Black Point Wildlife Drive – 1/6/17

I was planning to post more photos from our recent cruise this weekend.  But after visiting Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge last Friday with Kevin K. and Tom M.  from the Photography Interest Group, I changed my mind.  There’s a great deal of activity there and it’s well worth a blog post (and a visit!).

One of the first birds we watched was a Redish Egret fishing close to shore.  It’s great fun to see these birds dance and pounce.

Reddish Egret and MinnowReddish Egret and Minnow

I had the Olympus E-M1 Mark II with me and practiced with the “Pro Capture” mode (I brought the right lens this time).  This really helps you catch a decisive moment – it’s almost cheating.  You’d better have a large card in your camera and time to go through all the images, though.  I used low-speed and still had way too many frames.  Here’s one example:

Wood Stork and MinnowWood Stork and Minnow

There were a huge number of White Pelicans and they treated us to “air ballet shows” all morning.

Synchronized FlyingSynchronized Flying

We saw several huge fish in the canal along the drive.  Possibly the same kind as in this post from last year.

Several (3 or more?) large fish (carp?) swiming in the canal alongside the road. These were about two feet long.Several (3 or more?) large fish (carp?) swimming in the canal near the road. These were about two feet long.

And there were more gators visible than usual.  They look well fed – perhaps they’ve been after those large fish.  These monsters stay so still that you can take your time and make a stitched panorama of them. Unless they’re chasing you 🙂

Gator panoramaGator panorama

We also spotted Belted Kingfishers, a Bald Eagle, Osprey, several varieties of duck, a wild pig, and many other interesting things.

You can look at my other photos from MINWR in this album on Flickr.

Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. There’s a lot going on over there – go see for yourself!

©2017, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved

8 thoughts on “Black Point Wildlife Drive – 1/6/17

  1. Thanks for the report Ed. I was keeping 2 of my grandsons on Friday. It is good to know there is a lot of activity on Black Point. There hasn’t been much activity there for the last two months.

  2. Great post, Ed – and that’s a great camera you are using. Fantastic action captures! You’ve inspired us to get out to the refuge; we life about 45 minutes from there. Merritt Island, here we come…..

  3. Thanks for this post Ed, I am looking to go there there this weekend. I know it will be interesting again as you encourage us to visit Orlando Wetlands before which I really enjoyed & been there 3x already. MINWR here I come…

  4. Enjoyed your blog…I went last month and saw a lot of birds and alligators, but no wild pigs or eagles! Sounds like you were there at an amazing time! I love when that happens.

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