Posts in Category: Merritt Island NWR
Over there
Great Egret: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA. January 2025 — Again the dank, dark, damp Thursday when I got to Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, and out on my first loop around Black Point Drive. White bird against a dark background. Classic exposure problem. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Highlight metering. Processed in Photomator.
Damp wood
Wood Stork: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Yes, still from my dank, dark, damp first Thursday in Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. What can I say. This stork is not appreciating the weather. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Nope!
Great Egret: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Try and try again…the is how Great Egret hunting goes (or any other fishing bird for that matter). Still that dull, dank, dark first Thursday of my visit to the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Out of the grey
Forster’s Tern (?): Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — I am not a tern and gull expert, but I am thinking Forster’s Tern, as being one of the mostly likely at Merritt Island in winter. Still that dull, dark, dank Thursday so it is mostly grey on grey…kind of condensed out of the sky with the tail feathers just solid enough to see. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Misery!
Reddish Egret (immature): Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Still that first dull, dark, dank, Thursday in Florida, and this immature Reddish Egret is really feeling it. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Roseate Art
Roseate Spoonbill: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — So sometimes art just happens. The lone Roseate Spoonbill in front of the dead snag in the middle of the pale blue water early in the morning says it all. Just a matter of lining it all up and putting a frame around it. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 @ 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator and framed in LikeAFrame.
Florida! Skimmers
Black Skimmer: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, January 2025 — We finally had some sun yesterday afternoon, though it was still unseasonably cold and the wind was high. High enough to keep a good chop on the water. I found a pair of Black Skimmers working on of the larger impoundments along the drive and spent a happy 20 minutes standing on the berm trying to catch them in action. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds in flight and action modifications. 1/2000th. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Florida! Grace and color
Tricolored Heron and Roseate Spoonbill: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, January 2024 — I don’t know enough about Tricolored Herons to know if this is typical hunting behavior…it was certainly the first time I had seen it. The Spoonbill does not seem to be overly impressed though, so maybe it happens more than I know. OM System OM-1 with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Tricolored Umbrella
Tricolored Heron: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2024 — I have never seen a Tricolored Heron umbrella fishing…though it is very common behavior among Reddish Egrets who fish the same pools at Merritt Island. Maybe I have just not been looking at the right times. 🙂 OM System OM-1 with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 584mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Florida! Skimmer on approach
Black Skimmer: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, January 2024 — I had fun with the Black Skimmers at Merritt Island but never did get exactly the image I wanted. Next time. OM System OM-1 with M.Zuiko 100-400IS zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds in flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator.