Posts in Category: wildlife
Florida! Special delivery
Roseate Spoonbill: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida, USA, January 2025 — On a cold dark dank Thursday morning at Orlando Wetlands this Roseate Spoonbill was flying back and forth between a little one tree hummock right by the boardwalk and his nest in the larger hammock, further out, diligently gathering nesting materials. Slim pickings, and already well picked over, but he was finding enough to keep him busy. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Costa Rica! Night and day
Common Pauraque: Caño Negro Wetlands Nature Reserve, Costa Rica, December 2024 — The last bird we encountered on our Owl Prowl was a Common Pauraque hunting over the road. We tried to find it perched on a fence post, but the best we could do was this shot in the road. The next morning on or boat tour of Caño Negro, we found the second Pauraque on a roost deep in the tangle of the bank. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. (Night shot by the light of a handheld torch/flashlight.) Processed in Photomator.
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! 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.
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.
Costa Rica! Passerini’s no more
Scarlet-rumped Tanager: Mirador El Pizote, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, December 2024 — There used to be two tanagers in Costa Rica with red rumps…the Passerini’s and the Cherries, one basically on the caribbean side and one on the pacific. This would have been the Passerini’s. They were recently lumped into a single species…the Scarlet-rumped. The males were never really distinguishable, and the females differed only enough to notice if you had the two side by side. The Passerini’s name is still out there, and still in use by some authorities. We will go with Scarlet-rumped. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii @ 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator. Though it is a common bird, these are somewhat rare shots in that you can see the feather detail in the black…the light was just right.
Maine! Denisons under the deck
Carolina Wren: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, January 2025 — Yesterday we woke to six inches of snow in the yard, like most people in Southern Maine (some had more) and after clearing the drive and cleaning off the car and removing the snow from the shed roof I went looking for birds. We see these two wrens about once a week up on our back deck after the spilled meal-worm crumbs, and occasionally on the meal-worm feeder itself after a whole worm, and I know they spend considerable time under our deck, in the jumble of old flowerpots that have accumulated there. I think they actually nest a few yards over but they visit us. We see them often in the summer and I know they have been recorded on the Christmas Bird counts in Southern Maine, but this is the first winter when we have seen them regularly. I am always happy to see them. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 Di iii at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.