outdoor photography

Bufflehead This past Sunday afternoon I was at St. Marks NWR on my way home from Alabama, and I saw 3 female Bufflehead swimming in the water near my car.  There were no adult males, so I almost just drove on.  But that of course is sexist, right?  Why should the males get all the attention?  So I stayed and photographed them for a few minutes, and these three put on a pretty good show for me.  In fact, they were the photographic highlight of my visit to St. Marks. Bufflehead These images were shot with a 400mm lens at ISO 250 and at f/5.6 with a shutter speed of 1/1000sec.   I was in Aperture Priority mode with +1/3 stop exposure compensation.  I crouched down as low to the ground as I could without ending up with my lens in the grasses. Bufflehead Bufflehead Bufflehead

Lighthouse at St. Marks NWR On Sunday afternoon I was driving home from Dothan, AL, and I decided to "drop by" St. Marks on my way home.  Well, it's about an hour out of the way, but it just had to be done.  I spent about an hour and a half in the refuge, and other than one particular crazy driver, it was a nice restful break from highway driving.  St. Marks is beautiful, and I did see a fair number of birds there, but most of them were pretty far away, and I had very few keeper photos.  Most of them merely helped me identify birds in the distance.  I saw my first-of-the-year Black Crowned Night Herons and Canvasback ducks, all too far way to photograph.  But three female Bufflehead did put on a show for me, and photographically, they were my saving grace.  An Eastern Phoebe and Belted Kingfisher posed for me as well. Belted Kingfisher Eastern Phoebe Bufflehead Perhaps the best highlight was a Bobcat that walked right by my car. ...

Northern Harrier, St. Marks NWR St. Marks NWR [ gallery ][ map ] is an absolutley gorgeous widlife refuge south of Tallahassee on the gulf coast and southeast of the Apalachacola National Forest.  It's a massive refuge (68,000 acres) with a beautiful drive through the refuge, even with nice public restrooms.  They did this one right.  When you enter the refuge, I'd recommend driving slowly  to the lighthouse, taking stops along the way when you see interesting things. Once at the lighthouse, get out, put on plenty of bug spray, and walk the trails along the coastline. Pied-Billed Grebe, St. Marks NWR Last time I was there, their website told me that there were six whooping cranes nesting in the refuge, so keep your eye out.  I never saw them, but there was plenty of other wildlife to see, and the scenery was beautiful.  The best time to come here is when birds are migrating.  The last time I was here was in March 2010 (it's a 4-5 hour drive f...