Tag Archives: birds

A walk in the park

October 23, 2016INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlando, Orlando Wetlandsbirds, black-bellied whistling duck, landscape, Little Blue Heron, Palm Warbler, sunrise, wildlifeEd Rosack

I usually walk in my neighborhood several times a week. It’s a good way to get some exercise and say hello to folks. I did something different last Friday and drove over to Orlando Wetlands Park for my morning hike.

It was still dark when I arrived and I could hear owls and whistling ducks calling on the way out to Lake Searcy – one of my favorite landscape places. I didn’t like the view this time since the water was low and the appealing mirror like reflections were missing. I ended up moving to a new location for this:

Middle marsh mystery island

Morning color was disappointing, but I do like the image. After sunrise, I wandered around and made some bird photos. There were many Little Blue Herons:

Pretty little blue

And the Palm Warblers are here in force, bobbing their tails as they pose in the reeds:

Palm Warbler

And here’s one of the whistling ducks. I caught it mid-preen:

Black Bellied Whistling Duck

The last time I was at Orlando Wetlands was in February. It was good to get back and a lovely walk. And carrying weights (photo equipment) made it better exercise. Plus, I made some photos!

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

A bad day for fish…

September 25, 2016Cocoa, INSIDE FLORIDA, St. Johns River, Viera Wetlandsbirds, Fish, landscape, panorama, sunrise, wildlifeEd Rosack

Photography Interest Group members haven’t been doing much photography together lately. I was happy that Kevin M. arranged a trip to Viera Wetlands last Friday. Kevin K. also went along.

Early morning calm – Along the St. Johns River where it crosses HW 50

On the way, we stopped at a favorite sunrise spot and even though it’s been well photographed, managed to get images we liked.

At Viera, we drove around the main cells a couple of times and saw some interesting things. This Tricolored Heron had speared a large fish and was trying to swallow it. It couldn’t hold on and dropped it just after I made this photo.

Tri-Colored Heron, this one with breakfast.

We saw a few of the regular birds there, but the ducks and other winter migrants don’t seem to have arrived yet. On the way out, Kevin M. talked us into taking a quick spin around the Click Ponds and I’m glad he did. The water’s been low there for a while and the birds are having a feast. The shallow water concentrates the fish and makes them easy prey. Birds lined up and grabbed fish out of this small stream that flowed toward the low point in the pond.

Chow line – The water level in the Click Ponds at Viera Wetlands was very low yesterday.

Over in the corner was a very large mixed flock also enjoying the banquet. I spotted Wood Storks, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Tricolored Herons, Glossy and White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbills, Black Vultures, and a White Pelican in this one photo.

A large flock of feeding birds

So, it wasn’t a good day for fish, but the birds enjoyed it.

I have many posts about Viera Wetlands here on the blog that you can scroll through at this link, and many photos you can look through in this album on Flick.

You might also be interested in this quite literal “behind the scenes” look at a very handsome gentleman photographing the sunrise on Friday morning: https://www.flickr.com/photos/34024553@N08/29844690526/in/dateposted/

Oh, and I might be joking about the handsome gentleman part 😉

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

Two Merritt Island Photos

September 18, 2016INSIDE FLORIDA, Merritt Island NWRbirds, boat, BPWD, landscape, reflection, sunrise, Tri-colored HeronEd Rosack

Both of these images are from a short trip to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge yesterday morning. I thought I’d tell you a bit about how I made them.

It was a good thing that I got there well before dawn, because the place I had in mind for a sunrise photo didn’t turn out (construction and street lights). On the way over I noticed a massive thunderhead that looked like it would add some interest to my photos. Unfortunately, it also added a lot of rain to the area, so I spent some time wandering around looking for a new place and making a few uninspired photos during gaps in the downpour.

Almost made it… A sunken sailboat near the Titusville Municipal MarinaI

I ended up at the Titusville Municipal Marina. There always seems to be a sunken boat or two there. I think this one is recent, but it’s hard to be sure. By this time, the rain was slacking off, so I parked and hurried over to where I could get a good angle on the colors in what was left of the rain clouds. The light was pretty and I used the boat and the rocks on shore to add foreground layers to my composition.

I made many exposures, framing the boat in different ways. The color built and I like the last set of frames best. For this image I made seven exposures from the tripod. Four were for the sky / clouds, pointed up slightly and bracketing exposure to make sure I captured the entire dynamic range. I pointed three down slightly for the boat and water, to make sure I had everything in focus. One of these three was through a neutral density filter so I could get a long shutter speed and smooth the water surface. At home, I ended up using six of the frames, combining some in Lightroom’s merge function, and blending the rest manually in Photoshop. Finally, I used Nik Color Effects Pro to tune the colors and Topaz Clarity to increase mid-range contrast to get what you see above.

