Tag Archives: birds

Orlando Wetlands Park 10/24/24

November 3, 2024Orlando WetlandsAlligator, birds, Flowers, Green Heron, landscape, Little Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, wildlifeEd Rosack

It’s been a while since I last visited Orlando Wetlands Park, so I decided to get a little exercise and check out what’s happening there now. Here are a few things I saw.

The Cypress trees are starting to show our Florida Fall colors:

Cypress Swamp

The Visitors Center construction’s all done and the’ve done a nice job with the plantings in the garden:

In the garden by the Visitors Center.

Year round birds are plentiful:

Snowy Egret, low over the pond.

Little Blue Heron Portrait

And the alligators are plentiful too:

Sleepy Gator. And the alligators are plentiful too.

This is the time of year that migrant birds start to show up. This page on eBird shows observations from recent years by month: https://ebird.org/barchart?byr=2020&eyr=2024&bmo=1&emo=12&r=L452007. Orlando Wetlands Park is a beautiful place to visit, explore, and make photos. Maybe I’ll see you out there!

Thanks so much for checking out my blog! Stay positive, be kind, and take care of yourselves and each other. And if you have a chance, go for a hike and make some photos!

Recent MINWR Photos

September 29, 2024Haulover Canal, Merritt Island NWRAlligator, baby, birds, black and white, Black Crowned Night Heron, boats, BPWD, landscape, manatee, sunrise, Wild Turkey, wildlifeEd Rosack

Note: Our part of Central Florida was spared major impacts from Hurricane Helene. Unfortunately, people in many other areas are suffering horribly with injuries, death, and property loss. Our hearts go out to everyone affected.

I’ve gotten behind keeping the blog up to date so today I’ll try to catch up some. These photos are all recent ones from trips to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on July 29th and Sept. 25th.

A fisherman with a view. Rotary Riverfront Park on US 1 south of the refuge entrance. July 29.

One of several Wild Turkeys hanging out near the turn in to Bairs Cove. July 29.

2 or 3 Manatees were making a big commotion in Haulover Canal by the Bairs Cove boat ramp. July 29.

Dawn at the marina – 1. The early morning sky was spectacular looking east from Marina Park. September 25.

Dawn at the marina – 2. The sky was interesting looking west too, but not as colorful – so I converted to B&W. September 25.

A young Black Crowned Night Heron near the rest area on Black Point Wildlife Drive. September 25.

Baby Gators. From the Visitor Center boardwalk. September 25.

The folks at the Visitor Center said there was a Momma Gator and babies in the pond. I walked out and down the boardwalk without spotting them. About to give up, I heard the babies calling. They make a sort of a chirp / gulp sound and I was able to follow their calls and find them. I hoped the babies would be on Mom’s back, but not that day. She was watching over her offspring from a few feet away.

Momma Gator. From the Visitor Center boardwalk. September 25.

Header image: I made that one along the back part of Black Point Wildlife Drive. I’ve always liked those large pine trees and the light that morning and the hazy sky background appealed to me. You can see a larger version on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/53972104178/in/dateposted/

Maybe the Dog Days of Summer aren’t the best time to make photos at MINWR. But photo ops are still there if you go look for them.

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

Two ‘Oldies but Goodies’

April 29, 2024Casey Key, St. Augustine Alligator Farmbeach, birds, black and white, infrared, landscape, panorama, Spoonbill, wildlifeEd Rosack

Lynn and I are moving next week, so we’ve been busy and I haven’t been on any recent photo field trips. I did have a little time though to browse through my Lightroom catalog and found two older images that I decided to re-visit.

The first one is a two frame, vertical panorama made with an IR modified Olympus E-PL5 way back in 2015 at Casey Key on the gulf coast of Florida. It’s two Raw frames that I’d ignored at the time. I made it with a 14mm (28mm equivalent) lens at f/5.6, 2.0 sec, ISO 200. Here’s my current work flow:

Initial processing of the Raw file with DxO Photo Lab 6 DeepPrime XD Noise Reduction
Lightroom: color and exposure settings and panorama merge
Photoshop: cropping, final adjustments, sharpening with Topaz Sharpen AI
Lightroom again: B&W conversion and publish

Beach view

I was really happy with the result, especially the detail and how the light looks in the clouds. It was nice to rediscover this one in the archives!

