Snail Kites were target species during both of my trips to Florida. During the first trip, I got great views of them, but not-so-great photos due to poor light and distance. The first stop for my next trip was at the same spot, but lighting was still tough and the bird remained distant.
With nesting material
The next day, I spent a little more time with them – this time at sunset. It started with some distant views, but one of the birds came in close for some really great shots just as the sun was going down. The birds were hunting for snails throughout the marsh, often coming to the marsh that I was standing next to.
The birds successfully grabbed dinner more than a few times too!
The male eventually came up very close for an even better photo session.
On my last day in Florida, I had one of those “right place at the right time” moments that came very unexpectedly. We were just getting back from checking out a boat that my boyfriend’s grandpa just purchased when he realized that he forgot something in it. I asked to be dropped off at a spot near home where we knew a Great Horned Owl was roosting. I was looking at some fresh pellets when I heard some commotion from Sandhill Cranes behind me.
They were doing a mating dance! I snapped a few photos of them, then quickly ran across the field to get in a better position. It was tough since houses surrounded this little field, but I managed to get a bunch of good ones. The whole thing went on for only about a minute, but I think I got some keepers out of it.
Here is the Sandhill crane dance…
And then, just like that… they went off to another spot.
I did not find the Owl, but this moment certainly made up for it!
During our trip to Florida, we visited Venetian Gardens Park in Leesburg to photograph the beautiful Purple Gallinule. I had seen them at this park last year, but wanted to upgrade my photos because the lighting was harsh during that visit. The birds did not disappoint this time by.
We were able to get plenty of photo ops with them. Lighting was still tough, but the birds were very cooperative so there were plenty of chances to get decent shots.
Unfortunately, some required a bit of post-work to brighten the shadows.
The birds would pass right by as I waited low to the ground.
Me photographing one of the foraging birds
And the resulting image (in bad light)
The birds really showed off this time by. Disappointingly, some of them were following around people who were feeding the ducks. The birds also seemed to think that we had food to give them but scurried away when we refused to feed them.
Thankfully, one of my best photos, a head shot of the bird, was taken while it was foraging naturally within the reeds.
I enjoyed watching these birds move along the edge of the water with their very large feet.
I even had the chance to photograph one walking over lily pads – a photo op that I really wanted but missed last year!
I would certainly say that I got better photos of them this year. Of course, I am always looking something for even better.
Rain does not always ruin a birding day. I recently came back from a photographic trip in Florida where the weather started out very iffy. We arrived early on Saturday and went right into bird-mode. One of our stops for the day was Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, which recently opened up last summer. We decided to go there when the skies started to darken. It was the perfect stop for a rainy afternoon since we could stay protected in the car.
Pied-billed Grebe surrounded by rain drops
Most of the birds just continued with their normal routines, feeding in the marsh.
American Coots
This Purple Gallinule came out for a quick view
Common Gallinule with its tail up
Others waited outside of the water for the rain to stop.
Little Blue Heron on the bank
Great Egret waiting on concrete
Soaked Anhinga drying on the rocks
Anhinga waiting for the rain to stop
Drying its wings before jumping down
The rain started to calm down not long after we began the drive, but was still falling enough to get our gear wet if we left the car, so many shots were taken from a higher angle.
Glossy Ibis as the rains calm down
Tri-colored Heron hunting nearby the Ibis
White Ibis drying off
It did eventually stop, however, the skies remained overcast for the rest of the drive. That certainly did not stop us from getting low to photograph birds for the remainder of the drive.
Blue-winged Teal in overcast light
Anhinga with a nice catch
Snowy Egret resting in the water
I was able to get some great photo ops with some birds that I could not get close enough to last year. I took tons of photos of this Osprey and Red-shouldered Hawk, which may end up getting blog posts of their own in the future.
An Osprey with a huge Catfish
Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk who gave us quite a show
The Cattle Egrets were tough to photograph unless you stayed in the car
Not all of them were fully cooperative though.
I would rather this photo of the Belted Kingfisher include the tip of his beak
I even saw a life bird on the drive – the Fulvous Whistling Duck. Our first looks at them were all in flight until a single duck flew in, landed nearby, and interrupted our photo session with the Red-shouldered Hawk.
This Fulvous-Whistling Duck came in close for a decent photo op
Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks also made a few appearances
I even photographed a new sub-species life bird, the Eastern Towhee with white eyes. The ones I am used to seeing have red eyes. The white-eyed ones are found in the Southeast and Florida.
White eyed Eastern Towhee
Some young birds made an appearance, too.
Young Pied-billed Grebes
We also photographed two American Bitterns out in the open – one was found toward the beginning of the drive and the other at the end.
American Bittern just after the rain calmed down
American Bittern photographed toward the end of the day
And, of course, there were Alligators. I photographed this one below the Osprey.
This Alligator stole my attention for only a moment
I highly recommend this wildlife drive for anyone who finds themselves birding around Lake Apopka. The different habitats bring all kinds of great birds!
Loons are large aquatic birds that are seen in high numbers off of the New Jersey coast throughout the winter. These beautiful birds are very showy in their breeding plumage, but could be considered fairly plain in the winter. I was able to get a bunch of decent photo ops with Loons during a recent trip to the Barnegat jetty and Manasquan Inlet.
Common Loon at Manasquan Inlet
In Europe they are known as Divers. The name “diver” makes a lot of sense when you normally see this bird – they swim low on the surface of the water then quickly dive under to catch fish, crabs and other small animals. The name “loon” refers to the bird’s poor ability to walk on land, something that you hopefully will not see!
Common Loon at Barnegat
Two different species can be commonly found along the New Jersey coast, The large Common Loon and the smaller Red-throated Loon.
Common Loon
The more-dainty Red-throated Loon
You can easily see the differences in the photos – the Red-throated Loon has a smaller, up-turned bill and more white around the throat and up the cheeks. Both species come in a variety of plumages themselves. I did not get a good variety of cooperative Red-throated Loons during this trip, but I did photograph many individual Common Loons.
It’s always fun to try to get them as they are diving. Last week, I finally caught one kissing the water. Of course, I am always looking for that better shot…
Kissing the water
About to go for the dive
Mid-dive
When they emerge from the water, they may or may not come up with a lucky catch. I am still trying to capture the perfect moment of a Loon and its meal. For now, I have a few mediocre photos of lunch.
Common Loon with a fairly large crab
Down goes the crab
Red-throated Loon downing a large fish
Common Loon Eating shellfish
A small meal for this Common Loon
In a couple of weeks, the Common Loons will be more in breeding plumage. I was able to photograph this in previous years and hope to see them transitioning again this year.
Common Loon transitioning to breeding plumage in 2014
Unfortunately, Red-throated Loons do not make the same transition while in the area and molt after migration. It’s still great to see them every winter!
I cannot say that I make blog posts about Gulls very often… if at all. They are one bird family that we all seem to take for granted, whether you are a birder or not. They aren’t that shy and often won’t fly away when approached. I may not go out of my way to photograph them, but I will stop and appreciate them from time-to-time.
Herring Gull posing on the jetty
Great black-backed Gull at the edge of the jetty
They are one of the few birds that allow you to get headshots of at 400mm.
Great black-backed Gull up close
Herring Gull portrait
They can be loud and obnoxious, which is not always a bad thing when you capture that behavior.
Herring Gull calling
They are often found eating dead fish on the jetty…
Great black-backed Gull with fish
…or running around with crabs in their beaks.
Herring Gull with crab
Herring Gull with crab
During our last visit to Barnegat, we stumbled upon a Great Black-backed Gull who was eating a very interesting meal.
Great black-backed Gull with Atlantic Stingray
It was eating an Atlantic Stingray!
You never know what you will run into on this jetty, even with the more common birds.
Pinebrook Park is my go-to park for a quick, birdy walk during the spring and summer months. Songbirds are not the only draw to this park – the Brodhead Creek runs along side it, which brings a great variety of water-loving species. I often see Common Mergansers around the creek from a distance or flying by, however, late in August, they gave me a couple of nice photo opportunities.
Common Merganser after a dive
During my first photo op, I only had one subject who was busily fishing close enough to my side of the shore. This was in the morning, so I did not have a ton of time to photograph it.
I returned the next evening and had an entire cooperative flock who swam right by me and perched on some rocks. The lighting was perfect!
I was able to slowly creep closer to them behind the vegetation and get some nice views of them resting, preening and stretching.
I was very happy with the results! I left as soon as I lost the sunlight and the birds remained on the rocks behind me.
Earlier this month, I took a trip to the coast and visited my favorite jetty at Barnegat Lighthouse State Park. It presented me with some pretty great photo ops of Harlequins up on the rocks.
The birds were very comfortable – even when more and more photographers and admirers approached, they stayed in place.
A hen and a drake share a rock
Two drakes on a rock
Things got pretty crowded once the tide started coming in and the birds were a bit rowdy.
Most of them flew up to higher ground and started to settle down.
It was the perfect opportunity to just keep taking photos! Here are more – it’s hard to pick out my favorites so I will just share a lot of them. Enjoy!
I cannot say that I am a huge fan of snow and ice storms, but I do like to take advantage of them for photography when they occur during the daytime hours. Poor weather brings the birds flocking to my feeders. This winter has been pretty mild so far. We finally had our first storms in the past couple of weeks. During these storms, I photographed my feeder birds through my sliding doors with pleasing results.
Dark-eyed Junco
As usual, the birds pose nicely on the branches that are attached to my feeder poles.
Downy Woodpecker (male)
Tufted Titmouse
Downy Woodpecker (female)
Hairy Woodpecker (male)
House Finch (male)
Black-capped Chickadee
I recently set up a fallen branch on top of my deck rails in hopes that it will provide a good perch for photo ops. It certainly has not disappointed me so far!
Tufted Titmouse
Dark-eyed Junco
White-breasted Nuthatch
Dark-eyed Junco
White-breasted Nuthatch
I ended up sprinkling millet on the branch during a snow storm and the Juncos immediately enjoyed the treat.
Dark-eyed Junco
Dark-eyed Junco
I also propped up my old Christmas tree, as I have done since I moved to Pennsylvania. I added millet to the branches of this tree during that same snow storm. With this spread, I get up to a half dozen Juncos roaming around the little five foot tree at the same time.
At least the bad weather brings the birds! I’ll enjoy it while I can, from the comfort of my home.
Last weekend, I visited a park in New York City for the first time – Marine Park in Brooklyn. This park features fields and a salt marsh that provides habitat to a variety of birds. The bird that welcomed me happens to be my favorite little bird of prey – the American Kestrel. I was able to walk up close enough to finally get some decent photos of this beautiful bird.
American Kestrel perched on top of a tree
Later on in the day, he was hovering over the fields in search of dinner. I only grabbed a couple of decent photos of this since the sun position was not ideal and he was facing away from us. Still, I was happy to get a few shots of it hunting.
Kestrel hovering with Brooklyn in the background
I am still working my way toward getting even better photos of this little bird. For now, these will do just fine in my collection.