After sunrise, I headed over to Black Point Wildlife Drive for a look around. It’s been closed while they worked on the road. It’s open again, in great shape, and ready for all the fall visitors. There’s not much bird activity yet, but I did find this nicely posing Tri-colored Heron.

Reflections – Tri-colored Heron, Black Point Wildlife Drive

This image is less complicated. It’s just two frames, hand-held. One’s focused on the bird’s eye and the other on its reflection in the water. I merged them in Lightroom via the Photo Merge – Panorama function, and finished this one too with tweaks to color, contrast, and cropping in Photoshop.

Should you try these techniques? I can’t decide for you. For me, it’s more work, but it gives me much more control over the final result. If you do decide to try them and have any questions about how to do this kind of thing, please leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer.

Thanks again to Mary Kate for writing last week’s post. I apologize for the lack of images in that email. I need to figure out how to get the server to send the photos when they’re not referenced from Flickr. If you didn’t get a chance to see her photos, please click through and visit the blog.

Reminder: The flowers are coming! The annual Florida Sunflower bloom should start by the end of September, and only lasts for a couple of weeks – be ready!. In Central Florida, you can see them at Marl Bed Flats in the Lake Jesup Conservation area. See here for more info.

You can see many more of my photos from MINWR in this album on Flickr.

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

Kodiak, Alaska

September 11, 2016Alaskabirds, Humpback, landscape, Otter, puffin, reflection, Sea Lion, travel, vacation, wildlifeMaryKate

Editors note: Today we have a special treat. MaryKate has agreed to write a guest blog post about her recent trip to Kodiak Island, Alaska. Sit back ,relax, and enjoy your vacation from my writing!

Five years ago, my birthday snuck up on me. A week or so before the big day, I called my good friend Monette and said “It’s a birthday emergency! I have no plans!” We booked a last-minute cruise, and ever since, our annual Emergency Birthday Trip has become a tradition I look forward to every year – exploring places as close by as the Florida Keys, and as far away as Oregon and Alaska. The trips always involve spontaneity, road tripping, shopping, National Parks (or the outdoors), wildlife, shopping, eating, shopping and exploring. This year, I returned to Alaska to visit Monette in her current location: Kodiak, the country’s second largest island.

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These Boots Were Made For Traveling (Courtesy of Monette)

I take a lot of iPhone photos. But for this trip, my Dad let me borrow one of his many cameras since photo opportunities would be plentiful and I knew I might want to enlarge and print some wildlife pictures. He added an all in one 28 to 240mm equivalent lens to his Olympus E-M1 camera and programmed it with an iAuto setting (for fast-moving wildlife) and a P setting (for “Pretty much everything else”). While we had some rare Kodiak sunshine, the lighting was generally overcast and difficult. But with my Dad’s processing, I got some great shots!

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Near Reflections: Boat harbor on Near Island

Saturday morning, we drove the Island road system and saw everything from a herd of wild buffalo to majestic mountains and mud flats. Monette said a lot of the vegetation had changed over the last week or so from bright and blooming to brown. I thought this picture eloquently captured the end of a season.

[singlepic id=142 w= h= float=center]The End of Fall

That night we took an intimate dinner cruise with Galley Gourmet. Marty and Marion Owen were amazing hosts on board the Sea Breaze, where Marion made a from-scratch dinner with fresh ingredients from her garden and Marty steered the boat towards captivating wildlife like Stellar Sea Lions, Horned and Tufted Puffins and Sea Otters. I would highly recommend this dinner cruise for anyone in the area!

Marty said they hadn’t seen whales in a week or two, but sure enough, it was a Birthday Miracle and we found some Humpback Whales to watch and enjoy for about 30 minutes. I have some Humpback pictures from when my Dad and I were in Maine, but I’ve never been able to catch the illusive Puffin (which fly faster than I zoom through an airport!). I found that the P setting on the camera worked a little better.

[singlepic id=156 w= h= float=center]Puffin Zone

We enjoyed watching this pair of baby Stellar Sea Lions play (the two smaller, darker ones near the middle). To our entertainment – but to the annoyance of the older residents – the babies kept jumping and splashing in and out of the water.

[singlepic id=151 w= h= float=center]Stellar Viewing

It was an amazing trip filled with beautiful views and memories. And like all Emergency Birthday trips, I’m already counting down the days until next year.

