Tag Archives: birds

Eagles, Owls, and more at Orlando’s Greenwood Park and Greenwood Cemetery

April 24, 2011Greenwood Park, INSIDE FLORIDA, OrlandoBarred Owl, birds, cemetery, Eagle, landscape, sunriseEd Rosack

Intro / Description

Greenwood Urban Wetlands is a 19 acre park in downtown Orlando and was created in 1991 to help handle the sometimes massive rainwater runoff in the area. The park is right next to Greenwood municipal cemetery, where many of Orlando’s notables have been buried since 1880.

Venus Rising: Pre-dawn pond at Greenwood Park – This is a two image composite that I hand merged in Photoshop.

I arrived before dawn a couple of Saturday’s ago. I’d heard about it on Flickr and seen photos others had made there, although I still wasn’t sure what to expect. I was hoping for a sunrise photo, but the sky was very clear and I didn’t know the area. So, I picked a spot near the parking area and set up for the image above. For this one, I made two exposures (one for the sky and one for the ground) and merged them as described in this post. I like the way it turned out, especially with the morning star Venus rising, and the leaves and flowers on the left.

Kevin M. joined me a bit later and we walked around exploring. There were a few birds (coots, wood ducks, egrets, Great Blue Heron) in the small lakes, but nothing too unusual. We’d heard about an eagle nest nearby, so we decided to look for it in Greenwood Cemetery.

The nest was easy to find, since there were two juvenile eagles perched right next to it calling quite often. We made several photos while we waited for better light and were eventually able to get the birds facing us with the sun at our backs. These two young birds were flying between trees in the area, but didn’t act like they knew much at all about feeding themselves. They seemed to be waiting for the parents to bring back food – but that didn’t happen while we were there.

Juvenile Eagle

We also saw a very pretty Wood Duck pair in nice light, a couple of Barred owls, and some very aggressive Blue Jays (harassing the owls) on the way out. You can see the other photos I made in this Flickr set.

Barred Owl

Info for Photographers

Photo hints:

There’s not much to work with for landscapes. But there’s a surprising variety of birds for such an urban setting. Make sure you walk through both the park and cemetery if you go. You could also drive through the cemetery if you don’t have time to walk.

Tripod/Monopod:

Of course.

Lenses:

Take appropriate lenses for your subjects. Mostly long lenses for the birds. A flash might help control the contrast for the subjects back in the leaves (owls).

Best time to visit:

February – March might allow eagle nesting activity to be observed.

Other:

This close by park may be an opportunity to snag a few keeper shots for your bird portfolio, and won’t take too long to check out.

Halloween 2012 update: Don Price, the Greenwood Cemetery Sexton, offers guided moonlight walking tours once a month where you can learn about Orlando and the people who have contributed to the history of the city. The tour is usually crowded and reservations are required. Go to the cemetery website and click on “Moonlight Walking Tours” for more info.

Summary

My Gallery / Flickr photo set:	http://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/sets/72157626518075606/
Website:	http://www.cityoforlando.net/fpr/html/Parks/Greenwood.htm
Address / Phone:	1411 Greenwood Street, Orlando, Florida 407.246.2283
Central Florida Photo Ops Rating:	A surprising urban opportunity for a few bird photos.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, now – go make some photos!
©2011, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.

Before and after – another photo reprocessing example

April 16, 2011Cameras and Photography, INSIDE FLORIDA, Technique, Viera Wetlandsbirds, Great Egret, Ibis, ReprocessingEd Rosack

Ansel Adams said that the “negative is the score, and the print is the performance”. In modern terms, the RAW file is the negative and the processed jpg / print is the performance. Ansel was famous for re-printing his photos to try to get the best possible image from his negatives. Some of his later prints are thought to be better than earlier ones as he experimented and gained knowledge about how to “perform” the print.

All photographers should take this to heart and not be satisfied with previous processed versions of their photos. I like to look through my Lightroom catalog sometimes for images that may merit some re-work.

This morning I reprocessed a photo that I made last October at Viera Wetlands. Below is a series of images that show you a progression from the original images to the final result. Look in the captions for details on what I did, and scroll to the bottom of the post to see the most recent version. You can also click on these to see larger versions.