I don’t know how interested you’d be in more detailed processing steps, but I’d be happy to answer any questions you have in the comments. Here’s a before and after comparison of the Beach View photo (Raw on the left and final on the right):

The second one is from even further back: A single frame from the St. Augustine Alligator Farm in 2010, made with a Nikon D90, at 150mm, f/6.3, 1/640 sec, ISO 640. I used a similar work flow (except no panorama merge or B&W conversion).

Spoonbill Touchdown

I’m very happy with this one too. The Nikon D90 was quite capable for its time and the files look pretty good, especially when processed with current software.

I often return from a photo op with too many photos. I’ll delete the obvious bad frames or duplicates. But I try not to delete too many because it’s a little hard to predict what the processed versions will end up looking like. Sometimes I’m very glad I saved images – even 9 and 14 years later!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Stay positive, be kind, take care of yourselves and each other. And if you have time, make some photos – or at least process an old one!

Winter Park Ospreys – April 8, 2024

April 12, 2024Winter Parkbirds, chick, nest, Osprey, wildlifeEd Rosack

I’m not sure how long the Ospreys have been nesting in downtown Winter Park. I first wrote about them in this post in 2018, and again in 2019 and 2020. Although I didn’t blog about it every time, I checked on them each spring and have a collection of their photos over the years in this album on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72177720316160870/with/40996944555/.

It’s that time of year again. I had an errand over in Maitland and stopped by the nest last Monday. They look like they’re doing well. I only saw one chick (which I’d guess was about a week old). I’ve read that one egg can hatch early and be followed by others later, so maybe this one will have some siblings.

Here are a few photos:

Dad watching the nest while Mom takes a break.

Mom, Dad, and chick.

Mom feeding fresh fish to her chick.

Mom and chick – looking for Dad to come back with more fish.

I enjoy following this nest each year. The setting is ideal for photographs: You can get relatively close but not stress the birds. And I like seeing these wild creatures thrive in the middle of all us humans.

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

MINWR Again – 2/16/24

February 25, 2024Haulover Canal, Merritt Island NWRbirds, black and white, BPWD, flamingo, forster's Tern, landscape, Lesser Yellowlegs, Merlin, Painted Bunting, Spoonbill, sunrise, wildlifeEd Rosack

I realize I’ve been posting a lot lately about Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, but I have a good excuse: there’s a lot of activity there right now. This post is just a bit more encouragement in case I haven’t already convinced you to check it out!

Kevin M. was in town and wanted to go there, so we went on the 16th after lunch. I usually go in the mornings and wasn’t sure how much we’d see in the afternoon, but it turned out we saw plenty. Most of these images are from that trip, but I’ve included a few from my February 2nd trip that haven’t been in the blog.

Hidden wonders in a beatuful place: It doesn’t look like it in this photo, but Black Point Wildlife Drive in MINWR is full of birds and wildlife – especially at this time of year. (2/2/24)

Flamingos are found in Florida, but usually only in the Everglades. In late August / early September of 2023, Hurricane Idalia displaced Flamingos from the Yucatan to all over the eastern US. These four are still hanging out off the west end of Haulover Canal in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. They were about 1/2 mile from the kayak launch where we were standing – so it was a pretty tough shot with quite a bit of atmospheric distortion. I’m glad it turned out even this well. I might have gotten a better pic if we still had our kayaks.

If you click on the image, you’ll open a higher res version on Flickr. Then click again once or twice to zoom in to see the flamingos a little bertter.

For the record…

There were mostly Great and Snowy Egrets in this gathering, with some Spoonbills, Woodstorks, and a few Grackles mixed in. They weren’t going after the fish very hard so most of the fish were gone or the birds were full.

A great gathering

I wasn’t looking closely enough and didn’t notice this Great Egret until Kevin pointed out its bright green lores and breeding feathers (aigrettes). Thanks Kevin!

Fancy Feathers

Terns were busy fishing along the west side of Black Point. We watched them swooping, hovering, and diving for several minutes.