[singlepic id=153 w= h= float=center]You Otter Be Here

Here are more photos from the trip. Click on any of the thumbnails to see them larger.

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Thanks for stopping by and reading MaryKate’s blog post. Now, go make some photos!

July's for the birds…

July 10, 2016INSIDE FLORIDA, Osceola Countybirds, bobwhite, Burrowing Owl, Cow, landscape, Sandhill Crane, sunrise, whooping crane, wildlifeEd Rosack

Kevin M. and I knowingly and by chance violated many photography thumb rules yesterday morning. My first example:

Sunrise over the pasture

As landscape photos go, it breaks rules: It’s not all in focus; I didn’t use a low ISO to minimize noise; I used a long lens (so I could keep power lines out of the frame), not a wide-angle ; And I didn’t use a tripod. But I like how it turned out. I’m pleased by the composition and colors. It also has a bit of mystery with the fog, and the cows that are a bit hidden. Florida does look like this.

Next up are some bird photos. In Florida, July is one of the hottest months. Most photographers know this and many choose to stay inside – because the birds know this too and many of them also seem to disappear when it’s this hot. So what did we do? We went out looking for birds.

When we were photographing sunrise, we heard Bobwhites calling and spotted this one on the fence by the pasture. It was very patient and waited with us for better light. But I still had to violate one of my thumb rules and shoot at ISO 3200 to get a decent photo. By the way, let me just say again that technology today is wonderful. This image was at a focal length of 600mm, with a shutter speed of 1/50 second, hand-held!

Northern Bobwhite

The Burrowing Owl was a little way down on the same fence line. By this time the light was somewhat better and I could shoot at ISO 1600 and 1/100 sec. Still pretty impressive stabilization and sensor performance.

Burrowing Owl

Those three photos were at our first stop! Kevin wanted to show me some Red-cockaded Woodpeckers he’d spotted at the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area. I’ve been there before looking for them and this time we think we heard some, but didn’t manage to see or photograph any.

We did spot some other not so common birds including Brown-headed Nuthatches, Common Ground Doves, and Eastern Meadowlarks.

On the way back, we went by a farm where one of Florida’s Whooping Cranes hangs out. I’ve been there several times looking for it without success. Until this time:

Whooping Crane and two Sandhill Cranes

This is more of a record shot than a great photo. The light is harsh and the birds are beyond the range limit for this lens so it’s cropped in. And the July heat was making waves too, harming the image quality. But I still like it. Thumb rules? Who needs stinking’ thumb rules!

Until the 1930s, Whooping Cranes occurred naturally in Florida (see this article on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation site). There have been efforts to re-introduce them by leading them with ultra-light planes on migration routes (see this site). In January 2016, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced they’d “stop supporting the use of ultralight aircraft to help young whooping cranes migrate from Wisconsin to Florida each fall”. Studies show that interacting with humans has a negative effect on the birds. I’m pretty sure this particular Whooping Crane is a survivor of the program. It’s banded yellow over green on its left leg, but a short google search didn’t turn up any info.

So rules of thumb are good – especially if you understand them and know when to break them. Breaking the rules led me to a sunrise photo I like and four life-birds yesterday (thanks Kevin!). By the way, you can click on any of these for larger versions on Flickr.

And thanks to all of you for stopping by and reading my blog. Now, go make some photos!

P.S. Stay tuned for some photo stories from Utah. MK and I had an epic weekend out there and I’ll share it when I finish processing the images.

In the yard

June 26, 2016INSIDE FLORIDA, VARIOUSastronomy, birds, Lizard, moon, Red Shoulder Hawk, wildlifeEd Rosack

Good morning, good readers!

I’ve been busy recently learning all about the Raspberry Pi computer and using it on a project for our home. It’s incredible how much capability you can buy today for $35. Anyway, the project (especially learning to code in Python!) has left me with little time for photo excursions. So this week I’ll have to show you some photos I managed to make from our yard.

I made this first photo standing on our front walk, just before last month’s full moon. I like the way the sun was hitting the clouds. It’s a single frame, handheld, and slightly underexposed to keep detail showing on the moon.

Pretty moon tonight

Lynn put a small statue of St. Francis in our front flower garden. This brown anole likes to bask there in the morning sun.

St. Francis and the lizard

And last, an update on our backyard visitors. The cardinal pair built a nest on our neighbor’s patio and raised one chick that’s now fledged and fully grown.

