Tag Archives: Anhinga

Nature and Nurture

April 10, 2023Orlando WetlandsAnhinga, birds, Common Gallinule, Sandhill Crane, Spoonbill, wildlife, Wood StorkEd Rosack

I met my friend Lutfi at Orlando Wetlands Park last Saturday morning. I was a bit worried at first since I didn’t see as many birds around as on my last visit in early March. The Whistling Ducks seemed to be hiding and there were fewer Spoonbills in the trees and flying around. I also couldn’t find the nest that’d been near the boardwalk.

Then I did start to see some things. There was a Sand Hill Crane Family foraging in some shallow water near the south Lake Searcy shore.

Sand Hill Crane colt and parent foraging

A Common Gallinule family foraging close by the boardwalk.

Common Gallinule chick and parent foraging

There was also a lot of noise coming from the Cypress stand to the east of the boardwalk – baby birds squawking and begging to be fed. I’m glad I had a long lens and teleconverter since they were quite far away.

Two Anhinga chicks in nest Wood Stork chick and parent in nest

This Spoonbill fledgling was by itself when I first saw it. Perhaps it’s from the nest that I couldn’t find? A parent soon arrived in the tree and fed it. It won’t be long before it’s taking care of itself.

Hungry youngster

A lot of change out there in just over a month. Nature in action nurturing a new generation of birds. What a thriving rookery and what a fantastic Central Florida Photo Op!

I made all of the photos in this post last Saturday except for the header image, which is from my previous visit. You can see a larger version of it at this link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/52792040905/in/dateposted-public/

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Stay positive, be kind, take care of yourselves and each other. And if you can, make some photos!

Busy Birds

April 24, 2022Daytona, INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake Apopka, Winter ParkAnhinga, birds, Great Blue Heron, nest, Osprey, wildlife, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, youngEd Rosack

Very busy birds! And in a lot of different places!

Seems like the nesting season is going full blast. I’ve been seeing them everywhere I go. Lake Apopka, Winter Park, Holly Hill, and Ormond Beach. Here are a few photos. The first two are from a Lake Apopka trip a few weeks ago :

Lake Apopka Nesting Tree (near the pump house). I could see four or five nests in this tree: Two Anhinga, a Cormorant and a Great Blue Heron. There’s also a Common Gallinule perched (or nesting?) in the lower left.

A close up of the Great Blue Heron nest in that tree. Some feathers sticking up from the bottom might be a small chick.

This next photo is from the Winter Park Osprey nest. I’ve checked on it several times this year and although it seems active, I haven’t been able to spot any eggs or chicks yet.

Winter Park Ospreys: As of the afternoon of 4/19. I couldn’t see any sign of eggs or chicks in this nest. I’m going to try to go by again next week.

My friend Robert Wilson offered to show me one of his local spots: Centennial Park in Holly Hill. We went by last Monday and there was a lot of activity there too.

This Centennial Park Osprey was gathering nesting material.

Another nesting tree (Centennial Park). This one has five active nests: One Anhinga and four Great Blue Heron. These chicks are getting quite mature, with some already fledging.

Here’s a close up of the Anhiga nest in the tree above. Dad is feeding his very hungry youngster.

This nest in a close by tree is still under construction. The male just passed his mate a new stick to add.

And finally, Robert and I stopped by another spot up in Ormond Beach where he knew of a nesting Yellow-crowned Night Heron. It was hard to get a good photo, but it was exciting to see. These birds are a rare sight for me and to spot one in the nest was a treat!

A Yellow-crowned Night Heron playing peek-a-boo from its nest in Ormond Beach.

You can click on any of these images to see higher resolution versions on Flickr.

It always amazes me what nature shows us if we go out and look. I wonder if you have some near by places like this where you could see some busy birds. We won’t know if you don’t go!

Thank you for reading my blog. Your visits, comments, and likes are always welcome and a big motivator for me. Stay positive, be kind, take care of yourselves and each other. And if you can, wander a bit out in nature – and make some photos while you’re there!

Lake Apopka, 26 June 2021

June 27, 2021Lake ApopkaAnhinga, black-necked stilts, building, Great Crested Flycatcher, Least Bittern, monochrome, nestEd Rosack

Kevin M. asked if I wanted to go on a photo excursion yesterday and of course I agreed. Since I hadn’t been to the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive since before the pandemic, we ventured out there. It was a really good choice.

Two birds I don’t see very often were quite common: Black-necked Stilts and Least Bitterns. The Stilts were all along the drive. At first, they were way out in the water or flying in the distance. Eventually we found some much closer – and even had to wait for them to get out of the road!

