outdoor photography

Western Kingbird Yesterday afternoon I drove out to Polk County to a kingbird roost about 1.5 hours from my house. Both Western Kingbirds and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers have been regularly reported there over the last few weeks.  I arrived around 4:30 and within about 10 minutes or so, the Western Kingbirds started flying in. I counted about 8 of them before a kestrel came by and dispersed them.  As it got close to 5pm, I started to worry that the  Scissor-tailed Flycatchers may be perching on a set of wires outside of my field of view, so I started driving around the area, and sure enough, 4 of them were with another group of about 10 Western Kingbirds. I'm uncertain how many of those kingbirds I'd seen before the kestrel dispersed the first group I saw, but I believe there were at least 12 in all. Pretty easy and fun birding.  And I must say, that area of Polk County is quite beautiful. Western Kingbird The first group of Western Kingbirds I saw had the d...

Nuttall's Woodpecker When we were in L.A. last week, we took a little time to visit Huntington Central Park.  I'd checked eBird and found that over 300 species have been recorded in this one little park. That's simply amazing to me!  The park reminded me of Central Winds, which is one of my favorite birding spots in my home county, though only 162 species have been recorded there. In fact, fewer than 270 species have been recorded in my whole county.  However, this park is near the beach, and it's in Southern California.  I had a wonderful time, and if I lived nearby, I suspect I'd need to be there at least once per week. The Nuttall's Woodpeckers I saw making more Nuttall's Woodpeckers were lifers for me. Western Bluebird Western Bluebird There were a few Western Bluebirds here too--I haven't seen these since I was a kid living in Concord, CA. I was pretty struck again by how beautiful these birds are, especially the males.  Our eastern va...

6 Western Kingbirds and 1 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Scissor-tailed in in the center right with 4 Western Kingbirds to its left, 1 above and 1 below Normally when I post a field report I put what I think is my best photo from the day up top.  But I chose this one today because it shows 6 Western Kingbirds and 1 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in the same tree, and in Central Florida. This is from Scrub Jay Lane in Minneola (Lake Co).  I believe there were actually seven in the tree, but in the photos I took of this scene, five show up in all, one appears in some at the top of the frame, and one appears in others at the bottom of the frame.  I have no photos with all seven in the same shot, so it's possible that the one on bottom flew to the top, but I don't think that's likely.  When the kingbirds and flycatcher flew closer to me, I got some solo shots of them.  What a weird morning! It's like a little Christmas tree in nature. 6 Western Kingbirds and 1 Scisso...

Western Kingbird This morning I got up early and drove out to Mt. Dora to find a Western Kingbird that was found there a couple days ago. I arrived at the the location on Britt Rd just south of Horse Ranch Rd right at sunrise, and after about 15 minutes, the kingbird popped up east of Britt Rd on top of some telephone lines.  The telephone lines are on the southern border of an orange grove and the northern border of a field with lots of sprinklers.  The lighting was terrible, as I had to look into the sun, and I could not ID the bird with my binoculars.  I had to take photos of the bird overexposed by 3+ stops just to get enough detail to confirm that I'd found the kingbird.  After about 20 minutes, however, it flew to the west side of Britt Rd and landed on the top of an orange tree.  This provided much better light for a much better look and much better photos.  The bird was still a pretty long way off, but I don't mind.  This is the first Weste...