Posts in Category: birds
Snipe Hunt(ing)
Wilson’s Snipe: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — I suppose the Wilson’s Snipe is not long for this world if the name-change mob get their way…but I have never seen so many Snipe of any name as I saw this year around Black Point Drive. This was the first one I saw, and only maybe the third or 4th I have ever seen…but after maybe 6 loops around the drive over the next few days, it seemed I was seeing one every few hundred yards along the first mile. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Scarlet
Scarlet Macaw: Pierella Ecology Garden, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, December 2024 — Scarlet, and yellow, and blue…with some pink in there around the eye. There are not many more colorful, or more intensely colored, birds than the Scarlet Macaw. When we had finished with the Great Green Macaws, a guide called us back to the same trees to see a small flock of Scarlets feeding. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Loony
Common Loon: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, February 2025 — Just to prove I am not still in Costa Rica or Florida, here is a shot from yesterday morning…a dullish February morning, though we had sun in the afternoon. I was walking down to the tidal creek to photograph loons fairly far out, when this one popped up practically right beside me. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Thinks he is a Scrub Jay??
Red-bellied Woodpecker: Helen and Allen Cruickshank Sanctuary, Rockledge, Florida, USA, January 2026 — We have Red-bellied Woodpeckers who come to suet on our back deck. If I even look at them through the glass of back deck door they are off and way. Yet in Florida, this one flew down and fed with the Scrub Jays right at my feet. I think he must was maybe a founding…raised in a Jay nest…or maybe he has just learned his habits from the Jays. Anyway I really appreciated his cooperation. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Great Green
Great Green Macaw: Pierella Ecology Gardens, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, December 2024 — I have seen Great Green Macaws before in Costa Rica…though they are still rare after years of effort to reestablish a viable population in what was once their native range, but I have never seen them this close in the wild. A small flock settled in a Mountain Almond tree right at the entrance to Pierella Gardens and one of the guides alerted us all to their presence. What a treat. We watched them feeing actively for close to a half hour, before they moved on. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
up close and personal
Florida Scrub Jay: Helen and Allen Cruickshank Santuary, Rockledge, Florida, USA, January 2025 — like I said yesterday sometimes the hardest part about photographing Florida Scrub Jays is not stepping on them. This one was literally at my feet, barely within the close focus of my lens. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Scrub Jays
Florida Scrub Jay: Helen and Allen Cruickshank Sanctuary, Rockledge, Florida, USA. January 2025 — It was still cloudy and cool on Friday morning and since I was already down that way for a workshop I had been assigned, I stoped by the Florida Scrub Jay Sanctuary to see if I could find some Jays. I found a flock or family just about where I expected them to be and had a lot of fun with them as they fed all around me. Florida Scrub Jays have always been gregarious and unafraid of humans, and they have only become more so the protection of the Sanctuary. Sometimes the only trick to photographing them is to keep from stepping on them…though all these shots were at the long end of the zoom. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Over there
Great Egret: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA. January 2025 — Again the dank, dark, damp Thursday when I got to Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, and out on my first loop around Black Point Drive. White bird against a dark background. Classic exposure problem. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Highlight metering. Processed in Photomator.
Damp wood
Wood Stork: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Yes, still from my dank, dark, damp first Thursday in Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. What can I say. This stork is not appreciating the weather. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Red-throat
Crested Guan: Pierrella Ecology Gardens, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, December 2024 — Pierrella Ecology Gardens is the public facing effort of a family owned commercial butterfly farm. They raise and ship tropical rainforest cocoons to butterfly gardens and research centers all over the world. Most of the cocoons are raised right in the forest, in mobile enclosures, so the heath of the forest is essential, and a healthy forest attracts a wide variety of all kinds of interesting birds, frogs, lizards, mammals, and other insects. All of which makes a tour of the gardens a special treat. This is the Crested Guan, a near threatened species similar in size and habits to the North American wild turkey (at least a hen turkey). The bright red waddle really sets of the speckled black plumage. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600 and 382mm equivalents. Program mode with my custom bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.