outdoor photography

Fish Crow We have two species of crow here in Florida, and they're nearly identical. There are differences between them, but it's very difficult to tell them apart by sight alone. One author  writes that after studying these crows for thousands of hours, he still can visually distinguish them reliably 80% of the time. By far the most reliable way to tell them apart is by voice.  American Crows "caw," while Fish Crows give a nasal "uh-uh" sound. Fish Crows are larger than American Crows, but unless I see them together, there's no way I could tell one from the other by size.  But there are a couple other hints that can sometimes be helpful in telling them apart. Location Fish Crow at Fort De Soto Fish Crows are more common than American Crows throughout Central Florida, in some places American Crows are generally absent, especially in coastal areas like Merritt Island and Fort De Soto. In these areas, if you see a crow, there's a pretty good...

Ruby-crowned Kinglet A few days ago, I also had a chance to see several Ruby-crowned Kinglets. One stayed nice and low for me, and occasionally it would come out into the open for some photos.  Eventually it popped up on to a higher branch and began preening.  After a couple minutes, perhaps, it stretched its wings and flew off. I'm pretty sure these are my best Ruby-crowned Kinglet photos. they are so energetic, it's difficult sometimes to find them sitting still for photos. I don't think we're going to have them much longer, so I'm glad this one was cooperative. Ruby-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Stretching

White-eyed Vireo A few days ago I visited the Econ River Wilderness Area, and a White-eyed Vireo popped up on top of a bush and started singing. Over the next few minutes, he and another gave me some good looks. White-eyed Vireos are our most common vireos, but I still enjoy photographing them. White-eyed Vireo White-eyed Vireo White-eyed Vireo White-eyed Vireo  

Eastern Phoebe Yesterday I had what I thought was a pretty good idea. I wanted to try a couple places, and I figured if I rode my bike I could try them both. So I went first to Orlando Wetlands Park.  The route I had planned was about 5 miles.  I rode to the influent and then to the outflow and back to my car.  I saw a lot of birds--highlights were my first Louisiana Waterthrush of the year (and my first ever inside the park). I also heard my first Orange County Virginia Rail.  However, I didn't give myself much time for photography.  I took a few shots of an Eastern Phoebe, and I tried for several minutes to get a decent shot of the Louisiana Waterthrush, but it never really gave me a better look than what you see below. Louisiana Waterthrush My plan was then to ride my bike to the St. John's River from the Chuluota Wilderness Area.  There's a trail there that goes through the Charles H. Bronson State Forest to the river, and I was hoping there m...

Red-headed Woodpecker During lunch today I had to get a crown replaced on one of my teeth.  Not fun at all.  But my dentist's office is right near Mead Gardens, so after my crown was placed I decided to briefly walk through the park.  If you don't stop too much, you can see most of the park inside of a half-hour or so.  There were three birds I was hoping to see, and thankfully I found them all.  First, Northern Parula are coming back here to breed, and I wanted to get one on my Orange County list for this year; one was singing practically as I got out of the car. Second, I wanted a Hermit Thrush; there are a few places here that are good for finding them, and I've missed them a couple times before this year, but this time one did oblige me with a brief look (though it was always behind tree limbs, so I couldn't get a clean view for photos).  Then I walked over to one of the places a Red-headed Woodpecker has been seen.  It was right out on a tree ...

Caspian Tern Ugh! It's been two full weeks since I've done a blog post! I've been busy at home and work, but I've also had a little bit of a photographic lull. Weather conditions have made for relatively poor lighting, but mostly I'm just behind in editing photos.  Well, this morning I went to the marina on Lake Monroe.  It's a pretty nice marina, for the most part, and a friend of mine found a Royal Tern there yesterday, so I thought I'd see if it was sticking around.  Unfortunately, it wasn't there today when I was.  But there were about 10 Forster's Terns and 12 Caspian Terns around, and several of them were pretty actively flying near the edge of the marina in decent light.  So I took a few Caspian Tern pictures.  For some reason I have a tougher time with Caspian Terns than with others.  I believe it's the eyes.  It seems far more difficult to get catch light in them, and so they often look sunken into the head and less attractive. So th...

Le Conte's Sparrow I found this park around November of last year, and the first time I visited I thought it might be a great place for some fun sparrows to show up.  However, despite many visits, until this morning I've only seen Savannah and Swamp Sparrows here.  But this morning I got to add a third sparrow species to the list--Le Conte's Sparrow! I'm still hoping there may be more treasures to be found in this wonderful little park, but I'm really happy with this one.  This is the prettiest sparrow I've ever seen. When I first saw the sparrow, I had my ISO set at 1600, since it had been pretty dark. The sparrow popped up when the lighting was starting to improve. But after a few minutes the lighting was better I decided to lower my ISO to 125 and try again. The sparrow was up as I walked back to the area, and I took the above photo. The photos below were the first ones I took. They aren't nearly as good, but they let you see different views of th...