Forster’s Tern after fish

Kevin also found this Merlin near the Black Point exit. Zoom into the Flickr version and you’ll be able to see the dragonfly in the Merlin’s left talon.

Merlin with prey

A lady Painted Buntings was enjoying the seeds at the visitor center feeder. There was a male there too, but I wasn’t able to get a photo.

Lady Bunting

We spotted other birds: Kestrels, Hawks, Ospreys, Skimmers, Hooded Mergansers, and several species of duck. Keven also saw Florida Scrub Jays. A very good trip!

Here’s two final photos to close out.

Lesser Yellowlegs

Wading near the shore (2/2/24)

The header image is an early morning (2/2/24) iPhone photo near the entrance to Black Point Wildlife Drive. That was a good trip too!

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading my blog . Stay positive, be kind, take care of yourselves and each other. And if you can, check out a NWR close to you. And make some photos!

MINWR: 2/2/24

February 11, 2024Merritt Island NWRbirds, Black Skimmer, BPWD, Clapper Rail, landscape, reflection, sunrise, White Pelican, wildlife, Wilson's SnipeEd Rosack

This is the best time of year to visit Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. I made another rewarding trip a week ago and came home with many images I like. Here are some of them.

Clouds added a dose of drama to early scenes along Gator Creek. And with the calm winds and long exposure, the water surface doubled the golden light.

Dawn across the creek.

Once it was brighter, I headed over to Black Point Wildlife Drive and one of the first things I came across was a group of Black Skimmers doing their thing. The iBird app says these are along our coast year round, but I hardly ever see them except in the winter. This one showed off some fine form as it flew right in front of me. I was able to capture a number of frames – this was my best and it’s only slightly cropped.

Black Skimmer

The header image is from the same time / place. You can view a higher res version here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/53507251801/in/dateposted/.

In Central Florida we only see American White Pelicans in the winter months. They’re very large and it’s always fun to spot them. They can be difficult to photograph. Be careful with your exposure if you want to preserve detail in their white feathers (and black primary feathers too). These four were preparing to land along the trail at the SW corner of BPWD.

Final approach

This group / pod was preening in the shallow water along the same trail near the first bird blind. I liked this framing with the mangrove in the foreground, so I made two exposures (one focused on the mangrove and one on the pelicans). Then I was able to blend them in photoshop so both are sharp.

Preening Pod and mangrove

And two last birds, both also winter only around here. They aren’t easy to find as they usually skulk around in the mangrove roots and / or reeds along the canals or shorelines. They’re also a bit of a challenge to photograph since it’s dark back in there where they hang out! I was lucky to see them both!

Clapper Rail

Wilson’s Snipe

To close out this post, here’s a bonus landscape photo. This one is after sun up near the entrance to Black Point Wildlife Drive. I like the way the mist looks in the distance.

A little mist in the marsh this morning

For more info about conditions at MINWR, you could look at Wally Jones blog (https://ournaturalplaces.com), and the Birder’s Journey blog (https://birdersjourney.com). Both have recent articles about the refuge.

MINWR is a treasure and I’m very lucky to live so close. You should visit it if you can!

As usual, you can click on most photos in my blog to see higher resolution versions on Flickr. If you’re a glutton for photo punishment, I have (way too) many images from MINWR collected in this folder: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72157627776386723/with/52112652632

P.S. I walked around Orlando Wetlands Park for a little bit yesterday. Bird activity is starting to pick up there too! I’m planning to revisit over the next month or so and hope to catch some of the bird courting / nesting activities. They started to pick up around this time last year.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog – I really appreciate it. Stay positive, be kind, take care of yourselves and each other. And if you can, check out a NWR close to you. And make some photos!

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

January 11, 2024Haulover Canal, Merritt Island NWRbirds, Black Point Wildlife Drive, BPWD, Dolphin, Greater Scaup, Kestrel, landscape, Little Blue Heron, Mottled Duck, Spoonbill, sunrise, wildlifeEd Rosack

I hope everyone had a wonderful time during the Hollidays and that you’re all having a great start to the New Year! We had a lovely (and busy) time with lots of family here at our home.