This is the first image I made (RAW, unprocessed). It’s focused on the tree and the two birds are also in sharp focus. Because of depth of field, the moon is out of focus. The color balance could be better.

This is the second image I made to solve the problem with the moon focus.

Step 3: And this was the processed version I posted to Flickr last October. I masked in the in-focus moon, did some sharpening and noise reduction, but didn’t spend too much time on it. It’s since gotten a lot of views, but re-looking at it now, I’m not happy with several things in the photo (e.g. color balance, noise reduction, masking) and this morning I decided to go back and reprocess it from the original RAW files.

And this is the new version that I posted to Flickr this morning. In Photoshop, I was much more careful masking in the in-focus moon. I then created a meticulous selection of the blue sky so I could use it in the follow on steps. Then I applied noise reduction just to the blue sky and sharpening just to the birds, moon, and tree. I also used the Topaz Adjust filter just on the birds, moon and tree. Finally, back in Lightroom I adjusted the white balance off of a sample on the Ibis. I like the vertical crop better as well as the color balance, sharpness, etc.

What do you think?

Thanks for visiting – now go make some photos!

St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery Update

April 9, 2011INSIDE FLORIDA, St. Augustine Alligator Farmbirds, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Snowy EgretEd Rosack

I visited the Rookery in St. Augustine for the first time this year with two other members of the Photography Interest Group. Things are really hopping!!!

Cattle Egret pair in breeding colors: These go from plain white to very colorful during breeding season. This pair was hiding back in the bushes and it was difficult to get a clean image, but they eventually moved a bit right before I made this photo.

We saw Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Woodstorks, Spoonbills, Little Blue Herons, Tri-Color Herons, and of course – alligators. Some are just starting to build nests and breed. Others (the Great Egrets) already have good size chicks in the nest.

Great Egret and chicks

There are very few places that you can get this close to tolerant, wild birds. It’s wonderful for both experienced and beginner bird photographers. If you haven’t been by yet, now is the time.

Snowy Egret Portrait (in breeding colors)

You can read previous posts I’ve written about the rookery here, here, here, here, and here. And you can see many of my photos from St. Augustine in this set on Flickr.

Thanks for visiting – now go make some photos!

Emeralda Marsh

April 3, 2011Emeralda Marsh, INSIDE FLORIDAAmerican Bittern, birds, landscape, Northern Harrier, reviews, sunriseEd Rosack

Intro / Description

Emeralda Marsh is called the “Jewel of Lake County Bird Watching”. When we first visited in May of 2010, the Interpretive drive had just been closed to vehicles – which was a big disappointment and prevented me from doing a review of the site. Fast forward to late March of this year and the drive is again open, so Kevin M. and I headed over to see if this place lives up to its reputation.

It’s huge (7089 acres), with a 4.3 mile long drive that’s accessible by car for part of the year. We arrived a little after sunrise but before the gate opened at 8am, and so we spent a little time around this very picturesque canal just up the road from the entrance.

Canal, mist, and Sun Dog: A Sun Dog appears over this misty Florida canal near Emeralda Marsh just after sunrise.

Info for Photographers

Photo hints: The Interpretive drive is open from the 3rd week in February through May on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Call before you go to make sure. The drive had already been closed when we went last May and the place is too big to walk (at least for me). The hours are 8 – 5. We didn’t see much of interest on about the first half of the drive. Things picked up a bit when we turned north at the south-west corner (see link to Google Maps, below). Then we ended up seeing a good variety of birds including a Belted Kingfisher, coots and moorhens, gators, American Bitterns, a Northern Harrier, Ospreys, Egrets and Herons, and various ducks.

Northern Harrier in flight: This bird was quite active on the morning we were there

There’s a dirt road that’s closed to cars leading west from the north-west corner of the drive. It goes to a rookery on a small island just off the Lake Griffin shore. We walked out there and saw some displaying and nest-building going on, but it was grown up and hard to get a clear view.

American Bittern

Tripod/Monopod: Allowed of course.

Lenses: Bring your standard bird set up – the longer your lens, the better.

