Florida's Winter Exotica

zackiedawg

zackiedawg

Member
Staff member
Just thought I'd share some of the shots from recent visits to a local wetlands preserve I like to visit, especially this time of year when so many exotic birds migrate down here to breed and raise their young. It's a regular birder's paradise...a veritable shooting gallery of amazing, large, and colorful birds:

Red-shouldered hawk:
91093122.jpg


great blue heron:
91093133.jpg


Blue-winged teal:
91093090.jpg


Black ibis:
91093091.jpg


Baby anhinga chicks:
93789138.jpg


Cooper's hawk:
93789147.jpg


Tricolor heron:
93789177.jpg


Toothy baby alligator:
93789158.jpg


Myrtle yellow-rumped warbler:
91093095.jpg


A little tour of the Florida swamps...hope you enjoyed. Comments, questions, or critique welcomed.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wow, those are all great. I would like to go to a local place to photograph some animals. I would go but I have to work and there are tornadoes a few miles away, or there where a few hours ago.
 
yeah, that beats 40 and raining all day in new jersey.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks guys. Gotta see what I can get over this next week at Disney!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Those are all cool Justin. I like the Cooper's Hawk the best. And I've never seen baby anhingas!
I havent been to one of our local spots in years. Shame on me!
We have a couple of spots with boardwalks that go into a protected bird area and into Big Cypress Swamp.

That would be a fun afternoon with my 80-400
 
Truly fabulous. They're all excellent, but I find myself favoring the Tricolor Heron, all the water reflections make it look really dynamic.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks all!

Craig - you should hurry and get over there - this tends to be the season in Florida when most of our birds have their young. They might be older and better feathered, but likely still in the nests for a few more weeks. You west-coasters have some great opportunities, so that 400 lens will get quite a workout!

Scott - you guessed it - the GBH was probably 30 minutes before the park closed (it closes at sunset) so it was during that great golden light. The heron had nested very close to the trail - no more than 25 feet away. It was windy, so his 'hair' was blowing around quite a bit, which I thought looked interesting.

Dan, thank you. I unfortunately rarely get to shoot there in the mornings (not awake in time) or dusk (usually making other weekend evening plans by then), so I'm often stuck in the harsh afternoon light. The only way to try to make a more dynamic shot in that harsher light is to try to use the water to pick up the colors or reflections. This heron fortunately was hunting/fishing in the shallows, so he was walking through lots of reedy areas - so the darker green reeds reflected on one side of the ripples, and the blue sky caught on the other. Even with -1 EV dialed in, I still slightly blew highlights on his headfeathers...that high afternoon sun is nasty!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Beautiful shots Justin! I also wish I had a place like this to go and take such great photo's! This weather up here in NJ is really starting to get on my nerves. They are talking about snow for Monday!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I know this is a necropost, but I just found the place, OK? I mean this section, that is...

I LOVE THESE! All the technical comments that are relevant have already been made, I just plain love these!!!
 
Much appreciated Kiki! I'm glad you dredged it up actually...it reminds me of a place I'd like to go this weekend. ;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top