Posts in Category: Merritt Island NWR
Florida Scrub Jay reprise.
Florida Scrub Jay, Scrub Ridge Trail, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville FL
With birds as cooperative as the Florida Scrub Jays were on Monday, of course I took too many pics. I had to try full body shots, like the one I posted yesterday, but also intimate close-ups like this one. That is, after all, why we carry a superzoom. These birds were so cooperative that when another photographer/birder came along while I was photographing them I invited he and his wife up to where I was standing for a better view. The birds just sat and looked at us, so they got what they deserved. Way too many photographs. 🙂 They were still sitting in the same bushes when all of us moved on, back to the cars. You just have to love the blue on this bird!
Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 140 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Notice of possible interruption of service: For the next 12 days I will be traveling and photographing in Honduras, and will have intermittent internet, and not a lot of time to post. If I miss a day here and there, I will make up for it when I get home. Promise.
Florida Scrub Jay!
Florida Scrub Jay, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville FL
The Florida Scrub Jay is an endangered species. Loss of habitat as Florida is paved over and urbanized is the culprit, but there is still a population on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. I have visited Scrub Ridge Trail at last 15 times in the last 15 years and never seen a Florida Scrub Jay. I was tempted to put a note in the suggestion box at the visitor center (supposing they had one) saying they should change the name of the trial to “No Scrub Jays Here” trail. And other people see them various places on the refuge…but not me. My daughter Sarah and my friend Rich saw them this trip…right on the Scrub Ridge Trail where they should be, so late in my last (unexpected: canceled flights) day in the area, I decided to give the trail another chance. As usual…I saw on Scrub Jays…until…most of the way around and almost back to the car…one teed up on the top of a bush. Hallelujah! I was working closer for a better shot when a rustling in the bush next to me turned my head. Woooh! Florida Scrub Jay at 8 feet! I had to zoom back to get the bird in focus. Now that is a Scrub Jay encounter and redeems the guy who named the trial in my eyes! Late afternoon light. 2 Jays. Close. It does not get any better than that!
Nikon P900 at 800mm equivalent field of view. 1/640th @ ISO 100 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom.
In a frump! Tricolored Heron
Tricolored Heron, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville FL
This Tricolored Heron was busy preening in the top of a Mangrove bush along Black Point Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville, Florida the other day. Tricoloreds get themselves into the most amazing frumps when preening. This was taken out the window of the car with the Nikon P900 at 2000mm equivalent field of view.
1/500th @ ISO 250 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Eye-popping Spoonbills
Roseate Spoonbills, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville FL
The Roseate Spoonbills this year along Black Point Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville Florida have been spectacular and spectacularly cooperative this year. They are feeding close to the tour loop and trails, and there are large numbers. The males are coming into full breeding plumage…deep pink wings, and the skin on their heads turning bright green. They are so close that I don’t always need the long zooms of my Nikon superzooms. This shot was taken with my pocket Sony HX90V, and has that bit of extra clarity and pop that is unique to the Sony cameras and ZEISS lenses. There is a bird here in just about every Spoonbill pose. 🙂
This is full zoom on the Sony: 720mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 80 @ f6.4. It is actually an in-camera HDR. Processed in Lightroom.
Sora in the Sun
Sora, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is full of big beautiful birds: Great and Reddish Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, Wood Storks, White and Glossy Ibis, Bald Eagles, etc. These birds jump right out at you (sometimes literally) as you drive around Black Point Wildlife Drive. But some of the best birds are smaller and far less obvious. Take this Sora, a small Rail. Sora’s are generally difficult to see, and when they are, it is generally as they sulk along the edges of reed beds, in and out of the reeds. This one was caught out under the mangroves in the pond near the Rest Rooms on Black Point. The late afternoon light got in under the vegetation and lit the little Sora up!
Nikon P900 at 1600mm equivalent field of view. 1/320th @ ISO 400 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Spoonbills
Roseate Spoonbills, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville FL
We had wonderful light late in the day on Black Point Wildlife Drive on Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and there were about 300 Roseate Spoonbills feeding in several groups along the drive. Folks who had been there all day said it was nothing compared to the early morning show, of course, but I am happy with Flordia afternoon light and relatively close Spoonbills any day! This group is just about in full breeding plumage. The heads will get greener, and the bodies brighter, but only just a bit. As far as I am concerned it just does not get better than this!
