Posts in Category: Florida
2/29/2012: Purple Gallinule, Happy Leap Day!
I am in San Diego this morning, so I am all out of sync with my posts…besides which it is leap day…a day that only exists once every 4 years. You would think they would make it an automatic holiday. I mean, I did not have to work on February 29th last year, so why should I have to work on February 29th this year? Let’s start a movement 🙂
But seriously, I have at least one more bird to add from my trip to Florida last month. On my final morning, before my drive back to Orlando and the airport and the flights home, I stopped for a few hours at Blue Heron Wetlands, which was actually about 400 yards from my hotel the whole time. Blue Heron is another settlement pond complex that has been converted to marsh and opened for birding. Unlike the more famous and popular Viera Wetlands, the ponds at Blue Heron are full of vegetation. Reeds are tall, and brush lines most of the dyke roads, so it is much more challenging to observe the wildlife. And, there is not, apparently, as much of it. Birds, other than the Common Gallinule (Moorehen) were pretty scarce. Rumor had it though that a Purple Gallinule was being seen there most days, so I drove the dykes twice. On my first trip around I found a group of birders looking for the Purple where it had been seen, scoping the far reaches of the reed line, but the bird was not visible. On my second pass there was only a single car at the spot, but I got out anyway. I set up the scope and started scanning before the two nice birder ladies walked up and said, “There is a bird right here in the reeds we have been watching and we think it is a female Purple Gallinule.”
So, where? The bird was literally right there in the reeds, only maybe 30 feet from the road, going about its (her) business, walking and climbing on the downed reeds. And indeed it was a female Purple Gallinule. It was too close for the digiscoping rig, so I took a lot of shots with the Canon SX40HS in digital tel-extender mode.
The shot above shows the wonderful green feet, with toes made for walking on water vegetation, as well as the tricolor beak. It was a dull bird, with very little purple showing, but unmistakably as Purple Gallinule.
Here is a full-on view of the tricolored beak.
And an even better view of the feet.
So, a fitting last bird for my trip to Florida for the Space Coast Birding Festival…and see less then 400 yards from my hotel.
No if we could only do something about getting leap day made a holiday.
2/27/2012: Reddish on the Hunt. Merritt Island NWR
There is nothing in this world quite like a Reddish Egret hunting. There is a certain crazed intensity…an apparent randomness…it is almost like watching a demonstration of Brownian Motion, but with only one visible molecule. And the shapes the egret gets itself into…quite astonishing. But always the overriding impression is one of intensity!
Canon SX40HS in Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) and 2) 1240mm equivalent (840mm optical plus 1.5x digital tel-converter function), f5.8 @ 1/500th @ ISO 100. 3) 1240mm equivalent, f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 200. 4) 1640mm equivalent (2x digital tel-converter function), f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 200.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
And here is the video.
2/25/2012: Head Shots, Great Egret
I am late posting today because difficult connections and delayed flights got me into Portland airport at mid-night and home at 1 AM this morning. I slept in. 🙂
A few days ago I ran a series of Great Blue Heron head shots. Today’s offering is another head shot series, this time of Great Egrets. Egrets and Herons, of course, are closely related, and display the same photogenic tendencies. They pose a lot in the course of their normal activities, and, at places like Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Viera Wetlans in Florida, they allow relatively close approach.
The first two shots are, clearly, of the same bird at Viera Wetlans. The bird was on the bank of the dyke and I pulled up next to it and shot it at 840mm equivalent out the window of the car. I love the delicacy of the back-lighted bird. The next shot is at Merritt Island and the bird was a little further away. This took the 1.5x digital tel-extender function on the Canon SX40HS for 1240mm equivalent. The final shot, again at Merritt, was even further away, and I used the Canon SD100HS behind the eyepiece of my ZEISS DiaScope for a 1600mm equivalent. The last two are cropped for composition.
All shots in Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) and 2) f5.8 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100/125. 3) f5.8 @ 1/640th @ ISO 200. 4) 1/500th @ ISO 160. f4.3 effective.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
2/23/2012: Head Shots. (Great Blue Heron)
Steve Creek is doing a series of posts over at Steve Creek Outdoors on why the Great Blue Heron is his favorite bird to photograph. I can identify with the sentiment! Great Blues are certainly photogenic, and, since they are relatively abundant, we generally end up taking a lot of pictures of them. Who could resist?
This series of head shots is from Viera Wetlands (1) and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. I took a lot more GBH shots that this but the GBH head shot is a genre unto itself. For one thing, it is a big head, and you can get relatively close to the birds, so it is easy to fill the frame. For another, that look of alert tension is unique to herons and egrets, and the GBH sets the standard. Finally there is interest in the play of textures and colors, from bold beak to the fine features of the cheeks and neck…and the yellow eye is always riveting.
1) Canon SX40HS at 1240mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 1.5x digital tel-extender function). f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. 2) Same camera and zoom, f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160. 3) Canon SD100HS behind the 30x eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the equivalent of 2565mm. 1/500th @ ISO 200. f6.9 effective.
