outdoor photography

White-crowned Sparrow (Gambel's) This morning I drove out to one of my favorite sparrow spots and found a White-crowned Sparrow. This spot seems to be good at attracting them, but for some reason, we get our fair share of the "Gambel's" subspecies of this bird.  In fact, I think every bird I've seen here, whether immature or adult, has been this subspecies.  Gambel's are rare this far east, so it's kind of nice to see them. White-crowned Sparrow (Gambel's) Gambel's (or Western Taiga) White-crowned Sparrows can be identified by the pale lores and bright orange bill. Below I decided to include a picture of our more typical White-crowned Sparrow with darker lores. There's a black line in front of the eye that connects to the black in the crown.

Grasshopper Sparrow Yesterday I went to my favorite little sparrow spot in Seminole County.  It has been fantastic to us this winter, since we've been able to see Grasshopper Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, and even a Lark Sparrow, not to mention our more commons species: Savannah, Swamp and Chipping Sparrows.  However, since early January, it seems that the two places I check had all but dried up.  I haven't seen anything but Savannah and Swamp Sparrows in over a month, which is strange because they shouldn't have left us yet. Field Sparrow But this morning, on my way to one of my spots, I saw about a dozen Savannah Sparrows along the canal beside the road. I decided to pull over and see what I could find.  Among the Savannah Sparrows were 2 Grasshopper Sparrows and 1 Song Sparrow.  Then in the distance I saw my first Field Sparrow in Seminole County.  Field Sparrows are not too common here.  ...

Chipping Sparrow When I moved to Florida I was very new to birding, and I knew next to nothing about sparrows.  I remember going to take our dog Ella to a dog park. I didn't know at the time that right next to this dog park was the best place to find warblers in Seminole County, Central Winds Park.  Anyway, I remember walking from the dog park to Lake Jesup and seeing sparrows.  I had no idea what they were, but I took a couple photos (terrible ones with a point and shoot camera), and later determined they were Chipping Sparrows. Chipping Sparrow The odd thing is that since that first visit I've been to Central Winds (including the dog park area) 250 times and seen 152 speices in the park.  However, I haven't seen single sparrow since that first visit--no Savannah Sparrows, no Swamp Sparrows, nothing. Chipping Sparrow However, this week I've started seeing Chipping Sparrows here again.  And a couple have even been pretty cooperative.  Now it...

House Wren Mead Gardens House Wrens are extremely common during our winters here in Central Florida.  They're great at making a racket too, so you usually know they're there.  I'd love to find out if they outnumber Carolina Wrens during the winter.  I suspect not, but I wouldn't be surprise.  This is another bird I haven't concentrated on photographically.  I hope to remedy this soon. House Wren Lake Apopka House Wren Huntington Central Park, Los Angeles, CA

Red Knot Daytona Beach Shores is a great place to go to see gulls in the winter time in Florida.  About an hour before sundown, they fly in and land along the coastline by the tens of thousands.  My father and I went to see Thayer and Iceland Gulls that have been seen there frequently.  We picked the wrong day, though. I'm not sure if it was the wind or something else, but we were stuck with scanning about 2000 gulls, and none of them were the ones we wanted to find. The consolation prize was a Red Knot along the shore.  I think they're wonderful birds, even in their winter plumage, so I had fun taking a few photographs of it. Red Knot By the way, I changed my site design.  My new computer has a full HD screen, and now every time I look at my blog I think my photos are way too small.  Unfortunately, blogger doesn't seem to let you automatically size your blog width relative to the size of your screen, so I have to try to find a happy middle ground...

Common Yellowthroat This past Saturday I had a fun time looking for rarities at Orlando Wetlands Park--Vermilion Flycatcher (found) and Groove-billed Ani (missed).  Along the way, I heard the familiar sounds of Common Yellowthroats grunting at me.  I decided to stop for a few minutes, and one in particular was being rather photogenic, so I took a few photos.  They're one of our most common warblers, especially in winter near water, but they can be found all year round.  Sometimes I just ignore them and walk by, but why? This is a beautiful bird.  It deserves some love despite being common, don't you think? Common Yellowthroat

Common Loon Common Loons are not too hard to find along the coastlines of Florida in the winter, but for some reason, I almost never see them up close.  They seem always to be far off, so my photos usually amount to being little more than an ID shot for eBird.  But when I was at Fort De Soto on Feb. 1, this particular Loon gave me a very good photo opportunity.  What I love about this particular bird is that is was swimming along the shoreline, and as it crested the wave, you could see its feet under the clear water.  This made my day. Common Loon As I was enjoying this loon, a flock of Black Skimmers flew by too. Icing on the cake! Black Skimmers