Best time to visit: When the drive is open (late February to May), which is also the best time for nesting, breeding, etc. Winter time is reportedly good for migrating species, but the drive will be closed to vehicles and you’ll have to hike in to the area.

Other:

You can download the drive guide map here.

Landscapes and sunrise / sunset photos will be hard due to the hours that the drive is open to cars, although you may be able to find a few scenic locations close by for golden hour photos.

There was a Bass fishing tournament going on the morning we were there, which made for a few loud moments as the fast boats all roared off. We also heard several gun shots, so there was some hunting going on in the area.

Summary

“Jewel of Lake County Bird Watching”? I certainly can’t argue with that. This is a huge place with a diversity of habitats and we did end up seeing a lot. I think that if you could visit several times over the course of a year, you’d see a variety of Florida and migratory birds.

My Gallery / Flickr photo set:	http://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/sets/72157626234490421/
Website:	http://www.sjrwmd.com/recreationguide/emeraldamarsh/index.html
Address / Phone:	Lake County BCC 315 West Main St. P.O. Box 7800 Tavares, Florida 32778(386) 329-4404Geolocation: 28.886668,-81.79056View in Google Maps
Central Florida Photo Ops Rating:	There are places near me that I think are better, but go if you’re close.

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

Florida Scrub-jay – Finally!

March 27, 2011INSIDE FLORIDA, Merritt Island NWRbirds, Florida Scrub Jay, Scrub Ridge TrailEd Rosack

You might remember this post from the end of January where I described a visit to Scrub Ridge Trail in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to try to observe the Florida Scrub-jay. We didn’t see any of them on that trip. Two weeks ago, several members of the Photography Interest Group returned and were able to locate one, but I couldn’t go.

This species is Florida’s only endemic bird and the only one that resides permanently in scrub habitat. Development has reduced the amount of scrub land still available. As a result, the Scrub-jay is listed as a threatened species. Despite conservation efforts, it’s still in decline, with perhaps less than 3000 breeding pairs left in the wild.

Each breeding pair needs 20 to 40 acres to forage and Scrub-jays have developed some interesting adaptive behaviors due to their restricted habitat. A pair mates for life, and they maintain small family groups that help defend territory and raise young. The younger members of the brood can postpone breeding for several years to help feed babies, keep nests clean, and watch for predators. They’re omnivores and forage on the ground and in mid to low-level vegetation for food.

Anyway, I returned to Scrub Ridge Trail last Saturday. Kevin M. told me that the Scrub-jay they saw was to the left of the parking area. This fits in with another fact about them: They prefer relatively clear scrub and will leave an area after it’s grown up too much. The official Scrub Ridge Trail is to the right of the parking area and is quite a bit more over-grown than the area on the left. I wonder if the Scrub-jays used to live to the right when the trail was originally set out and have moved on since. I did see 5 or 6 Scrub-jays in the less overgrown area to the left, both on the ground and higher up. This one was in a tree, keeping watch on me. Maybe one of the non-breeding members of the family?

The elusive Florida Scrub Jay

I also visited Black Point Wildlife Drive where there were some very pretty Spoonbills, and on the way back, I stopped on the causeway just before getting on the new bridge. There was a group of Black Skimmers on a small sand bar just off shore and I had fun getting a few photos of them in flight – the first time I’ve photographed this species too.

A pair of Black Skimmers in flight

I really enjoyed the trip.

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

A few more updates

March 13, 2011Cameras and Photography, INSIDE FLORIDA, Ravine Gardens, Viera Wetlandsbirds, equipment, European Starling, Flowers, Least Bittern, Tree SwallowEd Rosack

Sorry for not posting last weekend. Much to do and little time to do it. Here’s an update on three recent Central Florida Photo Op topics.

Ravine Gardens: We made another trip up there and I’ve refreshed the main Ravine Gardens post with a few small revisions and two additional photos following our visit yesterday. Bottom line: A nice place for spring flowers.

Dogwood blossom in front of azaleas at Ravine Gardens

Viera Wetlands: Kevin M. and I went by last Saturday. Highlights of the trip were the White Pelicans in the click ponds (migrants in Florida) as well as getting images of 3 new (for me) birds. By the way, the Tree Swallows are very difficult to photograph. They never seem to perch and their flight patterns are very erratic. But they are good practice for flight shots!

