outdoor photography

Sedge Wren Every year in March I make a trip from my home in Central Florida to a conference in Dothan, Alabama. It's a perfect opportunity for me to get up early and visit Payne's Prairie, La Chua Trail just south of Gainesville. So Friday morning I left before 6am to arrive at La Chua Trail before 8:30am.  I was hoping for some fun sparrows, but it's getting a little late in the year, I think, and it was a little windy. But I did get my best photos of White-crowned Sparrows in Florida, as well as a few others. White-crowned  Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Savannah Sparrow There were also plenty of wading birds. One Snowy Egret was particularly photogenic, and an American Bittern came out in the open to at least get to see most of him, even though surrounded by grasses.  There were several Black-crowned Night Herons here too, some immature.  The immature below I found quite interesting. It kept its head raised and neck extended the whole time I watched i...

Red-headed Woodpecker I was well over a mile away from my car when it started to rain. It was a drizzle at first, but eventually, it became a downpour. I wasn't expecting rain, so I didn't have my camera bag or binocular bag with me.  I was forced to tuck everything under my shirt and hat and hope for the best. And interestingly, it was really slow for me until it began to drizzle, and then the birds came out to play.  Yellow-rumped, Pine and Palm Warblers were numerous all around me. There were also  about 15 Eastern Bluebirds and about 3 Red-headed Nuthatches.  Then I heard a Red-headed Woodpecker calling--the first I've ever found in this park. After finding, it I continued to walk the path back to the car, and I found 5 more!  I've never seen so many in one place. All were in the same general area.  After I saw my sixth, there was a little break in the rain, so I decided to walk the area again and recount. On my second pass I saw 4 and heard 1 more....

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

Eastern Phoebe This morning I dropped by Mead Gardens before work.  It was somewhat quiet, but there were some highlights.  A Yellow-rumped Warbler posed nicely for me, as did an Eastern Phoebe.  And I also found my first Cedar Waxwings of the year.  These are pretty fun birds, and I'm always glad to see them. Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Cedar Waxwings

Savannah Sparrow It's amazing sometimes how good a relatively small area can be.  There's a field on Canal St. just south of Lake Jesup, and a fellow birder posted finding Vesper Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows there.  So off I went to find them.  It's a very pretty area, with Orange and Palm Tree groves on both sides of the street, and then there's this plain open field.  On the southern end of the field is a barbed wire fence surrounded by grasses and other vegetation.  When I arrived, the fence was just crawling with Savannah Sparrows.  I studied the sparrows here for a while, and I was able to pick out one Vesper Sparrow and two Grasshopper Sparrows (no White-crowned).  The lighting was pretty good, so I also had fun photographing some of the other birds along the fence line, in particular a Gray Catbird, Carolina Wren and Yellow-rumped Warbler.  The Vesper Sparrow is a lifer for me, and fittingly, my first photos of it were less than ...

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)

Yellow-rumped Warbler The first Yellow-rumped Warblers just migrated into our area, and I saw them for the first time this fall on Tuesday.  Pretty soon they'll be everywhere.  As you could probably guess from their name, these warblers have a bright yellow patch on their rumps, but I find that they are more quickly identified by two yellow patches on the sides of their chests, since their rumps are sometimes covered with their wings.  Yellow-rumped Warbler  Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler This past July I went to Dallas, and they were there in there in full breeding plumage by the hundreds.  Most of these were of the "Myrtle" subspecies, like we get here in Florida. But I did find one "Audubon's" subspecies there, which was kind of nice.  The Audubon's Warblers have yellow throats, and the Myrtles have white throats without a white eyebrow. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) The afternoon after I arrived in Dallas, I went to White Rock East Park.  I showed some photos of a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and Great-tailed Grackle from there (both new to me) in earlier posts, and I've finally worked through my photos enough to share with you some other birds I found at this beautiful park.  Probably the most significant highlight from the park was an Adubon's subspecies of the Yellow-rumped Warbler.  We have many Yellow-rumped Warblers in Florida (though they're pretty much all gone now), and it was nice to encounter them again in breeding plumage.  But one of these warblers had a yellow throat with no white "eyebrow."  This was my first encounter with the "Audubon's" subspecies of this bird.  Apparently it's unusual in the Dallas area too, so the above photo is now published on the North Central Texas birding website . Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) I also found an Eastern Kin...

Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-rumped Warblers are so common here in the winter time, and I thought it would be a fun project to keep an eye out for them and photograph their various looks throughout the winter months. These warblers have a bright yellow rump, but the yellow is not always visible; for me it's easier to notice patches of yellow on the sides of the bird's chest. On the above photo, the yellow rump is barely visible, but the yellow on the sides confirms the identification. Yellow-rumped Warbler Photographically, I love this scene, not only because the warbler was out far enough on the branch to give me a nice clean background, but also because yellowish-greenish patches of color in the frame. I thought that might help the background complement the warbler. Thankfully, the bird was nearly at eye level, so I didn't have to crouch down too much. In hind sight, I might have lowered the camera a little more here, if that wouldn't clutter up the backgrou...

Yellow-Rumped Warller I always know that winter is coming here in FL when I start seeing Yellow-Rumped Warblers everywhere I look.  Afterall, the weather itself won't let you know down here here.  When these warblers begin arriving, it's kind of fun because I'll see all these birds fluttering around flashing their yellow rumps at me.  It's really rather indiscreet when you think about it.  Anyway, Yellow-Rumped Warblers have many different looks that they give you--males look different from females; adults look different from immature, and they look different in their basic (winter) and alternate (breeding) plumage.  Western birds even look different from Eastern.   But there are two signs that will pretty reliably help you identify them.  Look for the yellow rump, though it's not always visible when perched, and look for splashes of yellow on their sides with a streaked chest.  I decided this winter I'd pay special attention to these bir...