outdoor photography

Black-and-white Warbler He's shaking the moth he caught This morning my father and I went to Mead Gardens to look for migrants.  It was all in all a pretty good morning.  The biggest highlight was seeing a Hooded Warbler, ending a drought that's lasted over a year.  But we found 10 warblers in all this morning: Worm-eating Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warbler, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler and Prairie Warbler. Black-throated Blue Warbler finally one that's mostly sharp Downy Woodpeckers  

Ice Cycles In January 2009 we had some icy weather. Ice had clogged up my downspout, and water was running over the top of downspout and onto one of my bushes. Of course, this situation required my camera.  It was fun using an umbrella to keep the freezing rain off my camera while trying to use both hands to take pictures in the freezing cold. Ice Cycles Ice Cycles  

Icy Cascade In January of 2009, when I lived in Baltimore, I came across a little cascade in Patapsco State Park.  It was pretty cold, and ice had formed on the rocks, but it wasn't cold enough to freeze the running water in the stream.  I thought the ice formations here were pretty interesting.  I came back to the same cascade in the spring, and I didn't think it was nearly as fun.

Black-and-white Warbler It was a pretty good morning at Mead Gardens.  The biggest highlight of the morning was seeing a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, but it spent most of its time hidden, and photos were pretty much impossible. We had 11 species of warbler, though: Ovenbird, Worm-eating Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Cape May Warbler, Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler, and Prairie Warbler.  Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers were all but gone (I saw two Palms and no Yellow-rumped, but we found at least 10 Prairie Warblers. I'm not very happy with the next two photos, but at least they show a couple of the more interesting birds that we saw this morning. Black-throated Blue Warbler I know it's a little soft, due to noise and shutter speed (I don't use flash), but I thought it might be good to show an ID photo of the bird Cape May Warbler I know it's a little soft and the bird did not gi...

Prairie Warbler This morning I visited Wekiwa Springs State Park.  I didn't see anything terribly unusual--perhaps an Orange-crowned Warbler was the nicest find (most have left us).  The photo above is really the only presentable photo I took this morning.  The background is a little more cluttered than I'd like, but Prairie Warblers are so pretty, I figured was worth showing.

Brown-headed Nuthatch This past Sunday my daughter and I went to the Econ River WA for a little bit before church.  There were several Brown-headed Nuthatches there, and they were quite vocal. Of course, they are always most fun when they crawl head first down a tree limb. I was hoping my daughter would enjoy their "squeaker-toy" call, but she paid them no attention.  But I did get this photo before I decided I should catch up with her.  She did have fun finding pretty yellow flowers along the side of the trail, so it was fun for both of us.

Pileated Woodpecker I went to lunch with some friends today at Tijuana Flats.  As I was walking back to my car, I saw a Pileated Woodpecker on a tree near my car.  Amazingly, it let me walk to my car, get my camera, and get back into position to photograph the bird.  I just couldn't believe how cooperative the bird was being.  Then as an added bonus, once I looked at my photos I was able to see the ants it was eating.  These are by far my best moments with a Pileated Woodpecker, and it came about just by a little serendipidy. Pileated Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker