Tag Archives: boats

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 !

A Motionless Marina Morning

July 17, 2022Sanford, Techniqueblack and white, boats, Lake Monroe, landscape, marina, reflectionEd Rosack

The wind’s often calm before dawn (maybe this is why: https://www.chicagotribune.com/weather/ct-wea-1220-asktom-20151218-column.html). When you’re photographing around boats, even calm winds can move the mast tips (or the hulls) enough to blur them in a long exposure. But that wasn’t happening that morning at the Sanford Marina.

Glassy Harbor (24mm, f/5.6 @ 25s, ISO 100).

My weather app said the wind was 2 mph – about as calm as it gets. Very good for low light photography. Not so good for keeping biting insects away, but artists have to suffer, right?

Paddle wheel and yachts. I Like the juxtaposition of the aft end of the St. Johns Rivership Company’s Barbara Lee with the modern yachts. (34mm, f/11 at 15s, ISO 100)

If the wind’s smearing your subjects, you can try making an extra frame at a higher ISO value to increase your shutter speed. Then you can blend the water and sky from your long exposure frame with the faster shutter speed frame to reduce bluring. But it’s not ideal: the higher ISO may reduce image quality and blending can be tricky with moving subjects. I’m glad I didn’t have to do that for these – things were stock-still!

Peaceful Harbor (24mm, f/5.6 @ 25s, ISO 100).

By the way, I was going to call this “Minimal Motion Marina Morning” but that seemed like too much alliteration, even for me.

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

A Few More Photos

January 23, 2022Merritt Island NWRbirds, boats, BPWD, Cinnamon Teal, kingsley plantation, landscape, panorama, reflection, Spoonbill, sunrise, White PelicanEd Rosack

I really enjoyed my first visit of the year to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge a few weeks ago. Here are some more of those photos that haven’t been on the blog before.

The view that morning looking south east from under the Max Brewer Memorial Causeway bridge was lovely. I made several frames – the one below is my favorite. The header image is part of a similar one from five minutes later .

Three boats on the river

The low, warm, side light on this group of American White Pelicans made them even more attractive when I found them moments after sunrise.

A small pod of pelicans

It’s always nice to encounter Roseate Spoonbills and they were in several spots along Black Point Wildlife Drive. This one flew almost directly over me.

Flight of the Spoonbill

Cinnamon Teals are a rarity in Central Florida. This one seems to winter every year in MINWR. I found it again in the same spot along the Wild Birds Unlimited Trail that begins at stop 4 on the BPWD. It likes to hang out there with the other ducks. The birds were so harshly back lit that I had trouble seeing colors to ID it. I’m pretty amazed at how well this photo turned out.

Cinnamon Teal

I got a fairly good view of this Kingfisher and he stayed still for a moment while I made a photo:

Male Belted Kingfisher

The ranger says the duck population is down this year, and it does look like they’re less numerous. But I did see a good variety including Blue-winged Teals, Northern Shovelers, Mottled Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks, and maybe a few Lesser Scaups. And all of our common birds were around too. Definately well worth a visit.

LIke always, you can click on these photos to see larger versions on Flickr. And you can view (too) many of my MINWR photos in this album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72157627776386723

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Your visits, comments, and likes are very welcome and a big motivator for me. Be kind, take care of yourselves and each other. And if you can, make some photos!

More landscapes

August 1, 2021Cameras and Photography, Merritt Island NWRblack and white, boats, landscape, sunriseEd Rosack

A short post today with more images from my last trip to MINWR.

Dawn over the anchorage

I suppose we all occasionally struggle with photography – finding something to point our cameras at can be difficult. Other times, it seems easy and images almost make themselves. My last trip to MINWR was like that – I came home with more than a normal number of landscapes I really like.

Across the marsh

I felt like I was really in the “zone”. Every composition I tried looked good to me. And they still looked good when I got home.

Wide Water

Anyway, here they are.

Fun fact: These were made with three different cameras: A Sony full frame, an Olympus Micro Four Thirds, and an iPhone. Can you tell which is which? If you’re interested in the answers, you can click on these to see larger versions (and EXIF data).

Header image: Another view of the marina. Larger version: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/51349701361/in/dateposted-public/

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Covid cases in Florida are at an all time high. Be careful out there and please take care of yourselves and each other. And if you can, make some photos!

Merritt Island NWR – July 21, 2021

July 25, 2021Merritt Island NWRbirds in flight, boats, landscape, marina, northern flicker, Ospreys, Reddish Egret, sunrise, Titusville, Titusville marina, Tri-colored Heron, veterans memorial parkEd Rosack

Our weather’s been seasonably hot and humid here in Central Florida. We’re very definitely in the dog days of summer. According to Wikipedia, they’re called that because historically they’re associated with the summer-time rise of Sirius (Canis Major – the “Dog Star”) in the night sky.

Anyway, mid-summer isn’t the best time for birds / wildlife but I really wanted to do a bit of photography. So I packed some camera gear and headed out toward Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge at zero dark thirty last Wednesday to see what I could see.

There was a nice view near the entrance to the refuge about 25 minutes before sunrise:

Titusville Marina at dawn

I drove around Gator Creek Road next although there was little activity and I didn’t make any photos.

Black Point Wildlife Drive was a different story. There were a few of our regular resident birds:

Reddish Egret

Watching Osprey

And I lucked into a feeding frenzy where Herons and Egrets were “fly fishing” for minows in a small pool of water.

The light was harsh, but it was a great place to practice birds-in-flight photography. They move fast and erratically chasing the fish. Looking through the camera with my right eye while watching the wider scene with my left helped me anticipate the action before I could see it through the lens.

Fly fishing 2

According to the iBird app on my phone, Northern Flickers are here year round, but I don’t spot them very often. When I do they’re usually skittish – this one was no exception. But it decided to fly ahead of me along the road and I followed along slowly at a distance. It finally stopped for a few seconds on the side of a palm tree in some pretty good light and I was able to jump out of the car and make this image.

Northern Flicker

While I was over there, I went by Veterans Memorial Park to check on the repairs they’ve been doing. The area’s been closed since way back in September 2017 due to damage from Hurricane Irma. It took a while, but now it’s open again and back on my list of favorite sunrise spots!

Sunrise at Veterans Memorial Park

I like going to MINWR in the dog days of summer when it’s quiet. It may not be the greatest time for wildlife, but there’s still plenty to see and photograph. As a bonus there are usually fewer people there too. I had Black Point all to myself for most of my drive – a very special privilege and well worth getting up early for.

Header image: A Snowy Egret, also “fly fishing”. Larger version here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/51327744874/in/dateposted-public/

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Covid is surging out there again. Please take care of yourselves and each other. And if you can, make some photos!

Sandford Sunrise Stroll

October 4, 2020Sanfordboats, cloud, landscape, moon, panorama, reflection, sunriseEd Rosack

I haven’t mentioned the Photography Interest Group in a long time. There hasn’t been much activity, and to be honest the expeditions have always been few and a little haphazard. But anyway Kevin K. organized an early morning photo excursion last Friday and we managed to gather five of us in one place.

We met in downtown Sanford, Florida at the Monroe Harbour Marina for a socially distanced photo walk. Kevin M., Mahesh S. and Lutfi S. joined us too. Here are a few of my photos from that morning.

I arrived a bit early and made this image while waiting for the others. Once I got home, I was curious about the very bright star above the moon and discovered it was the planet Mars.

Moon, Mars, and stars: before dawn at the marina

When everyone was there, we wandered around the area. Calm water and colorful skies made for a nice dawn image looking eastward through the moorings.

Sanford sunrise.

And westward, the Harvest Moon was setting along the river.

Setting moon and reflection

Zooming in searching for details, I discovered a Halloween themed sailboat:

Ghost ship

Masks, no handshakes (or even elbow bumps), and 6 foot distances made it seem a little strange. But ignoring that, it was almost like old times – seeing friends, catching up on each other’s lives, and making a few photos too. Definitely good for the soul.

On the way home, I drove by Marl Bed Flats again and the standing water there still looks pretty widespread. So no changes in this year’s sunflower forecast – sorry.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Stay safe, take care of yourselves, your friends, and your families. And if you can, make some photos – with your socially distanced friends!

Just Three Photos

August 9, 2020INSIDE FLORIDAbirds, boats, circle of life, landscape, panorama, red-shouldered hawk, sunrise, wildlifeEd Rosack

I meant to get out and make some new photos last week, but that didn’t happen. For today’s post I’ll just show you three recent images that I like and that haven’t been in the blog. I hope you like them too.

These first two were made on the same trip as the ones in this post and this post. Looking back on it now, it seems I came home with more than my fair share of photos on that Merritt Island excursion.

Veterans Memorial Park in Titusville was one of my favorite places for sunrise, but it’s still fenced off waiting for some hurricane damage to be repaired. That morning I moved south a bit (along the shore between the bank and the condo) – to a spot that Jim Boland pointed out to me once. This is a 12 frame exposure bracket panorama that assembled nicely into an 83 megapixel image.

Dawn Display

The Titusville marina is another favorite spot. This image is a 3 frame exposure bracket panorama. Sometimes it’s hard to get colors correct there. Lights on the docks can make the water look very orange / brown if you expose and color balance for the dawn sky. In the past, I’ve given up on getting colors I liked and just processed a photo from here in black and white. This time I walked along the dock and found a spot where the lights weren’t as strong.

Morning Moorings

And last, we’ve seen this Red-shouldered Hawk around our neighborhood recently. I think it’s the same young one that was in this blog post back in March. Lynn and I were eating dinner and I was gazing out the window when I was startled by this bird. It flew right up to our patio, grabbed a lizard off the screen, and kept going. I stopped eating and rushed to get my camera. By the time I got out to the back yard, it was sitting calmly in a tree watching me. The lizard was gone – and the hawk probably didn’t drop it. Red-shoulders are a common sight around Central Florida, but not usually in such great light. I would’ve liked to have gotten a photo with the poor lizard too.

Circle of Life

As usual, you can click on these photos for a better view of them on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Hang in there, cherish your friends and loved ones, and take care of each other. And if you can – make some (new) photos!

Central Florida Photo Ops

What and where they are and how to photograph them.