Florida! Roseate Art
Roseate Spoonbill: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — So sometimes art just happens. The lone Roseate Spoonbill in front of the dead snag in the middle of the pale blue water early in the morning says it all. Just a matter of lining it all up and putting a frame around it. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 @ 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator and framed in LikeAFrame.
Costa Rica! Denisons of the night 2
Barn Owl: Caño Negro, Costa Rica, December 2024 — As we continued our Owl Prowl along the Caño Negro we came upon this Barn Owl nesting in an old palm near an industrial building of some kind. Again these shots are in the light of a hand-held flashlight/torch. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. ISO 25600. Processed in Photomator (including noise reduction).
Costa Rica! Denisons of the night 2
Barn Owl: Caño Negro, Costa Rica, December 2024 — As we continued our Owl Prowl along the Caño Negro we came upon this Barn Owl nesting in an old palm near an industrial building of some kind. Again these shots are in the light of a hand-held flashlight/torch. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. ISO 25600. Processed in Photomator (including noise reduction).
Florida! Red-shouldered
Red-shouldered Hawk: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida, USA, January 2025 — After we got all the cameras set up for Point and Shoot Nature Photography yesterday morning we headed out toward the Spoonbill and Egret (and Vulture) rookery along the boardwalk…but came up on this Red-shouldered Hawk hunting from high in a tree right along the berm. We were slowly working around it for better light when it suddenly took wing, and I thought, “oh no, we spooked it,” but instead of flying off, it dropped down right in front of us, practically in front of our feet, and took some kind of lizard. It sat there while it managed to swallow it, and then just flipped up into a tree not far away for some more photography. Such a treat. I knew right then it was going to be a good morning at the wetlands. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Denisons of the night
Great Potoo: Caño Negro, Costa Rica, December 2024. We took an Owl Prowl the night we stayed at the Kingfisher Lodge on Caño Negro. Though we got off to a slow start…no owls calling at their regular spots, we found this Great Potoo hunting flying insects under the light at the end of a narrow bridge. Though it looks and acts like a huge nightjar, it actually is part of its own, Potoo family. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600 and 402mm equivalents. By the light of a hand-held torch (flashlight). Program with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Skimmers
Black Skimmer: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, January 2025 — We finally had some sun yesterday afternoon, though it was still unseasonably cold and the wind was high. High enough to keep a good chop on the water. I found a pair of Black Skimmers working on of the larger impoundments along the drive and spent a happy 20 minutes standing on the berm trying to catch them in action. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds in flight and action modifications. 1/2000th. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Costa Rica! Aracari
Collared Aracari: Mirador El Pizote, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, December 2024 — The second feeder platform, also covered with benches, seems to attract the larger birds…including a small flock (gang is more appropriate) of Collared Aracaris…toucans of uncertain temperament. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Gift outright!
Purple Gallinule: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida, USA, January 2025 — It was cold and damp at Orlando Wetlands yesterday morning for my first Point and Shoot for Wildlife workshop. Low 40s and rain threatening, and I should have had another layer on, but we were rewarded, after we had already decided we were cold enough to head back, with this lone Purple Gallinule so close to the boardwalk that it was almost under our feet. It was working along a floating branch, picking at whatever it cold find while staying on the branch as was so busy it paid no attention to us as we worked around it on the boardwalk. To get anything but a top of its head view you hand to get down and shoot between the rail supports…which made me very thankful for the flip-out screen on my camera. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii at 348 and 436mm equivalents. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! more snow
Actually this is still the snow from Sunday morning, and of course by now the wind has knocked most of it off the trees and brush, but it is still there. It has not been above freezing since. 🙂 Sony a5100 in Superior Auto, with Landscape mode selected. Sony 10-18 f4 @ 15mm equivalent. Processed in Photomator and framed in LikeAFrame.
Costa Rica! Shiny again
Shining Honeycreeper: Mirador El Pizote, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, December 2024 — The after the Vultures version of the Shining Honeycreeper. 🙂 Such an amazing bird. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.