Black-necked Stilt

There were some cute young ones toddling around too.

Black-necked Stilt Babies

The Least Bitterns were taking cover in the reeds and occasionally flying from one hiding spot to another.

A Least Bittern in the reeds

There were lots of other birds too. These nesting Anhingas were a treat. I don’t think I’ve seen them nesting since I visited the Everglades.

Nesting Anhingas: When is lunch, Mom?

Kevin pointed out this next bird for me – one I’d never photographed before.

Great Crested Flycatcher

The LAWD Gate doesn’t open until 7am so we usually can’t get any blue hour or sunrise photos. But I always like to make a photo of the pump house. I hadn’t tried this perspective yet and I think it looks good in B&W with those clouds in the background.

Lake Apopka Pumphouse

We also saw Turtles, Alligators, a Marsh Rabbit, lots of dragonflies, a Blue Grosbeak (way, way far away!), a Downy Woodpecker, a Black-crowned Night Heron, Bank Swallows, Common Gallinules, Purple Gallinules (and babies), Ospreys, Red-winged Blackbirds, Green Herons, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Tri-colored Herons, Little Blue Herons, and many lovely flowers too. And I’m sure there were other things I’ve forgotten to mention or overlooked.

Every time I visit LAWD, I’m reminded what a wonderful nature spot it is and how I need to go there more often. I’ll try! You can see more of my photos from there in this album on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72157656060310175

Header image: A Black-necked Stilt in flight

Way back in 2009, a group of friends at work were all interested in photography and getting out into nature here in Central Florida. We started a “club” we called the Photography Interest Group. We’d go out together, make photos, and share info on cameras, techniques, locations, etc. Over the years, people drifted away: lost interest, moved, etc. Kevin and I are the last two active members. He’s going to move away soon. We’ll keep in touch of course and may even be able to go out photographing together at times. But it seems like the Photography Interest Group has faded away. It was good while it lasted! I’ll miss you Kevin!

The Photography Interest Group on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/groups/1304505@N22/

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Cherish your family and friends. Take care of yourselves and each other. And if you still can, make some photos!

Viera Wetlands – 1/15/20

January 19, 2020Viera WetlandsAnhinga, birds, Cormorant, Deer, landscape, Palm Warbler, panorama, red-winged blackbird, sunriseEd Rosack

The last time I visited Viera Wetlands was in March of 2019, so I’ve been wanting to go back. Each time I checked the road conditions hotline, it said they’re closed to vehicles. But the message hasn’t been updated since mid-November and I suspected (hoped?) it wasn’t accurate. This week I decided to go down anyway.

I started the morning with a pretty sunrise at the River Lakes Conservation Area Boat Ramp where the St. Johns crosses SR 520.

A very calm morning

Then I headed down to Viera. The hotline is correct – the wetlands roads are closed to vehicles and there’s some repair work going on. I haven’t found any info posted about when they expect to allow cars again. Anyway, I took off on foot with my camera and had a nice walk around the east half of the park closest to the parking area. Here are some of the things I saw.

“Who are you lookin’ at?” (3). These early morning deer were very alert and very suspicious of me and my long lens. I saw about a dozen of them and there were probably more. I liked the light on this group and how they were all staring right at me.

Redwing Blackbird launch. I managed to catch it just as it as it took off.

Cormorant in flight – There were a great many there that morning.

Sunning Anhinga. There were a large number of anhingas too, and this lady was enjoying the early morning light.

Palm Warbler

I heard lots of Sandhill Cranes but only saw them in the distance and there was one Spoonbill that was too far away for a photo, I didn’t see anything rare or exotic on my walk, but there were plenty of smaller birds, water birds, vultures and alligators. And I enjoyed my time out in nature and got some steps too!

You can look through my blog posts about Viera Wetlands (44 and counting!) at this link: https://edrosack.com/category/photo-ops-in-florida/viera-wetlands/. And I’ve collected over 300 photos from there in this album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72157623223995224. Also please click on the photos in these blog posts to view them in higher resolution on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos -even if the road’s closed!

Bird shots

July 14, 2018INSIDE FLORIDAAnhinga, Belted Kingfisher, birds, BPWD, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Gull, Spoonbill, wildlifeEd Rosack

When I go on a photo expedition I come home with many more images than I process, and I post even less. So every once in a while I go through the photos in my Lightroom catalog and look for ones that I passed over, to see if my current self thinks they’re good enough to show or include in a blog post.

Caught in a sunbeam, Gatorland, May 2017

Anyway, I was doing this last week and ended up with the group of images in this post. They made me realize once again how wonderful Central Florida is for bird watching and bird photography.

