Posts in Category: marsh
Not purple yet
Immature Purple Gallinule: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida, USA, January 2025 — This somewhat odd looking bird was handing out with the Purple Gallinules along Alligator Alley. It is just the immature, of course, but it is the first one I have seen. This one is coming into first spring plumage. The actual juvenile plumage is quite different, with a predominately brown look. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Otter!
Otter: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida, January 2025 — One of my Easy Birds and Wildlife folks spotted this otter crossing the berm and the road ahead of us. We were busy with a Sandhill crane eating bugs around our feet, but we abandoned the Crane to see if we could track down the otter. And, indeed, we saw it crossing the berm 50 yards ahead of us again and got closer just as it ventured back up on the grassy bank. What a treat! They are apparently pretty common at Orlando Wetlands, but I rarely get to see one in the wild. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
not-Green Iguana
Green Iguana: Caño Negro Wetlands Reserve, Costa Rica, December 2024 — The Green Iguana is only green when it is young. As adults they are various shades of bronzy brown and dull orange. This is, I think, a big adult male, lounging in the foliage along one of the many channels in the Caño Negro wetlands. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 246 and 600mm equivalents. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator. Assembled in FrameMagic.
Egret in the gloom
Great Egret: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Still from the gloom, wet, damp, dank, dark Thursday of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival at Orlando Wetlands. Leading a Point’nShootNature Photography workshop. Not bad light for an Egret…you get to see the full range of feather detail. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 489mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Boat-billed
Boat-billed Heron: Caño Negro Wetlands Reserve, Costa Rica, December 2024 — We saw several Boat-billed Herons from our boat on Caño Negro…all but this one facing the wrong way for a photo. And this one was buried in foliage. I had only long enough for a burst of 5 shots before we drifted past the window. I was amazed and gratified to find that the subject detecting, eye-tracking auto focus manage to nail it even through the thicket. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. (ISO 8000) 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.
Maine! unexpected Savannah
Savannah Sparrow: York County, Maine, USA, December 2024 — I have been seeing these sparrows skulking in the brush along a trail through the marsh back from the mouth of the river for a couple of weeks…and just assumed they were Song Sparrows since I could not get a good look, let along a photo. This week on hopped up where I could see it, and, lo and behold, it was a Savannah Sparrow. Now I assume they were Savannah all along…which is, I think, pretty late in the year for Savannah in Southern Maine. Sony a6700 with Tamron 50-400Di3 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Great Blue December
Great Blue Heron: York County, Maine, USA, December 2024 — Here we are in the first week of December and there are still at least 3 Great Blue Herons in the marshes along the river near its mouth. This was the closest of the three and still aways away. I guess they are waiting for the first serious snow to head south. 🙂 Sony a6700 with Tamron 50-400Di3 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! King Tide
The super moon is up…Beaver or Bear Moon, depending on who you listen to…and the tides are running very high, completely flooding the marsh. This is looking both ways from the bridge over Back Creek on the way into our local beach. Sony a5100 with E 10-18 f4 at 15mm equivalent. Superior Auto with Landscape Scene mode. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Hunter
Great Blue Heron: York County, Maine, USA, November 2024 — I posted a hunting Coyote from Yellowstone already this morning, but here is a local hunter…hunter of the November marsh along the river just back from the ocean. About as different as you can get, but hunting is hunting, and if you take the time to compare the two you will see a similar attitude in both Coyote and Heron. A similar intensity. Sony a6700 with Tamron 50-400 Di iii zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.