL.  We got a late start, but we decided to go to Circle B Bar on the way to see what we might find. It was a pretty good morning, though not as fantastic as it was when I was here last in November. Highlights for me were seeing several Limpkin, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and Roseate Spoonbills. We saw a Sandhill Crane sitting on a nest, but we didn't want to watch it for very long.  I saw very few ducks; in fact, I only saw Blue-winged Teal, and the American Bitterns we were hoping to see eluded us.Others there told us that there was a Bobcat that was chased off by several River Otters before we were able to see the Bobcat. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Roseate Spoonbill Common Gallinule or Moorhen Anhinga Red-bellied Woodpecker Here is a list of species I found between about 9:30am and 12:15pm yesterday morning. Blue-winged Teal X Pied-billed Grebe 5 Double-crested Corm...