Handsome Anhinga, Gatorland, May 2016

We have an enormous variety of avian wildlife here (iBird says 366 species in the state of Florida, Wikipedia says 524!).

Spoonbill, Black Point Wildlife Drive, January 2018

At some locations the larger birds are tolerant of people – especially if you stay in your car and / or take care not to stress them. And nesting season provides opportunities that aren’t common elsewhere.

Hungry Herons, Viera Wetlands, March 2018

I’ve added info to the captions on when and where I made these images so you can get an idea of what you’ll see. The best time of year is probably January through May, but you can find opportunities year round – if you’re lucky and do your research.

Belted Kingfisher, Viera Wetlands, March 2018

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

Gatorland – May 11, 2017

May 14, 2017Gatorland, INSIDE FLORIDA, OrlandoAlligator, Anhinga, birds, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Tri-colored HeronEd Rosack

I didn’t go to Gatorland last Thursday with Kevin K. intending to make images for a Mother’s Day blog post. It happened anyway – it’s pretty hard to avoid this time of year.

The nesting season has moved along and there are more species active now and raising their young. This tricolored Heron is hoping her mate gets back soon with some food for the kids!

Bawling, big mouth babies

Even with the chicks making all that noise, the Mom is sitting quietly, protecting them in case they’ve attracted any predators with their squawking.

In the next photo, an adult Great Egret is feeding an almost mature young one. I watched one nest where there were three juveniles this size, all competing for food from one adult. They were squawking and wildly grabbing for the adult’s beak. The adults are very careful and fortunately seem to avoid eye injuries.

Feeding time

Cattle Egrets are on the nest too and although I think some have already hatched, I couldn’t see them – they’re way back in the bushes.

Cattle Egret checking on her eggs

There are also some Dads around. This guy was preening – trying to look good for his mate. He impressed me!

Showy Anhinga

And the alligators were getting in on the act too. Here’s a video of a bull gator bellowing a mating call. I like the sound track, the standing wave ripples over his back, and the steam (mist) coming out of his nose!

Gator Bellow

All of these animal behaviors are fascinating to watch. They’re exciting to photograph too!

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

Oh, and happy Mother’s Day!!

Gatorland Update – 8 April 2016

April 9, 2016Gatorland, INSIDE FLORIDA, OrlandoAnhinga, birds, Cormorant, Great Egret, reflection, Tri-colored Heron, Wood StorkEd Rosack

I had a delightful visit to Gatorland yesterday morning. Tom M. and Jim B. were also there. I started following ~~Jim’s blog~~ (sorry, no longer available) years ago and we’ve been web friends for a while. I’m happy I finally got to meet him in person!

Anhinga gathering nest material

The nesting season is going full blast now, and this gives everyone a chance to see and photograph wild birds in breeding colors doing nesting season behaviors. Quite an opportunity!

We saw Anhingas, Blue Herons, Cattle Egrets, Cormorants, Great Egrets, Common Gallinules, Snowy Egrets, Tri-colored Herons, and Woodstorks all in various stages of breeding. Little ones in the nest are quite common and some of the baby Great Egrets have grown into “teenagers” already and will be fledging shortly.

Nesting Double-crested Cormorant – Can you tell where this bird gets its name?

The early entry program at Gatorland is perfect for catching the birds in good light on the west side of the breeding pond. They enjoy the morning light too.

I’ll be with you in a moment just as soon as my feathers dry… – This Wood Stork was soaking in the morning sun

Keep an eye out for backlit birds – they can also be beautiful.

Great Glowing Egret

Gatorland is an exceptional place to practice your “birds-in-flight” skills. Patient observation lets you figure out movement patterns and get ready. I waited several minutes with my camera in “BIF” mode (high shutter speed, continuous auto focus) until this Tri-Colored took off. I didn’t expect it to grab a little fish on the way, but I was glad it did!

Breakfast to go – A Tri-colored Heron scoops up a minnow on the fly

Click on any of these photos to see them larger on Flickr. And look at this album for many more images from Gatorland.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. If you haven’t been to Gatorland yet, go. And if you haven’t checked out ~~Jim’s blog~~ (sorry, no longer available) yet, go do that too. Then – go make some photos!

Anhinga portrait

March 20, 2016Gatorland, INSIDE FLORIDA, OrlandoAnhingaEd Rosack

Anhingas are large water birds common here in Florida. You often see them pose with wings spread as they dry out after a swim. You can read more about them in this article on Wikipedia.

