outdoor photography

Wood Duck Yesterday my father and I went to Mead Gardens hoping to find migrants.  It was strangely and eerily quiet, though.  Resident and breeding birds were there in abundance--Wood Ducks were there, which is always nice; Carolina Wrens were seemingly everywhere, and in a couple places you could see fledglings.  Northern Parulas and Common Yellowthroats were frequently heard and seen.  But it was a while before we actually saw birds that were just passing through.  We saw one Northern Waterthrush, one Black-throated Blue Warbler and one American Redstart.  So we turned out attention to some other fine friends.   A Box Turtle was out in beautiful colors and a Crab-like Spiny Orbweaver spun a web where we could frustrate ourselves trying to get a picture in a slight breeze.  As we were leaving a friend told me that a White-winged Dove was over by the feeders, so we marched back to get photos of this interesting species.  White-winged Dov...

Wood Duck The Wood Ducks on Grassy Lake, the pond by my office parking lot, are now the proud parents of four little ducklings.  This morning I saw the mom with the four ducklings, and as she swam around the lily pads, the ducklings would walk on top of them following her around.  It looked like they only entered the water to get to another lily pad. The dad was on the other side of the lake with his wallet showing all the other birds his photos and handing out cigars. Wood Duck Wood Duck Wood Duck Wood Duck Wood Duck Wood Duck Wood Duck (showing all four ducklings)

Barred Owl This morning was pretty fun at Mead Gardens.  I saw a couple Barred Owls and a few Wood Ducks that were cooperative with my camera, though most other species I saw were not.  I heard a Red-eyed Vireo in the park this morning, and I have a brief glimpse at a Painted Bunting on the boardwalk near the feeders.  A couple Great Crested Flycatchers were also seen and heard.  And I saw/heard nine species of warblers: Black and White Warblers, one Orange-crowned, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, Palm Warblerx (including one yellow/eastern variety), Pine Warblers, Yellow-rumped, and one Prairie Warbler. Barred Owl Wood Duck

Wood Duck There was a sure sign that Spring is returning to Central Florida this morning at Mead Gardens--the lovely sound of Northern Parula singing in the Live Oak trees.  It's a very welcome sound, and I found about 5 this morning, though none posed for photographs.  A pair of Wood Ducks, however, were just begging to get their pictures taken.  They were sitting on a tree branch which hangs over the water (one of their favorite places to perch), and I couldn't help but fire off a ton of shots of one of my favorite ducks. Wood Duck Wood Duck The Northern Parula were accompanied by Blue-gray Gnatcatchers (they sure know how to strike a pose!), Ruby-crowned Kinglets, American Goldfinch, Palm Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a nice Black-and-white Warbler. Gray Catbirds and Carolina Wrens also frequently made their presence known. I also found about three Hermit Thrushes, which is always a treat. Blue Gray Gnatcatcher Gray Catbird But the hig...

Yellow-rumped Warbler Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L (f/5.6 | 1/500sec | ISO 200) This morning I dropped by Mead Gardens again, hoping for some better wildlife than I'd seen earlier this week.  I didn't get what I'd hoped for, but It was still nice to visit the park and come back with some photos.  Yellow-rumped Warbler numbers are increasing in the park (today I found 5), and Wood Ducks are always nice to photograph, especially when they're perched on wood.  It was also fun to see a Marsh Hare standing on its hind legs.  It stayed that way for a while until it turned, noticed me, and took off. Wood Ducks Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L (f/5.6 | 1/100sec | ISO 1250) Great Egret Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L (f/5.6 | 1/320sec | ISO 1250) Marsh Hare Canon EOS 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L (f/5.6 | 1/125sec | ISO 2000)

Cooper's Hawk I finally had a little bit of time to give my new Canon EOS 50D camera a little bit of a workout at Mead Gardens.  For the most part, I'm pleased with the results.  Especially at lower ISOs, the 50D gives me more detail than my 40D without any more noise.  At higher ISOs, though, it's a different story.  I'm not sure that the 15 megapixel sensor is any benefit over the 40D's 10 megapixel sensor at ISO 800 and above.  Part of the problem, though, may well be that I also decided to try out Canon's new "highlight tone priority" (HTP) feature.  I'll explain more about this in a future post, but for now, suffice it to say that I do not think it's beneficial for wildlife photography--in fact, I think it makes my photos noisier (and more importantly, uglier noise) in the shadows.  The next time I go out, I will turn HTP off an compare my results. Wood Ducks and a Green Heron Wood Ducks Other than that, I had a pretty good h...

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

Black-bellied Whistling Duck Yesterday morning I went to Orlando Wetlands Park, and I had a wonderful time, despite not seeing some of the species I was hoping to see.  I missed seeing Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons, though I found out that if I'd taken a different path when I arrived, I'd have seen some (so I know where to go next time).  I also missed seeing Waterthrushes where I'd seen several last year.  I did, however, find 5 Least Bitterns, and while I didn't come home with any presentable photos, it was great just to see them.  I also found many Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, which are always fun to see. Wood Duck Plenty of egrets and herons were out and about, and I'm convinced that Orlando Wetlands Park is the best place in Central Florida to see and photograph just about any heron, egret or bittern.  The only exception is the Reddish Egret, which isn't generally found this far inland.  And I suppose I could add that, since...

Great Crested Flycatcher I immediately heard two Great Crested Flycatchers when I got out of my car this morning.  They were both in a tree very close to my car.  As I got out and walked over to them, they took off, but that allowed me to get one in flight.  Then, where they landed, I finally got a photo of them perched in a tree, rather than on a wire like I normally see them. Great Crested Flycatcher I love seeing Wood Ducks in trees.  I normally see one or two pairs here, but this morning there were 8 of them, one female and 7 males.  They posed for me in a Live Oak Tree for a while; I partially concealed myself with the dumpster right by their tree.  A Mockingbird didn't like that at all and swooped me.  So I moved to a different vantage point, and the ducks were fine with me until one of the janitors came by and scared them off.  They flew to the lake, so I took a few photos of them there. Wood Duck Wood Duck Wood Du...