I went over to Viera Wetlands last Saturday.  It’s best not to expect too much in the middle of summer in Florida, so my expectations were a little low.

First on the agenda was a stop where SR 520 crosses the St. Johns River, near Cocoa, Florida.  There’s a park on the north side of the road with a busy boat ramp and a boardwalk reaching a short distance out into the river.  The sunrise was pretty – here’s one of the images I made:

Ultra-wide daybreak – Five frame panorama – The resulting horizontal field of view is about 130 degrees.

After sunrise I went on to Viera Wetlands to meet up with several Photography Interest Group members.  Kevin M. organized it and we had one of the largest turnouts in a long time.  Frank B., Kevin K. and his son Evan, and Tom M all showed up too.

With the heavy rains we’ve had lately they closed the berms to cars, so we took off on a stroll around the cells closest to the entrance.  There were more birds out and about than anticipated.

A very colorful Red bellied Woodpecker

In addition to woodpeckers, we saw and heard a lot of whistling ducks.

Perched Black Bellied Whistling Duck

We also saw many of the regular Florida avians (Tri-colored Herons, Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, Ibis, Anhingas, Moorhens, Coots, Black Vultures, etc.). Dragonflies and Alligators were also abundant.

I started with low photographic expectations and ended up coming home with several images I really like.  I also got to spend a little time with friends.  Once again I was pleasantly surprised by another wonderful Central Florida Photo Op!

You can see more of the photos from trip by clicking the links I included above to each person’s photo stream.  You can also click here to view the Photography Interest Group photo pool.  My Viera Wetlands album on Flickr is at this link, My St. Johns River album is at this link, and my Cocoa album  is at this link.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now, go make some photos!

©2014, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.