For most of the year you might say they’re drab, especially around the head with plain black or brown feathers and eyes. But with springtime love in the air, their appearance changes – especially for males. They develop highlights in the feathers on the back of their heads, a lot of color around their eyes, and look like they wear red contact lenses. This fellow has the full style going.

Anhinga – full length portrait

Here’s a close up crop from this photo so you can better see the colors and detail (click for a larger version on Flickr).

Anhinga – head shot

They’re very handsome and I enjoy photographing them, especially when they’re as patient and tolerant as this one was.

I made the photo at Gatorland in Orlando on March 10th during my first visit this year. The breeding season is underway and hundreds of wild birds are participating. It’s a wonderful opportunity to see colors and behaviors of anhinga, egret, herons and other species up close. And Gatorland has an early entry program for photographers so you can photograph in the early morning light while avoiding crowds of tourists later in the day. Go see for yourself!

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

Lake Apopka wildlife Drive

January 10, 2016Cameras and Photography, INSIDE FLORIDA, Lake ApopkaAnhinga, bird, black and white, building, Fish, Hawk, infrared, landscape, micro four thirds, panorama, wildlifeEd Rosack

My friend Tom M. wanted to go out shooting last week and hadn’t ever been to the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive. The drive itself is only open to cars from Friday through Sunday, so we met on Friday morning and went over. It was raining when I got up and still cloudy on the way over, which made for interesting skies in my infrared photos.

Lake Apopka Pump House – 2 frame panorama, infrared, black and white.

We did have a bit of good light while we were there. We saw this bird struggling to swallow a fish and stopped to watch for a few minutes. It was on the side of a canal with the clouds reflecting in the water behind it and flowers blooming in front. I stayed in the car so I wouldn’t bother it and shot a series of single frames while we watched. This one was the best one of the series.

Nice catch! – an Anhiga tosses a fish it caught along a canal on the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive.

On this trip, I brought my micro four thirds cameras. I’ve used the system for about four years and they’ve worked very well. The dynamic range and noise performance are not as good as larger sensor cameras, but it’s “good enough”. And the noise is not an issue for me. DxO Optics Pro does an outstanding job processing the RAW files. The focusing capabilities have been fast for static subjects – but I’ve never been able to do very well with continuous focus. Well, I recently traded up to a used Olympus E-M1, which has phase detect sensors built into the image sensor and it’s been doing a great job with continuous focus. So much so that even for birds in flight it’s working “good enough” too. Here’s an example from Friday:

Checking me out – A hawk in flight looking at the camera

You can view other photos I’ve made with the micro four thirds system in this album on Flickr.

Lake Apopka is an awesome place, I’ll definitely go back. I’m collecting photos from there in this folder on Flickr, and you can also read an earlier article I wrote about it here on the blog.

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

Breeding blue and hatching chicks

March 15, 2015Gatorland, INSIDE FLORIDA, OrlandoAnhinga, birds, chick, Cormorant, Great Egret, nest, Tri-colored Heron, wildlifeEd Rosack

Thursday night, Tom M. invited me to meet him at Gatorland. We both showed up at 7:30 Friday morning to see what’s changed from our visit on February 20th. The answer is a lot! Last time, it was mostly the Great Egrets starting to breed. This time several more species are dressed up in their fancy colors and plumage and building nests. And the Great Egret chicks are starting to hatch. Here are some photos from the trip.

I saw this male Anhinga getting ready to take off and managed to make a frame just as it left the tree. You can see the breeding season blue around his eye as well as some of the crest on his head.

Anhinga close up

Cormorant eyes are always pretty in the right light. They add a striking blue mouth during nesting season. Some of the Cormorants are already on nests. This pair looked like they were just about to “get busy”.

Cormorant couple

Tri-colored Herons also add a dash of blue for breeding season. They’re starting to show off with courting behaviors and poses to attract mates.

Tri-colored Heron displaying

And here’s a couple of Great Egret siblings huddled up close to Mama in the nest. I’m not sure you can call these young chicks without a full set of feathers beautiful, but they are cute.

Mama and two chicks

Snowy Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Wood Storks and other species usually also nest in the this rookery – so we still have those to look forward to. It’s a wonderful time to visit Gatorland, the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, or your local bird rookery. Don’t miss this chance to see nature in action!

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

Central Florida Photo Ops

What and where they are and how to photograph them.

Tag Archives: Anhinga

Nature and Nurture

Busy Birds

Lake Apopka, 26 June 2021

Viera Wetlands – 1/15/20

Bird shots

Gatorland – May 11, 2017

Gatorland Update – 8 April 2016

Anhinga portrait

Lake Apopka wildlife Drive

Breeding blue and hatching chicks