Nikon P900 at 1400mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Titusville Sunset
From Parrish Park looking back over Titusville FL
I woke this morning thinking it is time for something besides birds and critters. It seems Pic 4 Today has had a pretty steady diet of bird shots from my recent stay at the Space Coast Birding Festival…Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. So just to prove I did take my eye off the birds for a least an occasional moment…here is a sunset from the drive home from Merritt Island. I pulled over among the gull feeders at Parrish Park just before the bridge to catch the last rays. Of course I could not completely avoid birds…this is Florida after all…but the small flock of Skimmers and the two gulls are just grace notes to the sunset. 🙂
Sony HX400V in camera HDR. 130mm equivalent field of view. Three ISO 80 exposures. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
By the way: I am leaving on the first leg of a trip to Pico Bonito Lodge in Honduras today. The Pic 4 Today post may be irregular over the next week. Daily post to Facebook and Google+ are more likely. We shall see.
Sitting Shrike
Loggerheaded Shrike. Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR
When all my flights going home to the blizzard hitting Maine got canceled for two days running, I rescheduled for late in the day on Wednesday, hoping against hope that the weather would be cleared out, and the airlines somewhat caught up. That meant that I did not have to be in Orlando until 2PM. I planned, after many days in the field and lots of images captured, to spend the time in my hotel room resting and catching up…but when the sun came up on a relatively calm day, I could not resist packing up, checking out, and spending my final hours in Florida back out on Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island. I had time for two loops of Blackpoint, and it was well worth the effort. On my second loop, still being ahead of schedule by almost an hour, I parked at the rest area and walked out as far as the observation tower on the Cruickshank Trail, messing about with my new digiscoping rig, and generally having fun. This Loggerheaded Shrike graced the trail with its presence…and it sat while I photographed it with the Sony HX400V (here) and while I set up and digiscoped it. What a bird!
Sony HX400V at just over 1000mm equivalent field of view. 1/640th @ ISO 80 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
I love Reddish Egrets!
Reddish Egret. Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, FL
Yes I do love Reddish Egrets. The way the dance about while hunting. The improbable aspects their bodies assume. The thing they do with their wings just before striking a fish (not always…but often…called “canopy feeding” as they make a shadow in the water so they can see through the surface). Their speed and awkward agility. They are fun to watch. Late yesterday, out on Blackpoint Drive, a group of birders and photographers were treated to a classing Reddish show as two Egrets hunted across a pool the size of a basketball court. The late afternoon light was spectacular. I tried Sports Mode on the Egrets…and it made catching the wing thing and fish strikes almost easy. The camera locked focus on the Egret and all I had to do is keep the bird near the center of the field as it pranced and posed and wait for the action I wanted. The camera kept the bird in focus. Totally amazing! And it yielded my best shots of Reddish action yet…and not just one shot…but a dozen or more definite keepers! You have to know how fleeting these poses are to appreciate how well the camera did…at least in my hands 🙂
Sony HX400V in Sports Mode. 991mm equivalent field of view. 1/640th @ ISO 160 @ f6.3. Processed and cropped slightly in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet. I plan a post on Point and Shoot Nature Photographer on shooting active birds in Sports Mode that will undoubtedly feature more of the Reddish Egret shots. Keep your eye open.
Snowy Dawn. Happy Sunday!
Snowy Egret at dawn. Merritt Island NWR, FL
Yeah…not that kind of snow 🙂 Still in Florida. First light on Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in January, when the birds are in close to the road, is often spectacular. The birds are between you and the rising sun, and if you catch the light just right, the images glow. This Snowy Egret was feeding about as close to the road as a bird can get, and the light was right! 🙂
And there is something about being out when the day is young, catching the birds at their breakfast, that lends zest to day, and to life. We begin again, all over again, with the adventure! I think that is the key to living a life of the spirit in the flesh…every day is a new adventure…and no matter what comes, it will be, before it is over, good. Some days are a trial and some days are just full of blessing. Or maybe I should say: Some days we are blessed with trials, and some days we are just blessed. Most days, these days, I am simply blessed…enjoying the adventure. I look forward from the dawn of each day with hope, with expectation, with joy, and with thanksgiving…I may not always show it…but I do. In a little over an hour I will leave for maybe my last early morning circuit of Blackpoint Drive for this trip. What good thing does God in the spirit have in store for today? Happy Sunday!