Least Bittern in the reeds

Tree Swallow

European Starling

Sigma 150 – 500 OS: I did use this lens at Viera last weekend. It worked well, but started to “chatter” one time. Then it stopped and worked fine after that. Not sure what to make of it, other than to keep an eye on it over time.

Thanks for stopping by!

Handy bird nesting season reference

February 24, 2011INSIDE FLORIDAbirdsEd Rosack

If you’re planning a visit to Central Florida to do some birding during the nesting season, check out this post from the St. Augustine Alligator Farm rookery blog.

Gen Anderson has posted a very handy Typical Rookery Schedule. You can get an idea of what the birds will be doing at the rookery when you stop by.

Check it out.

Catching up

January 30, 2011Cameras and Photography, Circle B Bar Reserve, INSIDE FLORIDA, Merritt Island NWRBarred Owl, birds, BPWD, landscape, Scrub Ridge Trail, Spoonbill, sunriseEd Rosack

Hello again, readers! I apologize for a somewhat lengthy post, but today I wanted to catch you up on photo related happenings over the last couple of weeks – so there are several topics worth mentioning.

Circle B Bar Reserve

A week ago (Saturday, 22 Jan), I returned to the Circle B Bar over in Lakeland Florida with the Photography Interest Group. The first time I wrote about this place, I said: “I’ve only been to the Circle B once, and need to go several more times to get an idea of how consistent the photo ops there are.” Well, the second visit lived up to the first, starting with a quite pretty dawn:

Dawn at the Circle B Bar Reserve

One of the highlights of this trip was seeing a Barred Owl and getting a relatively good photo of it. The owl was high in a tree and ended up attracting quite a crowd before it got tired of us and flew off. The lighting was a bit tough – I’m glad I had my flash and Better Beamer ready.

Barred Owl watches photographers

We also sighted Ospreys, Red Shouldered Hawks, a Red Bellied Woodpecker, Whistling Ducks, and many other birds. Unfortunately, the beautiful yellow sunflowers that were all over the place last time are no longer there. They are seasonal and to see them you’ll have to return around mid to late November next year. All in all, a very nice trip and the Circle B definitely lived up to its reputation once again. You can look at more of my photos from the Circle B in this set on Flickr.

Black Point Wildlife Drive

Yesterday, I visited Black Point again. I’m not sure why, but this place seems to be really great for photos with reflections. Quite often the water is extremely calm and you can see scenes like these:

Clear day, calm water

Spoonbill and reflection

There was a lot of activity at Black Point. We spotted an otter, Hooded Mergansers, Belted Kingfishers, Hawks, and many other species. We also paused for a while to watch a pair of Ospreys fishing. They were too far away for good photos, and never came closer even though we had fish jumping out of the water right in front of us! You can look at more of my photos from Black Point in this set on Flickr.

Scrub Ridge Trail

A couple of weeks ago on Flickr, I saw some very nice photos of Florida Scrub Jays, made by “moonfloweryoli“. I commented on them and she mentioned a trail in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge where she saw them. This led us to an add a second expedition to yesterday’s Black Point visit. We wanted to try to observe this unique species that only lives here in Florida. To make a long story short, we tried hard, but we never saw any. We’ll have to go back and try again. Kevin K. did make this image to document our search:

“Wilbur” and “Donuts” looking for the hard to find Florida Scrub Jay (image courtesy of Kevin Krause); Your humble author is the one on the left.

Alligator Farm and Gatorland blogs

A quick update for those of you looking for info on the St. Augustine Alligator Farm or Gatorland. I reported back in November that Gatorland was canceling its photographer early entry program. The Gatorland Blog hasn’t been updated since then, so it’s a bit hard to find out what’s going on at that park.

Meanwhile, the St. Augustine Alligator Farm announced they would continue their photographer early entry program. They’ve been running a mailing list on Yahoo where you could find information, and last week they announced that they’ll be discontinuing this and starting a blog of their own. It’s now up and running, check it out.

