outdoor photography

Blackburnian Warbler This morning I visited Central Winds Park. I'd seen some pretty nice eBird reports over the weekend, I was not disappointed.  Central Winds has been pretty slow so far this Fall, but this morning I found 11 species of warbler, including my top goal for the morning, a Blackburnian Warbler. Prothonotary Warbler Yellow Warbler I'm still waiting for thrushes and tanagers to make their appearances here, but they should be coming any day now.

Veery My father and I drove out to Oak Hammock on Merritt Island today.  We'd heard some nice reports about some fun warblers there, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Unfortunately, I left my camera battery in my charger, but my dad let me borrow one his cameras, a Canon EOS 1D mark 4.  It was pretty fun to use--nice and fast, and noise levels were lower than my 7D.  I didn't see a lot of warblers there, but it was nice to find a couple Veery. It was also fun to see many Ovenbirds and a Northern Waterthrush. Ovenbird It was interesting, though.  Noise levels with the 1D mark 4 were better than my 7D, but there was a bit more noise than I anticipated. I took these shots at 2500 ISO, and noise was pretty visible, so I had to work on the backgrounds a little. The Ovenbird above is sharp, but a bit grainy; the waterthrush below is more tightly cropped, and the grain is also affecting the sharpness of the image. It just goes to show that there's no magic cam...

Seaside Dragonlet On Saturday while birding BioLab Rd, I found two dragonflies that I'd never seen before. The first was pointed out to me by a friend, a Seaside Dragonlet.  They are apparently very common along the drive.  The second one was a Marl Pennant.  This is one that I've been looking for for some time. Marl Pennant

Digger Wasp with Katydid On Biolab Rd at Merritt Island yesterday, I saw a Digger Wasp carrying a Katydid.  It landed on a branch, I guess to rest for a little bit, and this allowed me to take a few photos. I'm no expert on insects, but according to the good folks at bugguide.net, the Digger Wasp is  Sphex jamaicensis (no common name) and the katydid is an Agile Meadow Katydid.  Female Digger Wasps look for Katydids and Grasshoppers, sting them to paralyze them, and then bring them back to one of their tunnels. These photos illustrate how.  They grasp the antennae of their prey in their mandibles and then wrap their legs around the body of the insect.  This one is quite a bit larger than the wasp, which is perhaps the reason why it rested and posed for photos. Once bringing her prey into her tunnel, she will lay her eggs there and  then close up the tunnel.  When her eggs hatch, the larvae will eat the Katydid.  Sorry if that's gros...

Reddish Egret Last week my wife decided it might be fun to go to the beach on the Gulf coast (calmer waves), and she asked me if there was a good place there go visit.  Fort De Soto, of course!  So yesterday we spent the day there. My father and I got there early to do some birding and photography, and we were not disappointed. We found many terns and wading birds, including 2 Common Terns and a Black Tern, but shorebirds the most fun finds.  It's great to see them returning. Between the east beach turnaround and north beach we found 12 species of shorebirds, and most of them were pretty cooperative. Semipalmated Plover Western Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Willet Short-billed Dowitcher East Beach was filled with Least Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Semipalmated Plovers. There was also one Western Sandpiper there. Willets were everywhere. Spotted Sandpiper Marbled Godwit Piping Plover Wilson's Plover North Beach is great...

Spicebush Swallowtail Central Winds Park I just discovered a new website that I think is pretty wonderful.  It's the butterfly equivalent of eBird, called e-butterfly.org (don't forget the dash). This site lets you enter your butterfly sightings, keep track of your life list, and see what else has been seen near you.  The site seems self-consciously patterned after eBird, so if you use eBird, learning this site should be pretty easy.  This site is brand new, so there's still a few kinks to be worked out, and there appear to be very few users of the site, especially in Florida.  I'm a novice at butterflies, and for the most part I only record butterflies I photograph while birding.  I'm still currently ranked third in the State of Florida for sightings in 2014 out of nine others.  You get the picture. However, my guess is that this site will take off just like eBird has, and when it does, it will be an even more valuable resource for birders and butter...

Tricolored Heron On Monday I went to Marl Bed Flats in an effort to score some last minute birds for my June Challenge. A friend of mine had seen a Bobolink there, so I wanted to find that, but I also was hoping a couple new shorebirds might have flown into the area.  My favorite photo from this last ditch effort is the one above, a pretty, young Tricolored Heron out at the shore of Lake Jesup.  But I also wanted to try an app from Google called My Tracks.  It's a simple GPS tracking software. You press "Record" at the beginning of your trip and "Stop" at the end.  Then it gives you a map of where you went and some some nice stats about your journey. On this particular trip I walked 2.69 miles over 2 hours and 25 minutes and burned 485 calories. While you're walking you can put down markers for things that interest you, like a Boboloink or Tricolored Heron (though I didn't notice this feature until today).  After you're done, you can sync your tr...