Posts in Category: birds
Florida! Great Blue flyby
Great Blue Heron: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida, USA, January 2024 — Photographing Pelicans and Spoonbills in the distance, I looked up just in time to see this Great Blue Heron on approach. I got the camera into Birds in Flight mode with a switch of the control dial, panned with the bird, and shot off a burst as it passed me. Such a beautiful bird in flight. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Florida! More Pelicans in flight
American White Pelican: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida, USA, December 2023 — More Pelicans in flight from a close flyover out on Blackpoint drive. Pelicans are the ultimate soaring bird, riding thermals high and low, especially over water. Even in low glides between feeding spots they can go many minutes between wing flaps…and when using the high thermals for long distance travel they can glide for hours. These are big birds…among the heaviest flying birds in North America with a wingspread and depth to match. OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Crested Quan
Crested Quan: Selva Verde Lodge and Reserve, Sarapique Valley, Costa Rica, December 2024 — Another find from our morning photo walk at Selva Verde Lodge: the Crested Guan. Bigger than a chicken, slightly smaller than a turkey, this is a large bird of humid forests all through tropical Central America and the lowlands of northern South America. They forage both on the ground and on tree branches, generally in small groups and pairs. This shot was from quite a distance. OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! a stack of pelicans
American White Pelican: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — There is a fair sized flock of White Pelicans hanging around Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island this year. The first days I was there I only saw them in flight, but it was certainly a sight to see. This is a five bird stack from a lock of at least 30 that went over. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Rosy in flight
Roseate Spoonbill: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — Another hoped for image from any trip to the Space Coast of Florida: a Roseate Spoonbill in flight. There is noting like that pink wingspread. To my eye, it outdoes even the flamingo. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 436mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Skimmer
Black Skimmer: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — Another of my “most wanted” birds and shots for my Florida trip this year: the Black Skimmer skimming. The hardest part is keeping the skimmer in an 800mm equivalent frame as it is moving so fast over the water, especially when it passes close. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Social feeding
Great and Snowy Egrets: Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — The mass mixed feeding flock of wading birds got up and left the pools behind the entrance kiosk at Blackpoint Wildlife Drive just as I arrived soon after dawn on Sunday and flew away to the west. I did not find them again until later in the day, congregated in the small pond right beside the main Refuge road where it crosses the railroad tracks. This mass feeding behavior is common among Egrets and other wading birds as they follow the most recent hatch in various ponds around the refuge…often spending 3-5 days at one pond, only to move on, in mass, to another when the prey get sparse and fresh ponds beckon. As you can see from the photos, it takes a lot of prey this size to keep a Great Egret topped up. (The second photo is a crop from the first, showing the prey and the Egret’s tongue action more clearly. ) OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 200 and 420mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Tricolored being Reddish
Tricolored Heron: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville Florida, USA, January 2024 — This Tricolored Heron has obviously been taking hunting lessons from the Reddish Egret, but it has developed it’s own routine which involves repeated leaps into the air instead runs through the water, and then the umbrella pose before the strike. It is a behavior I have never seen in a Tricolored…but then I have not, to be honest, spent a lot of time with Tricoloreds. I had a lot of fun watching this one hunt, and took way too many photos trying to catch the action. (I never think to switch to video until I get home to process the photos. Yes a video would have been nice 🙁 OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 584mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds in flight modifications (to catch the action). Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Most wanted for today
Limpkin: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida, USA, January 2024. Another Florida specialty and one that is relatively easy to see most years at Orlando Wetlands Park. The Limpkin is a highly specialized bird, living mostly on a diet of Apple Snails…though they do take small reptiles and amphibians when other snails when the supply of Apple Snails is low. They are alone in a family of birds of their own but apparently most closely related to the cranes and rails. OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Today’s most wanted
Purple Gallinule: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida, January 2024 — One of the reasons birders go to Orlando Wetlands Park, the final natural water treatment plant for the City of Orlando, is to see Purple Gallinule, which are more regular there than almost any other place in this area of Florida. There is a whole story behind finding this cooperative bird, involving tired feet and asking directions and facing a reluctant march back out to the far reaches…only to find this one quite near where I got my final instructions…which was a relief to my feet! I took maybe 500 shots of this bird, just to be safe 🙂 Amazing bird. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.