But for the last couple of weeks, we haven’t seen too many smaller birds in the yard. Perhaps it’s due to this:

The hawk on the lamp-post

I’ve seen this Red-shouldered Hawk sitting on the lamp-post on several mornings recently. It doesn’t seem to scare the lizards, but small birds don’t like having it around.

By the way, the basics of my Raspberry Pi project are working, so I should have more time now for photography.

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

Happy Father's Day

June 17, 2016Gatorland, Orlando, VARIOUSbirds, Great Egret, nest, wildlife, youngEd Rosack

Yes, it’s been a horrific week here in Central Florida. So bad that some might question celebrating a holiday so soon after these terrible events.

We should keep in mind that there is danger and evil in the world. We should keep the victims and everyone touched by these events in our hearts and minds. But we should celebrate, I think Because there is also peace and goodness in the world, and there are vastly more good people than evil ones.

So, to all Dads out there: I hope you have a wonderful day on Sunday and I hope you get to share it with your families. Celebrate the good in the world and help overcome the evil.

I wonder where Dad is? Mom said he would feed us this time. Two young Great Egrets, waiting for their next meal at Gatorland in Orlando.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.

#OrlandoStrong

#OrlandoUnited

Sunrise and Terns

May 29, 2016Cocoa, Cocoa Beach Pier, INSIDE FLORIDAbirds, birds in flight, landscape, least tern, people, sunriseEd Rosack

Tom M. and I went over to Cocoa Beach last week. Jim B. told us about some Least Terns nesting on a hotel rooftop there, and we wanted to take a look.

I got up at o-dark-thirty and met Tom to drive over. Our reward was a gorgeous morning!

Seeing the sun rise above the sea soothed her soul

I don’t know the woman in this photo. She was enjoying the sunrise too, and I was grateful for her contribution to my composition.

When the sunrise show was over, we headed south on SR A1A to find the Terns. They were right where Jim said they would be. We knew we were in the right place when we noticed all the guano in the parking lot and on the cars.

The birds were flying off the roof in small groups with an occasional eruption of what seemed like the entire colony. At times there must’ve been over a hundred in the air.

Least Tern in flight

They’re small (8 or 9 inches long) and fast and erratic flyers. To get a photo, you’ll need a long lens, good technique, and / or persistence and some good luck. I used my Nikon D-800 with the Tamron 150 – 600mm lens. Even with such a long lens, I had to crop these two images pretty heavily. The main issues I had were trying to follow the birds in such a magnified field of view – and hoping that the focus on my camera could keep up.

Getting consistent results is difficult. I took many photos and got few keepers. Tracking something so small, fast, and erratic with a long telephoto lens takes some practice!

Least Tern in flight with minnow

Cocoa and the surrounding area is a very photogenic place. You can see other photos I’ve made there in this set on Flickr. And you can also read Jim’s blog post about the Terns at this link: ~~http://jbophoto.com/least-terns-2/~~ (sorry – no longer available). Thanks Jim!

And thanks to all of you for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Handsome Bird

May 13, 2016Gatorland, INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlandobirds, Cattle Egret, wildlifeEd Rosack

Colorful Cattle Egret

You probably see these birds where you live. They’re common in Central Florida and throughout most of the warmer parts of the world. You can read much more about them in this article on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_egret.

Most of the time Cattle Egrets are ordinary looking, even drab. But when they dress up like this one in springtime breeding colors, I find it hard to resist photographing them. Especially when they pose so nicely in warm morning light.

Have you seen something recently that you just had to take a photo of?

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

Bird Moms

May 8, 2016Gatorland, INSIDE FLORIDA, Orlandobirds, Common Gallinule, Great Egret, Mother's day, wildlife, Wood StorkEd Rosack

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

We all love our Moms. They love us too, feed us, protect us, teach us, and make sure we go out into the world ready for all its challenges.

Bird Moms do the same. In celebration of all Mothers everywhere, here are three recent photos of bird Moms raising their young.

Great Egret Mom feeding chicks – That’s a large chunk of sushi – those baby birds will be full if they eat all that!

Common Gallinule Mom and Chicks – These hatch ready to swim. Mom protectively takes them around the local pond, very careful to avoid gators lurking nearby.

Wood Stork Mom and chicks

These photos were all made this year at Gatorland in Orlando, Florida. Wild birds nest there above the Alligator breeding marsh, where the gators keep many natural predators away from the nests. Spring is a wonderful time to see all the action.

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. Now – go tell your Mom you love her!

Central Florida Photo Ops

What and where they are and how to photograph them.