Kevin McKinney wanted to go by Shingle Creek for a sunrise photo and I’ve wanted to do that too. We went last Saturday – and found out that park doesn’t open until 8am. A little late for sunrise. 🙁
Fortunately we got there early enough for our backup plan to work and we ended up in Kissimmee along the Lake Tohopekaliga shoreline. They have a park there too – and it was open. 🙂
Lake Toho light at dawn
There’s a little lighthouse at the end of the jetty and the protected water makes for some nice reflections.
We saw a few birds hunting the shoreline close by that turned out to be Snail Kites. I’ve only ever seen these before at Viera Wetlands and didn’t get a very good photo. This one perched nicely for a minute or so before flying off.
Snail Kite
And this Osprey flew by with its morning meal. I like sushi too, so I went ahead and make a photo of it.
Another Osprey with a “take-out” breakfast
A pleasant morning after all and I’m glad the backup plan worked.
Reminder – it’s that time of year again: The Lake Jesup flowers are getting ready to bloom. I got an email last week from my on-line friend Jeff Stammer. He’s already been out to Marlbed Flats to check on the flowers. He says that while it isn’t as wet as last year, it is quite grown up with tall plants and there aren’t as many cow or horse paths as there have been in the past. So the hiking may be tougher than usual. I skipped going last year and regretted it. I’m going to try hard to get out there this year. When we drove by Friday evening we could already see some yellow color. I think they’ll start to really peak in a week or two.
Maybe I’ll see you there!
Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2015, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.
Wow..Snail Kites..those are hard to find!!! and a lighthouse to boot!!
Love the info and the beautiful imsges! Thank you!
I went to see the sunflowers yesterday! I might try again in a week or 2. It was definitely overgrown…too tall for me to see over. We could hear motors and they sounded really close, so we didn’t want to wander too far into the field. Hopefully I’ll get another shot 🙂
Thanks Jacklyn, Dorothy, and Jean for stopping by and commenting.
The Snail Kites are a rare find for me too. And I agree that the sunflowers need another week or two to be at their best.
Ed
I am just so, so incredibly glad to have found your blog. Your creations are beautiful and the posts are so informative – I am going to have to read my way through every single one! Thank you for sharing all of this! I can’t wait to get back out and make some more photos!
P.S. I went out to see the Lake Jesup sunflowers today. So much yellow, butpretty mushy almost as soon as you make it past the tree line into the flats. I may try again next week with better footwear and step ladder/taller tripod… everything was well over my head!
Thanks for the sunflower update, Kelly. I planned to go out there today, but too much going on.
I’m also glad you found the blog and are enjoying it. I’ve got it set up to send out an email whenever there’s a new post. You can subscribe in the box on the right, if you’d like to.
I went and checked out your blog too – it’s very nice with lots of great photos.
Ed