But … December is a very good time to visit MINWR. I wanted to stop by before most of the folks arrived. MK was already here and wanted to go too, so we took off early one morning to see what was going on.

It was chilly (to a Florida person anyway) and very clear. Sunrise wasn’t nearly as good as the last time I was there (https://edrosack.com/2023/08/13/5-photos-in-45-minutes/). I struggled a bit trying to make a landscape image with such a clear sky and this is the best I could do:

The day began beyond small distant clouds with a chill in the air, ripples in the river, and the click of a shutter:

There was a lot to see in the refuge though. Many birds were around, but for some reason they all seemed to be a long way off – proving a common belief that you can never have too long a lens when photographing birds.

Chilly Heron

I did get a lot of practice with a variety of birds in flight.

White Pelican

Spoonbill

Mottled Duck

Kestrel

And I managed to photograph one species for the first time (at least I’m pretty sure these are Greater Scaups).

Greater Scaups(?) Trio

We also saw Ospreys, Herons, Egrets, Vultures, a Northern Harrier, Hooded Mergansers, and a variety of other ducks. But no gators on this trip – they were huddled somewhere waiting for it to warm up. We did see manatees and dolphins (at Bairs Cove). This dolphin was making quite a splash chasing fish in Haulover Canal.

Hunting Dolphin

A very nice visit! Winter is a fine time to see MINWR – you should go. Maybe next time I’ll try when they’re forecasting a few morning clouds.

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!

Orlando Wetlands: Oct. 27 2023

November 5, 2023Orlando Wetlandsbirds, black-bellied whistling duck, Eastern Phoebe, Green Heron, landscape, panorama, red-shouldered hawk, reflectionEd Rosack

I hadn’t been out to Orlando Wetlands since early May and I’ve been curious about what’s going on. So Lutfi and I met there about a week ago to walk around and do a little scouting.

As far as the park itself goes, they’re still working on the new Visitor Center. The hours remain sunup to sundown, and they also close now on Mondays so plan accordingly.

The views along the boardwalk and many paths remain very pretty and a little Cypress Tree fall color is showing.

Cypress and reflections (iPhone, 3 raw frames, stitched panorama)

They’ve also put up some gates at the boardwalk entrances to keep alligators out. I imagine removing gators from the boardwalk was an interesting exercise for the rangers – and the gators!

As far as birds go, it was quiet. In addition to some regulars, we saw a couple Belted Kingfishers and an Eastern Phoebe, but no Roseate Spoonbills. Other birds that were breeding in the rookery last season aren’t there yet either, although this family of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks got an early start.

Large family

If you’d like more info about which birds are there and when, see this eBird page: https://ebird.org/barchart?byr=1900&eyr=2023&bmo=1&emo=12&r=L452007. The winter populations should be increasing all this month.

Eastern Phoebe

Green Heron

Here are a couple bonus landscape photos to close out this post.

Lake Searcy Cypress. This was too far away for my iPhone and didn’t fit in the viewfinder of my birding set up, so I made a 3 frame vertical panorama.

The wind and water were calm. I find the resulting views irresistible.

Somebody polished the marsh mirror (iPhone, 5 raw frames, stitched panorama)

The header image of an incoming Red-Shoulder Hawk really shows how they got their name!

Please check the park website for more info before you go: https://www.orlando.gov/Parks-the-Environment/Directory/Wetlands-Park. And if you’re interested in what’s out there, you can see (too) many Orlando Wetlands photos I’ve made in this album on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72157639616792296

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

Nashville, TN

October 1, 2023OUTSIDE FLORIDA, Tennessee, Uncategorizedbirds, black and white, Blue Bird Cafe, blue hour, bridge, canada goose, John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, landscape, Love on a Leash, music, Narwhal, Nashville, panorama, people, Radnor Lake, reflection, wildlifeEd Rosack

We were able to spend some time with MK at her place last month. She’s a most excellent host and Nashville has a lot to see and do!