Sigma 150 – 500

Finally, here’s an equipment update. I’ve been doing much of my bird photography since early last year with a Sigma 150 – 500 OS lens. I’ve been very happy with it and one of my few complaints was that the Optical Stabilization was a bit noisy. Lately, it’s developed a “chatter” where it sounds like the OS motor is vibrating back and forth. While it does this, you can see the image vibrating through the viewfinder. I called Sigma and they said to send it back. So I’ll be without it for a while. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

That’s all for today. Thanks for stopping by.

A very nice Viera morning

January 15, 2011INSIDE FLORIDA, Viera Wetlandsbirds, Cormorant, Fish, landscape, sunrise, Wilson's SnipeEd Rosack

Although it was very tempting to sleep in this morning, I was up early and made it over to Viera Wetlands in time to witness another one of nature’s shows. The clouds cooperated and did their part, the sun and calm water pitched in, a couple of coots made just the right ripples, and all I had to do was snap the shutter.

Sunrise at Viera Wetlands

Once the sun was up, we parked the cars and walked for a while, thinking that the slow deliberate approach would yield better photos than the quick drive method. It didn’t – we failed to find much of interest on foot. The light wasn’t very good either – due to the clouds that made the sunrise so nice. We ended up getting back in the cars and using them to find things of interest. And after a while, the clouds cleared and we had better light for bird photography.

Last week we saw several Snipes, but couldn’t get good photos since they took off and flew fast and erratic as soon as we got close. This week our luck was better (or this bird was a bit tired). He stayed still for us to make his portrait.

Wilson’s (Common) Snipe

We saw the usual Heron and Egret suspects, along with Anhingas, Hawks, Black Crowned Night Herons, American Bitterns, Savannah Sparrows, Northern Shovelers, and Sandhill Cranes. I was able to photograph two new (for me) species – Ring Neck Ducks, and Lesser Scaups.

We also took a turn ’round the click ponds and there was a great deal of activity there. This Cormorant surprised me when he came up with his breakfast.

Cormorant with fish

We had a great time. Clicking on these photos will open them on Flickr, where you can view larger versions. You can also visit my Viera Wetlands set on Flickr to see other photos I’ve made there.

The Photography Interest Group Visits Viera

January 9, 2011INSIDE FLORIDA, Viera WetlandsAnhinga, Belted Kingfisher, birds, Click Ponds, Great Blue HeronEd Rosack

Our local photography club organized an expedition to Viera Wetlands yesterday. It was one of our larger outings, with 8 people from the group there, including one new member. We arrived just after sunrise and spent a little over 2 hours exploring the main site, and also took a quick tour of the click ponds.

Great Blue Heron: These birds aren’t nesting yet, but they do seem to be reserving their spots.

Wow – what a day for avian variety and nature lovers! The weather was quite nice too – sunny with temperatures in the 50s. There isn’t much nesting going on yet, but we did see an amazing number of both year-round and winter visitor species. Several of these birds are difficult to spot and / or photograph well and it helps to make multiple circuits of the wetlands. It also really helps to have multiple sets of eyes watching for and pointing out interesting things. About the only thing we struck out on was the River Otters, but we did hear others talking about them – so they were around somewhere.

Belted Kingfisher: There were several of these at Viera Wetlands yesterday. They generally stayed out in the middle of the cells and so were hard to photograph.

Here’s a list of birds we spotted: American Bittern, Anhinga, Belted Kingfisher, Blue Wing Teal, Coot, Double Crested Cormorant, Glossy Ibis, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Green Wing Teal, Little Blue Heron, Little Egret, Hooded Merganser, Common Moorhen, Northern Harrier, Northern Shoveler, Red Shouldered Hawk, Gulls, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, Wilson’s (or Common?) Snipe, White Ibis, Wood Stork, and others that I probably forgot or that we still have to identify.

Anhinga

If you haven’t been to Viera Wetlands recently, you really ought to check it out.

You can click on these photos to go to Flickr where you can look at larger versions. You can see more of my photos from Viera Wetlands in this set on Flickr. You can also visit our photography club’s group photo pool on Flickr here.