outdoor photography

Blue Dasher On April 6, I visited Spring Hammock Preserve. I go there frequently this time of year because it's a good place to get Prothonotary Warblers and Yellow-billed Cuckoos (found the former, not the latter). While walking the trails, though, I enjoyed seeing the dragonflies and other insects that were dancing in and out of the lit areas of the trail.  Most of the dragonflies were either Great Blue Skimmers or Blue Dashers (there may have been others that escaped my notice). Great Blue Skimmer There was also a very interesting bee working on some of the flowers in the shade. The wings of the bee look like they have blue iridescence. So far I've been completely unable to find the name of this bee. Should I get an update from Bug Guide, I'll update this post. Bee on Flower Bee on Flower

Black-crowned Night Heron I drove to Spring Hammock Preserve this morning hoping to find my first Great Crested Flycatcher of the year.  I didn't see one, but I did hear one calling.  The biggest surprise, though, was this Black-crowned Night Heron.  It had flown up into the branches of a tree overhanging a stream, so my guess is that it's going to try to nest somewhere along the stream.  I'm going to have to come back here more often now.  It would be wonderful to confirm breeding of Black-crowned Night Herons in this block.

Northern Parula This week has been pretty fun for migrants.  A Red-eyed Vireo showed up about 2 weeks early, and there were 3 Louisiana Waterthrushes and 2 Hermit Thrushes, though none posed well for photos. Other more common birds were more cooperative, including many Carolina Wrens, Northern Parula, and Barred Owls. For some reason, this is the first Barred Owl I've seen here.  It was pretty dark, so I had to photograph the owl at 6400 ISO, which I normally avoid like the plague (really, any thing over 1600 I try to avoid).  But there was no blue in the frame, and it was pretty much the only way I could get the shot, so I tried it. I certainly won't be printing these, but I was pretty impressed with how my Canon 7D handled the noise. Carolina Wren Barred Owl Barred Owl

Prothonotary Warbler This morning I walked the Osprey Trail at Spring Hammock Preserve in search of the Prothonotary Warblers I'd seen there a couple times in May.  With all the rain we've been having, there is a lot of water under the board walk, and it seemed to me a great place to look for breeding Prothonoary Warblers..  There were more mosquitoes along the trail than birds, but I was rewarded at the end of the boardwalk with the sight of a beautiful male Prothonotary Warbler.  He perched in the sunlight for me; unfortunately, it was so dark under the canopy of trees that I had my ISO set to 2000, but the photo above doesn't show the noise very much.  I walked to the very end of the board walk and heard a couple Purple Gallinules there before deciding to head back.  On the way back I found a male and a female, and the female was foraging for food; at one point she took off with a tasty morsel for the nest (that photo had to be shot at ISO 4000). Once get...

Cabbage Palm Canon Powershot S100 I forgot my camera when I left for work this morning, and I'm kicking myself for  it.  I returned home from St. Louis last night, and I left my DSLR on the dining room table.  I decided to walk the Osprey Trail on Spring Hammock Preserve anyway, and thankfully at least I had my binoculars and point and shoot camera.  I walked down to the boardwalk and found two Prothonotary Warblers, and at the lake shore I found one distant Purple Gallinule.  The Prothonotary Warlbers must have known that I didn't have my good camera, and they both flew very close to me--mocking me for my forgetfulness.  I did get a couple shots with my point and shoot, though, which I'll include at the bottom of the post, just for those that might want to see them.  On the way back, I decided to look for subjects to photograph that my camera might be able to handle well.  Here is what I found. Petunia Canon Powershot S100 Some sort...

Northern Parula This morning my son had a 9am appointment in Sanford, and I had a work obligation in Orlando at 2pm.  Not wanting to risk something going wrong, I decided to stay local and bird my way from Sanford to Orlando. I first went to Spring Hammock Preserve, hoping for a Prothonotary Warbler and Northern Waterthrush.  I succeeded with the latter but not with the former.  The place was also loaded with Northern Parula and Red-eyed Vireos; I heard both frequently all long the trail. On the way back I came across a butterfly that I later identified as a Hackberry Emperor. Hackberry Emperor From there I went to Central Winds park, hoping for a Prothonotary Warbler. No luck there, and in fact, there wasn't much at all to speak of there, but there was a Lesser Scaup by the shore of Lake Jesup.  Most of the rest of the ducks have moved on; I'm not sure why this one has stayed so long. Lesser Scaup From there I drove down to Mead Gardens, which has ...

Louisiana Waterthrush This morning I dropped by Spring Hammock Preserve just east of Lake Jesup.  There's a path that follows a stream there, and I thought the stream might be good for finding waterthrushes.  I ended up finding three Louisiana Waterthrushes along the north side of the trail and a fourth on the south side of the trail.  Since I found the fourth on my way back, it's possible that one of the ones I found on my way out just flew across the trail, but I think I found four in all.  Other warblers that were there were many singing Northern Parula, one Ovenbird, one Common Yellowthroat, and many Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  The photos here are a little grainy since the waterthrush was in the shade, and I had to raise my ISO to 3200 to get a shutterspeed of 1/125 sec. Louisiana Waterthrush It was also fun to find a Pileated Woodpecker working on a tree not far from the trail.  I got this shot off before it saw me and flew away (unfort...

Savannah Sparrow at Marl Bed Flats When I first moved to Central Florida, the first places I visited for nature and bird photography were in Brevard and Orange Counties.  I didn't know of any good places to visit in Seminole County where I live.  Every new place I found was in another county. But last year I began discovering my home.  It turns out that, while Seminole Co may not have quite the same variety of birds that its surrounding counties my have, if you know where to go, you can actually do pretty well here.  And there are some places in the county that are quite beautiful for nature photography and  landscapes.  So I thought it would be good to collect my favorite birding and photography locations within Seminole County and share them. Econ River Area My favorite places in eastern Seminole Count are located near the Econ River.  I began discovering places around here in June of last year.  It was so fun to begin finding pine fores...

Wood Ducks This morning I got to work a little early to see what may be hanging out around my office parking lot.  There wasn't much of interest there, but there were 8 Wood Ducks on the lake, so I took a few photos of them. Red-shouldered Hawk This evening I decided to drop by the Spring Hammock Preserve--I've never been there before.  There's a wonderful trail that takes you to the western edge of Lake Jesup.  As you get close to the lake shore, the trail becomes a boardwalk, and you can find giant Cypress trees there with Ospreys frequently heard in the trees.  I saw two Purple Gallinules at the lake shore, but I didn't get any photos. Osprey Osprey