outdoor photography

Yellow-throated Warbler Yellow-throated Warblers are one of my favorite warblers. They are one of our more common warblers here in Florida during Spring and Fall migration, but some can be found all winter long, and a few even breed here in the summer. We have two subspecies of Yellow-throated Warbler that occur here in Florida. Yellow-throated Warbler (yellow-lored) Dominica Subspecies (Yellow-lored) Most of our Yellow-throated Warblers have a little bit of yellow on front of their eyebrows or supercilium and long bills. Up north they prefer Loblolly Pines on their northern breeding grounds, though when I see them here, I frequently see them in palm trees. Yellow-throated Warbler (yellow-lored) Albilora Subspecies (White-lored) But on rare occasions we see some with all white on their supercilium and shorter bills. They prefer breeding grounds among sycamore trees, but I haven't seen enough of them here in Florida to guess what they prefer as they pass through....

Yellow-throated Warbler A friend of mine found a Hooded Warbler and a Cerulean Warbler at Central Winds yesterday.  Of course, I wasn't there.  I think that all the Hooded Warblers got together and decided to stay away from me whenever I'm in Seminole County--I can't seem to get that one on my Seminole County list.  So of course I trotted off this morning to see if I could find anything there.  I found neither of my target warblers (Hooded and Blue-winged), but I did find 10 others: Ovenbird (at least 7), Northern Waterthrusth, Worm-eating, Northern Parula (at least 20), Black and White, American Redstart, Yellow, Prothonotary (2), Yellow-throated, and Prairie.  It was also fun to find a Limpkin and hear an Eastern Wood-Pewee. Limpkin I also found a beautiful Black and Yellow Argiope spider.  Central Winds is crawling with Golden-silk Orbweavers, and they're both beautiful and gigantic.  These argiopes are only slightly smaller, but I think ...

Yellow-throated Warbler Migration is starting to get fun at Central Winds Park.  It's still early, but we're seeing a fair number of warblers coming in.  As usual, the Northern Parulas are the most plentiful, but Prairie, Black and White, and Yellow-throated Warblers are becoming common here.  We've also had our fair share of American Redstarts, Prothonotary Warblers, and Ovenbirds.  I suspect we'll be getting Yellow Warblers soon. We've also begun getting in some flycatchers. So far I've found an Acadian Flycatcher and an Eastern Wood-Pewee. Eastern Wood-Pewee And just for fun, Wild Turkeys are here too. Occasionally I find an adult with young ones walking through the grass. Wild Turkeys

Bay-breasted Warbler This was a wonderful morning.  I joined the Orange Audubon Society's birdwalk at Mead Gardens, and the weather was just spectacular.  It wasn't hot, and it was sunny, and there were a fair number of birds to see. My biggest hope this morning was to photograph a Bay-breasted Warbler.  We did find and photograph one, which made my day, but we also found 9 other warbler species: Black-and-white Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler, and Yellow-throated Warbler. Pine Warbler I've been giving myself an education on how to distinguish Pine Warblers from fall Bay-breasted Warblers.  You can see some similarities in the above photos, but immature Pine Warblers are far less yellow, making them more similar.  I don't see color perfectly, so I need to find other ways to distinguish them.  These photos illustrate three helpful clu...

Black-and-white Warbler Central Winds continues to impress me. Today I found ten warblers: Ovenbird, Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, Chestnut-Sided Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, and my first Blue-winged Warbler.  It was also great to see a Scarlet Tanager, 2 Painted Buntings and 2 Indigo Buntings, and I also found an Eastern Phoebe. Black-and-white Warbler There was a pair of Black-and-white Warblers in a tree right by the parking lot.  It was fun to hear them singing, and I think that's unusual  for fall warblers. Yellow-throated Warbler Sometimes you're just happy to have a photo that says "that's a Blue-winged Warbler."  This one lets you see a yellow warbler with wing bars and a hint of the black stripe through the eye. At least it's enough for an ID. Blue-winged Warbler