In all cases, Program with iContrast and –!/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
2/22/2012: Brown Anole, Merritt Island NWR
In honor of Wild Life Wednesday, instead of just another bird, I will offer up this little Brown Anole, captured at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. I have taken pics of the native Florida Green Anole on these very same rocks, near the rest stop half way around Black Point Wildlife Drive, but that was in the spring. On this January day, the only lizard present was this little guy, certainly descended from illegal immigrants (or at least escapees) from Cuba or the Bahamas, but now well naturalized in most of Florida.
Canon SX40HS in Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) 1680mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 2x digital tel-extender). f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 100. 2) 840mm equivalent (cropped slightly) f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 125. 3) same as #2.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
2/20/2012: Reddish Egret in a Bush, Merritt Island NWR
Misty morning light at Merritt Island. A classic pose and a classic exposure problem. I love the cup of the mangrove supporting the bird.
Canon SX40HS at 1240mm equivalent field of view (840mm x 1.5 digital tel-extender function). Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation (thou that was certainly not needed in this shot…I keep it set because of the 40HS’ habit of over-exposing the highlights…and I forgot to turn it off).
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. A fair amount of fill light and some exposure adjustment as well.
2/18/2012: Roseates with a View, Merritt Island NWR
We will back away from the intimate bird portraits today and present a group of feeding Roseate Spoonbills as accent to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge view. This is landscape (waterscape?) and the birds are really secondary. The fact that they are bright enough to occupy one of the power-points in the composition (junction of the rule of thirds lines) is just a bonus.
This shot began life as standard jpeg of the scene, exposed in Program mode on the Canon SX40HS at 24mm equivalent with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. f4 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 100.
I used Dynamic Photo HDR to tone map it for extended range and added detail, though I toned down the auto settings for a more natural look. I then took it into Lightroom, cropped at bit at the bottom for composition, and used a Graduated Filter effect from the top to lighten the clouds and sky (again going for a more naturally balanced exposure and realistic look), and another GFE from the bottom to darken the vegetation so that your eye is drawn up to the bright birds and the horizon. Added clarity and a touch of vibrance, and sharpened the whole thing. The result is just subtly heightened when compared to the straight Lightroom processing version. A little extra pop, but nothing that stands out as obvious HDR.
Which is exactly what I was after.
2/17/2012: Tricolored Delight, Merritt Island NWR
Tricolored Herons are, possibly, even more abundant at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge than Great Blues. Along Black Point Wildlife Drive they are everywhere, in every pond, and in all the water channels. In the brilliant Florida winter light, they are a truly colorful bird. Even, as here, in more subdued light, they certainly fill the frame with color and interesting detail.
This bird was sitting up, as they sometimes do, in a small mangrove bush, about 4 feet above the water, and well isolated against the background of the mangroves on the other side of the pond. Ideal portrait placement with a long lens, or, as in this case, a digiscoping rig.
In second two shots you can see the subtle purple/red tinge to the back and lower neck feathers.
And I have to say, the Tricolored Heron is really considerably more than tri-colored. 🙂
Taken with the Canon SD100HS behind the 30x eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL spotting scope. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) 3420mm equivalent field of view, 1/100th @ ISO 400. f9 effective. 2) 1881mm equivalent, 1/50th @ ISO 100, f5 effective. 3) 1368mm equivalent, 1/125th @ ISO 100, f3.7 effective.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. 3) cropped for composition.
2/16/2012: Hunting the flats. Great Egret.
A lone egret hunts the flats of the Indian River off Biolab Road at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Not much more to be said about this shot, except maybe, that it was the only image I got on Biolab Road this year 🙂
Canon SX40HS at 840mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 100. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
2/15/2012: Anhingas (R Rated), Viera Wetlands FL
Anhingas in breeding plumage are quite striking. Those bright green eye-rings can be seen from a surprising distance. Which is good for these shots. They were taken at the maximum reach of the equipment I had with me…full zoom on the Canon SD100HS behind the 30x eyepiece on the DiaScope 65FL for an equivalent focal length of 3420mm. Even so I cropped away some of the image to increase the relative size of the birds. The Anhingas, He and She, were across at least 100 yards of water, nesting at the edge of what I call the Alligator Island, nearly all the way around the main tour loop at Viera Wetlands in Melbourne Florida. That is 100 yards of simmery, moisture laden, swampy Florida air. Might as well be shooting though moving water. So I am actually pretty happy with these.
I almost did not attempt them, as I knew it was pushing the limits, but I am glad I did, for I no more than got set up when He-Anhinga decided to get frisky with She-Anhinga…hence the R rating on the post.
She-Anhinga does not, by human standards, look all that happy about it. Do you suppose that head grip the male has on her is what passes for affection between Anhingas? She looks a bit more satisfied (and comfortable) after the fact.
All shots with the set-up detailed above. First and last image at 1/320th @ ISO 200. The rest at 1/500th @ ISO 200. Sequence selected out of burst shot at 3-4 fps (there are intermediate shots I did not post). Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. Processed, including cropping, in Lightroom.