Posts in Category: Florida
Roseate Spoonbill
When the Roseate Spoonbills come in close…well there is nothing quite like it. This year the pinks are particularly intense…the brine shrimp hatches must be good. This is along Black Point Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville, Florida, USA…in a stretch of ditch maybe 200 yards long where there were several hundred Egrets and Herons and Ibis feeding on the same hatch…along with a dozen or more Roseate Spoonbills. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Painted Bunting
Painted Bunting at the Visitor Center at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA. I had only a few moments to check the feeders at the Visitor Center for a male Painted Bunting…always a target bird during the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival…not because it is all that uncommon in Florida, but because it is so beautiful. The most reliable spot is the Visitor Center, and the males are the hardest to see there. I was blessed to have this male come several times in the 15 minutes I had before I had to head back to the Eastern Florida State College where the festival is headquartered to give a workshop. There is never enough light under the trees where the feeders hang, but I got this shot with Multi-frame Noise Reduction on the Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Otherwise, program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. It is my ambition to find, someday, a male Painted Bunting in good light 🙂
Limpkins at last!
Chain of Lakes Park, Titusville, Florida, USA. On my visit to Orlando Wetlands the other day, I was disappointed to not to see a Limpkin. The ponds where I have found them the past 3 years have been dredged and they have evidently moved elsewhere. I mentioned that in one of my class-room presentations at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival here in Titusville and my volunteer moderator laughed and said they were all right behind the college (Florida State College Titusville where our festival is headquartered) at Chain of Lakes Park which surrounds the campus on three sides. I made an effort to find them afternoon before last but could not find my way into the park anywhere near where they were telling me to look, so yesterday I went to the Space Coast Audubon booth and asked for better directions. It turns out the birds are literally a 5 minute walk from the auditorium where the show is held, just beyond the edge of the campus grounds. There were 20 or more Limpkins, along the edge of the little canal there, on the grassy area between the water and the paved path, and perched in the trees on the other side. The most I have ever seen together in the past was 2. It was quite a sight. And of course Limpkins are very interesting, very ancient, and highly specialized birds, with a very limited range in the US, so it is always a treat to see them. By preference they feed on Apple Snails, though they appeared to be feeding on mussels in the canal. There is also an introduced snail that they have adopted, as the Apple Snail is declining across its range. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Purple Gallinule
I will admit to having a fondness for Purple Gallinules. I don’t get to see them often…only when I come to the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in Titusville, Florida, and then only in any numbers if I get out to Orlando Wetlands Scenic Park in Christmas. Then I see a lot! They are such unlikely birds, with such a wild combination of colors and highlights…and the colors change depending on the angle of the light. And then there are those feet, or those toes actually. And of course, the way they walk across the pond weed and floating mats of plants. Altogether a fascinating bird. And I have not even mentioned their voice. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Wilson’s Snipe in the open!
It is not often, in my experience, that you see a Wilson’s Snipe right out in the open, feeding. This one was on the back side of the Black Point Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville, Florida, on the first day of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. It appears to sucking up a little wormy thing through the tube of water formed by its beak. Late afternoon on a rainy day. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Peregrine Falcon on the Dry Tortugas
Peregrine Falcons nest on the Dry Tortugas and are seen most days hanging out on the radio tower at the southwest corner of Ft. Jefferson. In fact, in a spotting scope view, the radio tower is often decorated with bird body parts left over from Peregrine meals. The nesting seabirds provide a constant smorgasbord for the efficient Peregrines. This shot is from out last, early morning, visit to the Fort on our way back to Key West. We were there just long enough to catch the early light on the tower and the birds. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed and cropped in Polarr.
Magnificent Frigatebird in flight
The Dry Tortugas, 80 miles off Key West, Florida, have the only nesting colony of Magnificent Frigatebirds in North America. For birders it is one of the attractions of the islands in spring. The colony is actually on Long Key, which is closed to human traffic during nesting, so the only way to see the birds on the nest is in a kayak or small motor boat, cruising out along the no-boats markers in the very shallow water in front of the key. To see them in flight, however, you just have to look up…at any given moment there are a dozen or more circling over Ft. Jefferson, and several hundred circling over Long Key. This shot was taken from the top of the Fort, where the birds are often at eye-level and certainly no more than 20 feet above your head. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications (minimum shutter speed ISO set to 1/2000th in the excellent light). Processed in Polarr.
Sooty Terns off the Dry Tortugas
I still have lots of photos from my three spring trips to post. Portugal, The Dry Tortugas, and the Biggest Week in American Birding in Ohio, all packed into a one month period. 100,000 Sooty Terns nest on the Dry Tortugas. You can not get very close to them during nesting but the mass of them over, on, and around Bush Key as seen from the top of the fort is totally impressive. If you are lucky enough to have a small boat and cruise out along the no-boats markers past Bush Key (on your way to Long Key to view the Magnificent Frigatebirds nesting, for instance) you have a good chance of seeing the Sooty Terns rise and circle over the shallow waters to fish and drink. They can literally surround your boat…often passing within a few feet. On our last day on the islands, the Sooty Terns rose and circled us not once, but three times. It was spectacular. Catching them on the wing, and as they drink, is a challenge…but one that few bird photographers can resist at least trying. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications (1/2000th minimum shutter speed ISO). Processed in Polarr and assembled in Framemagic.
Magnificent Frigatebird
Of course one of the main draws of any visit to the Dry Tortugas, is the only nesting colony of Magnificent Frigatebirds in North America. On our Wildside Nature Tours trip we had the advantage of the ship’s dingy to make two trips out as close as you can get to the rookery in the late afternoon/early evening when the light was just right for photography. This shot is from our last and most productive visit. Nesting season is coming to an end, but at least this one male was in full display. This is a heavy crop of a 600mm equivalent image…so we were not close. The park has the area in front of the rookery marked as no access, and the water there is often no more than ankle deep anyway, so can’t get closer in a boat…and no foot access is allowed at any time. Still, can I say “magnificent”! Sony RX10iv as above. Program mode with my birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Black-whiskered Vireo
The Black-whiskered Viero breeds in extreme south Florida and the West Indies as far south as the offshore islands of Venezuela. We found this one on the Dry Tortugas, inside Fort Jefferson. For most on our Wildside Nature Tour, it was a life bird. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.