Red-headed Woodpecker I had a great morning at Central Winds today. In about an hour, I found 2 Red-headed Woodpeckers, which I haven't seen before in Seminole County, and 1 Orchard Oriole, which I've never seen before in Florida. Unfortunately I got no photos of the Orchard Oriole, but it was a beautiful adult male.  Another highlight was a Swainson's Thrush, which is my first for the park. Palm Warblers are returning to the park, but Yellow-throated Warblers are still commonly seen, as were American Redstarts, Northern Parula, Ovenbirds, Prairie Warlbers, and one Tennessee Warbler. Yellow-throated Warbler Yellow-throated Warbler Yellow-throated Warbler

Prairie Warbler Contortionist At some point, I'm going to have to try visiting some place else in the mornings before work, but this place never seems to disappoint. I added one more warbler to my list of birds seen here, a Chestnut-sided Warbler.  Others seen this morning were an Ovenbird, Tennessee Warbler, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler (lots of them), Yellow-throated Warbler, and Prairie Warbler.  This comparatively was a slow morning (only 8 warbler species).  But several of my photos turned out pretty well, so I'm pretty happy about that. Prairie Warbler looking far more respectable Yellow-throated Warbler Northern Parula Ovenbird

Great Blue Heron This morning I returned to Central Winds, hoping to be able to see more with the opportunity to stay later in the morning. Unfortunately, I was rained out by around 10:30 am but still had a pretty good morning. I found 11 warblers: Ovenbird (2), Prothonotary Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart (3), Cape May Warbler, Northern Parula (12), Blackburnian Warbler, Yellow Warbler (10), Yellow-throated Warbler (6), Prairie Warbler.  Yellow Warblers were found seemingly everywhere, along with Northern Parula. It was also fun to find 2 Bald Eagles, one American Kestrel and a Veery. Yellow-throated Warbler Yellow Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler Central Winds continues to amaze me.  This morning before work I found 9 species in the park: Cape May, Yellow, Yellow-throated, Pine, Common Yellowthroat, Ovenbird, Northern Parula, Northern Waterthrush, and American Redstart.  The star of the show was a Yellow-throated Warbler that perched low in a tree for me.  But a Northern Waterthrush was probably the oddest find.  It was foraging perhaps 15 feet up in a tree farther away from the lake than I would have guessed.  My photo isn't that good, but I thought I'd show it just because it seems unusual to me.  Yellow-throated Warbler Northern Waterthrush

Yellow-throated Warbler In the past two days, two people have told me that these birds are somewhat under appreciated.  And, now that I think about it, I agree.  These are beautiful birds!  All three of these photos came from Fort De Soto in January. Yellow-throated Warbler Yellow-throated Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler I went to Lake Lotus this morning.  It was a pretty slow morning for birds.  I did find four warbler species, though: a Yellow-throated Warbler, a Louisiana Waterthrush, a Northern Parula, and several American Redstarts.  I also found an Eastern Kingbird, which is the first I've seen in Seminole County.  Since birding was somewhat slow, I turned my attention to butterflies, spiders, bugs and flowers.  Zebra Longwings are my favorite butterflies, and Monarchs are always nice to find.  Golden Silk Orbweavers are plentiful there--they are fun to see if their webs are not spread over your path.  I also found one Katydid, and I think it's very young--it's wings are extremely small, and one of its legs appears not to be fully formed yet. Eastern Kingbird Monarch Butterfly Monarch Butterfly Zebra Longwing Scarlet Hibiscus Golden Silk Orbweaver Katydid

Yellow-throated Warbler This morning I spent an hour before work at Central Winds Park.  Northern Parula are everywhere, as usual, but a Yellow-throated Warbler posed nicely for me, and for that I'm very grateful.  I also found a Black and White Warbler and a couple American Redstarts. The last two weeks of August have been so nice for migrants (I've found 11 warbler species so far) that I can't wait to see what September will bring. Yellow-throated Warbler Other highlights were a Great Egret perched nicely in a tree and a few early morning Wild Turkeys. Great Egret Early Morning Wild Turkeys