On our drive up, we stopped and had lunch with Kevin M. It was fun to catch up with him and hear about his recent expedition to Costa Rica. He saw 100+ life birds there! https://www.flickr.com/photos/44542650@N08/albums/72177720310091373. Unfortunately, we forgot to get a photo at lunch – but I did get some photos in Nashville.

All three of us have watched and enjoyed the Nashville series and it was fun when MK pointed out places around town that we’d seen on TV. The Blue Bird Cafe is featured prominently and she managed to get us tickets. The music was just as awesome in real life!

Blue Bird Cafe, Sept. 2nd 2023: In the round with Rob Harris, Jamie Rowe, Kim Parent, and Adam Wheeler

Nashville has some really great guitar stores. Both MK and Lynn were very understanding and let me indulge my guitar obsession. I’d been to Gruhn Guitars before, but the Gibson Garage was new for me. I’d never seen a guitar conveyor belt:

MK suggested a bit of exercise one morning so we walked around Radnor Lake Park.

Radnor Reflections 2

The header image is another view of the Lake. The full frame is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/53176547953/in/dateposted/

There were quite a few ducks and Canada Geese on the water. These swam in formation for me:

Canada Convoy

MK’s cat Narwhal is a certified therapy cat with Love on a Leash. He has a busy schedule and while we were there he volunteered at a Nashville area nursing home. He really seems to enjoy his work:

I’ve wanted to walk the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge across the Cumberland River, but hadn’t made it before this trip. MK and Lynn dropped me off in East Nashville and I walked across and met them on the other side. They report that there are plenty of rooftop bars to wait at. I found some photos while they were waiting:

Nashville’s John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge

The Gateway Bridge (also known as the ‘Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge’) is just south of the pedestrian bridge. I’m not sure if it’s alway lit up like this – it was pretty on that night:

Blue Hour on the Cumberland River

The view of the downtown waterfront is amazing:

Evening along the river

I think the buildings along the river look good in B&W. I like the Gateway Bridge reflection in the windows on the lower right:

Nashville Reflections

And finally, here’s what lower Broadway looks like as the country music starts to crank up in the Honky Tonks for the night:

Blue Hour on Broadway

Eating was also a highlight on the visit – both at some very nice restaurants and the meals that MK made at her place!

The only not so good part of our trip was testing positive with Covid when we got home. It was the first time either of us have had it but fortunately our vaccines were up to date and we got prescriptions for Paxlovid, so the symptoms weren’t too awful. They lasted for two solid weeks, but we’re better now thankfully.

You can see other photos I’ve collected from in and around Nashville in this folder on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72157719274946967

Thanks for visiting my blog. Stay positive (and Covid negative!), be kind, take care of yourselves and each other. And if you can, see some of Nashville!

The rest of the photos

September 3, 2023Merritt Island NWRabstract, birds, black and white, BPWD, Flowers, Great Blue Heron, landscape, panorama, reflection, Snake, wildlifeEd Rosack

I mentioned last time that there might be enough photos from my visit to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge for another blog entry. Here they are.

I used a cropped version of this first one as the header image in the last post but didn’t show the full frame. Here’s a larger crop – as usual, you can click on it to see a high res version on Flickr. This one is from Space View Park in Titusville, looking east towards the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge from the west side of the Indian River.

<Early clouds above the refuge

I saw a wading bird in the distance as I entered Black Point Wildlife Drive. I thought it was a Great Blue Heron, but wasn’t sure. Who stops the car and gets out and walks to make a Great Blue Heron photo? Usually not me – I already have so many of them. They’re very common around here. But given it was the dog days of August, I wasn’t expecting to see much on that visit so I did get out and wander over. I’m glad I did. The bird cooperated and waded out so I could catch this moment in the circle of life. These birds truly are formidable hunters.

Heron 1, Snake 0

I also had my macro lens mounted and looked for subjects to use it on. I’ve driven by this tree each time on Black Point Wildlife Drive. The texture patterns in the bark are very interesting.

Juniper Tree Abstract

These blooming flowers were plentiful and this one was in nice light.

Firewheel (gaillardia pulchella ) close-up

I’m not able to tell you what this tiny plant was. It was only about an 1/8 of an inch long. It too was in good light and the dew drops on one side added interest.

Morning dew