Birding In Florida - Part 2

Viera Wetlands, The Everglades NP, & Fort De Soto Park
(Continued from Part -1 )

After Merritt Island, we headed down to Viera Wetlands, which is about 40 minutes south, off I-95.

The goal there was caracaras.  We had visited the place on a couple prior occasions but never seen them.  We were joined there by another friend, Klaus Peter and his friend Donnie who had met us at Merritt Island.  And just by chance we also bumped into fellow blogger Brad Myers who was on vacation from Pennsylvania (what a small world).   It's difficult to get any keeper shots of wading birds at Viera because they do not allow people to shoot from the edge of the water, so it's difficult to get low enough to create a nice blurred background.   Although most of the time nobody will catch you if you break the rules.

There are usually good possibilities for nesting birds and some occasional flyers.  I made a fair amount of images of great blue herons, and the two shown above are my favorites.  [click any image to enlarge]

We finally saw a caracara, but it landed very high in a pine tree, too far away for any photo worth showing here.  But a few minutes later a juvenile bird flew past us and eventually perched on a fence post.   I hate having a fence post in the photos but sometimes you just take what you can get.  Having not yet gotten images of his species, we took a few shots and then worked in closer to try to get better ones.  

After finishing with the caracara, we felt we had gotten what we came for, so we headed to our next planned stop.  We had virtually no luck at Orlando Wetlands, Circle B Preserve, and Corkscrew.   The water level at Corkscrew was so high that there were no birds.  After spending an afternoon there, we elected to make a run down to the Everglades because the folks at Corkscrew told us it had lots of birds. 

The images below are from Shark Valley in the Everglades National Park.   

This anhinga was working the canal and repeatedly came up with minnows.  It was a challenge to try and get him in the photo before the fish was gone.   I snapped this one just in time.  The same anhinga is seen below with a bigger catch.   It seems pretty amazing to me that a bird this size can swallow a fish as big as this one all in one gulp.

Another stop we made was the north beach at Fort De Soto Park.  It felt really strange to arrive there to find the parking lot empty, even in the middle of spring break.  Since the weather turned too cold for swimming and partying on the beach, the college kids had apparently resorted to indoor partying and we had the whole place to ourselves.  There were literally 4 cars in the parking lot when we pulled up.  

About the only thing I saw there was a pair of oystercatchers.  They were pretty skiddish but eventually I managed toget close enough to get some photos.    This is another species that I had been wanting to photograph, so I was glad to see them.

All and all, this was a good trip. It would have been even better if we had seen more birds, but the cool weather and the combination of high water at Corkscrew made the birds pretty scarce. Ironically I still manged to photograph 3 new species and get some improved images of several more. One bird I have still not properly photographed is a swallowtail kite. I saw a few of them on this trip, but struck out every time. Either they were too far off or obstructed in flight by tree branches above me.   I will close this post with the sunset over the north beach at Fort De Soto Park.

Birding in Florida - Part 1

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Last week my friend Ken Conger was planning to visit so we could photograph the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery.  Ken has been wanting to see a launch for some time, so I am bummed (and surely so is he) that the launch has been delayed until at least April 5th.   We decided to spend the time visiting some wildlife sanctuaries instead, so we set out a plan based on some target species we both wished to photograph.   We started out at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, where we had hoped to photograph skimmers and reddish egrets.   There was an abundance of roseatte spoonbills there also, which is one of Ken's favorite species.   

I had for a long time wanted to capture a photograph such as the one above, and found it challening to do, since a bit of luck is involved in finding a place to shoot where the birds are likely to fly past in close proximity.   You can see a closer look at the beak action in the water in the image crop immediately above.  [click on any image to enlarge]

While in the wildlife refuge, I was pleased to  have the opportunity to meet up with up with fellow birder Rod Ostoski , whom I had gotten to know through email the last few years, but had never actually met.  Rod showed Ken and me some good places to watch for skimmers, and I'm pretty sure I would not have gotten the skimmer shots posted here without his direction.   Rod is probably best known for has amazing images of the space shuttle.  You can see them, as well as many bird images on his website linked above.  It was Rod who helped me out with some initial camera settings for photographing the space shuttle launches on several attempts I have made in the past.

One of my favorite images from this trip was a great blue heron that we sort of happened upon when we rounded a bend on Biolab Road.  I shot the image at left from the car, fearing that the bird would fly if I tried to get out.   This guy was in perfect light on smooth water, and I was able to fill the frame with the 100-400 lens I had on my 40d backup rig in the front seat.

I made a very similar image of a tricolor heron, although the bird was not as close as the great blue and had to be cropped.  The light and reflection looked amazing, and I patiently waited for the bird to turn into the soft early morning sunlight before taking this shot.   I already have lots of images of tricolor herons, but none that I remember in water like this one.

One species I had hoped to see is a white morph reddish egret.  Unfortunately I did not see one all week, but did have the opportunity to photograph the reddish egret shown below as it fished along the shoreline.

The day would not be complete without some flyers, so I have included a few below.  There were an abundance of white ibises and roseatte spoonbills.

CLICK HERE  to continue to Part - 2.

You can also check out my Birds in Flight  gallery here.

