outdoor photography

Swallow-tailed Kite This month eBird is encouraging birders try new places this month. Their challenge for this month is to visit 15 new locations this month.  I thought that sounded like a good challenge and set my sights on finding some new places to visit.  Wirz Park is on my way home, and it's already listed as a hotspot on eBird, but I've never been there before. It was the hotspot with the lowest total in Seminole Co. (16 species). I wasn't expecting much when I visited. However, I was very pleasantly surprised.  It's a nice-looking park, and there was a nature loop that includes a boardwalk and a trail that follows a stream. If you walk the loop and walk around the park itself, you'll walk about a mile. In my one visit on March 15 I recorded 37 species for eBird, raising the total for the hotspot up to 43. I think there's a fair amount of potential here, and it may even be a decent place to look for migrants over the next month or two. Highlights ...

Yesterday I spent the morning walking the trails of the Lower Wekiva River Preserve. I spent more time there than I have before, so I walked a lot farther.  Normally I walk to Marker F (the yellow star in the middle of the above frame) and then return.  But since I had more time I decided to walk farther.  I continued walking northeast until I ended up at a hardwood canopy. The trail got very wet, so I turned around.  Back home I found some new features on Google Maps that allow you to make maps and embed them in blogs, so I thought I'd give it a try. I drew the trails I normally walk and then put markers down for some of the sightings.  You can also embed photos in the markers.  So I thought I'd give it a try to see if it may be beneficial. I like this, but it may be more work to do than I want to do.  But we'll see. Maybe I'll do it for some of my favorite trails. Swallow-tailed Kite I was hoping to find a Red-headed Woodpecker; I heard one,...

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks Yesterday I drove back to the Lake Apopka Restoration Area where the Fork-tailed Flycatcher had been seen last week.  It had not been seen yesterday morning, but I thought I'd see if I could find it again.  It was a no show.  But there were about 30 or so Swallow-tailed Kites around, and they were having a literal field day with the dragonflies and grasshoppers that were there.  I found one kite that must have grabbed a blade of grass with its prey (it looks like a grasshopper but I can't be sure). I did take a few minutes to photograph the dragonflies as well.  I think I found both Red and Carolina Saddlebags, but I'm very new to identifying dragonflies, so I'm not confident in my ID yet.  On the way back to the car, I dropped by the ponds by the parking area on Canal St.  I found two Black-bellied Whistling Ducks with six little ducklings.  They stayed very close to their parents, tucked between mom and dad. ...

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

Swallow-tailed Kite This morning I drove out to Dade City to look for Mississippi Kites that were seen there yesterday. I got there around 8:30 am, and by around 9:30 am, the area was swarming with at least 40 Swallow-tailed Kites.  Then off in the distance, I saw my first Mississippi Kite.  It was very far away; one person with a scope was able to identify it, and one of my photos worked well enough as an ID shot, but it was just too far away for presentable photos.  But that was a lifer for me nonetheless.  The Swallow-tailed Kites were much more photogenic, and a couple  flew pretty close to us in search of prey.  I've never seen so many Swallow-tailed Kites in one place. Most were flying low over the grasses, allowing for some photos of the kites with green backgrounds. Swallow-tailed Kite  I'm always amazed at how well they use their tails. They can rotate them almost vertically as they're turning. After they capture their prey, you can ...

Swallow-tailed Kite A couple days ago, I went to Central Winds.  It was a pretty slow morning, but I did have fun photographing a Swallow-tailed Kite that was flying over the trees near the lake and pond.  Swallow-tailed Kites can be a little bit of a challenge to photograph in flight--not only are they all black and white, but shadows can cause significant contrast between the lit and shady portions of the white feathers.  Occasionally, though, they bank in just the right way to get a significant portion of the bird in even lighting.  Here's a couple of photos that turned out. Swallow-tailed Kite

Swallow-tailed Kite Today I found three Swallow-tailed Kites near Jay Blanchard Park (actually in an abandoned horse farm behind my church parking lot).  One of them flew pretty close to me. I suppose they're creatures of habit, since I used to see them last year roosting in a tree right where these were flying. Swallow-tailed Kite Swallow-tailed Kite Swallow-tailed Kite But these weren't the only fun birds to be seen today. I also found a nice American Kestrel, and one of many Yellow-rumped Warblers there posed for a picture. American Kestrel Yellow-rumped Warbler

Green-winged Teal This afternoon I dropped by a little retention pond on Lake Emma Rd.  The pond has shallow water right now, and it's been really good for shorebirds and ducks.  Today I found two Green-winged Teal in the pond and a Black-necked Stilt.  The stilt really surprised me.  I've been seeing Least Sandpipers, both Yellowlegs and Wilson's Snipe here, but I did not expect the stilt at all. Both of these birds were the first I've seen in Seminole County. Black-necked Stilt I was here a couple days ago and found a Swallow-tailed Kite, which is the first I've seen of the year.  It's funny how good a small, unattractive pond can be. Swallow-tailed Kite

Swallow-tailed Kite I thought it would be good to prepare galleries of my favorite species of wildlife, mostly birds, of course, but certainly not limited to that.  Most of these posts won't contain any text (and eventually I'll probably delete the text from this post too).  Really I just want collect my favorite photos of a species on a single page.  I'll then organize the pages into a gallery so that people can find photos of their favorite species as well. By the way, it's come to my attention that some people have been unable to comment using Internet Explorer.  I believe I've fixed the problem (it was forcing the document type to IE7), but if you encounter any problems, please let me know.  If you click on my "About Me" profile, it should let you message me. Swallow-tailed Kite Swallow-tailed Kite Swallow-tailed Kite Swallow-tailed Kite

Tricolored Heron Yesterday morning I went to Central Winds Park. I spent a few minutes there.  It was a relatively slow morning, but I did see a Red-shouldered Hawk enforcing the "don't feed the alligators" policy, and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher also posed for a photograph. Red-shouldered Hawk Blue-gray Gnatcatcher That evening I drove down to Jay Blanchard Park so my son could play Ultimate Frisbee.  As I arrived, I noticed six Swallow-tailed Kites roosting in a tree just north of the park.  One flew to the tree with a frog in its talons. Swallow-tailed Kites Swallow-tailed Kite

Swallow-tailed Kite Swallow-tailed Kites have begun moving into Central Florida again, and I thought I'd commemorate their return by posting about these wonderful and graceful birds on the Focusing on Wildlife site.  If you like, you can find this in their post entitled Swallow-tailed Kites . These are some of the most beautiful and elegant birds you'll ever see.

Swallow-Tailed Kite My favorite bird of prey is the Swallow-Tailed Kite.  It's a magnificent bird of amazing beauty and grace.  They are extremely agile and graceful flyers, and they can catch dragonflies and eat them while flying.  They show up around April here in Central Florida, and they stay here until July.  I have seen them everywhere.  I've even seen them fly over my house.  I saw two at one time at Viera Wetlands, and I've seen them along the Rte-417 corridor in Orange and Seminole Counties.  A great place to look is around J. Blanchard Park off of Rouse Rd. Swallow-Tailed Kite Swallow-Tailed Kite