The Cattle Egret

and it's fascinating breeding plumage

One thing that draws me out each spring to photograph birds is their attractive breeding colors.  I find changes in coloration fascinating, and in most species it renders a far different look from the same bird seen at other times of the year. 

Today I am highlighting the cattle egret.  It is a very common bird in Florida, and often seen in high numbers.  During breeding season, the cattle egret undergoes a transformation from a very common looking bird into one that is a joy to behold.  The most fascinating change to me is the lore, which turns a vivid purple right next to the bird's eye.  The headshot above shows this purple lore better than any other cattle egret photos I have made to date.  It was cropped from the image that appears directly below.   

The bird's legs, which appear red here, may be also be pink or yellow, and in the winter they are darker, or even black.

[click on any image to enlarge]

I have photographed this bird on many occasions over the past few years and the examples shown here were not captured in the current season. I am showing these particular images because I believe they show the colors very nicely.

The images below show a different bird that is not at peak color.  It also appears to be younger than the one above.   I have shown it from front, back, and both sides below.  You can clearly see the differences between a bird that is in peak breeding plumage and one that is not.

Anhinga Catches More Than A Mouthful

The Everglades National Park

It's been too long since I've posted, and even longer since I've posted on birding topics.  Generally I enjoy getting out with the camera in the springtime, when it's breeding season for many of birds that are native to Florida.   It's still early and that time has not yet arrived here in the northern part of the state.   

Today I am revisiting some images from an earlier outing in the Everglades National Park, where I saw an anhinga catch a pretty big fish and then actually struggle to swallow it.   In this particular instance the fish was so large compared to the size of the bird, that the anhinga actually brought it to the shore and smacked it on the ground a few times before attempting to swallow it.   It was interesting watching the anhinga actually toss the fish into the air and catch it several times, apparently trying to get the fish to land in a position that would allow it to easily slide down the birds throat.   You can see some of that in the images below. 

In what may seem amazing to some, this ordeal continued for no less than 22 minutes as verified by the time stamps on the 112 images I shot while witnessing it. 

[Click on any image to enlarge]

And finally, 22 minutes later......

Loss and Restoration

Some of you may remember that two days before Christmas 2007, the church I attend burned to the ground. I posted about this topic back in April and showed the wooden framework of the new church sanctuary being built to replace the one lost to the fire.

This week we held the first services in the new sanctuary, and it has been wonderful to once again have a 'normal' house of worship. We had been holding services in the fellowship hall ever since the fire.

I was asked last year to create an exhibit to be displayed in the gallery of the new building. So for a little over a year I have spent many days at the construction site capturing the progress in photos, and also meeting many of the 'hands' that built it. I have made many friends along the way, and I have even been up in an 80-foot crane, photographing it from high above the roof. Unfortunately, I was not able to include many images of the finished interior construction in the exhibit, since the 12 x 18 prints had to be given to the framer while the final work was still being completed. The last three weeks prior to completion saw a 60 rank pipe organ being installed. The first service was held this past Wednesday, December 23, on the 2-year anniversary of the fire. I thought I would take a few minutes and give those interested a glimpse into this magnificent new structure.

The exhibit consists of twenty-one 12 x 18 inch prints. It attempts to capture some of the emotions experienced by a congregation during the loss by fire, and the subsequent questioning, soul-searching, planning, and finally rebuilding of their church. I have posted photos of the exhibit below, and you can see the actual images of the exhibit by clicking on the following link: http://www.pbase.com/tim32225/loss_and_restoration

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis

Yesterday I had the opportunity to view the launch of the Space Shuttle from the NASA Causeway, and it was one of the most exciting things I've ever witnessed. I had seen several launches before, but never from this close. My normal viewing site was always the rooftop of a business on US Highway 1 in Titusville, which according to Google is just a smidgen over 13 miles from the launch pad. But after getting lucky enough to purchase tickets for this launch, I was only 6 miles away.

The day started out very cloudy and I was skeptical that it would even launch as my brother and I were driving down from Jacksonville. It's about 2 1/2 hours drive and we hardly saw any blue in the sky most of the trip. The forecast was for a 70% chance of favorable weather and we kept hoping the clouds would blow past before the 2:28pm launch time. As luck would have it that's exactly what happened, and Atlantis was headed up toward the international space station exactly on time after a picture perfect liftoff. This was a welcome change for me personally, because the last time I had causeway tickets, I made 4 trips to Kennedy Space Center only to have the launch scrubbed all 4 times.

For viewing from the NASA Causeway visitors are required to arrive well in advance, with arrival times being assigned to everyone who is lucky enough to purchase tickets. There is quite a crowd of people and the arrival times are staggered so that everyone does not arrive at the same time. Our arrival deadline was 11am for the 2:28pm launch, but we arrived around 9:30.

The image above is heavily cropped to show the detail. But the images in the flight sequence below are the full width of the original image, but most of them have been cropped in the other direction only enough to create an 8x10 aspect ratio. The close up images were shot with a 300 f2.8L IS lens and Canon 2x extender on a 40d body, and the wider shots were done with a 100-400 and 28-135 lens on my Mk2N. I'm always reluctant to use the 2x extender but it usually works out ok on the 300 f2.8.

Additional images can be seen on my website here.

For a look at a night launch, check out The Launch of Space Shutle Discovery