A Break in the Action

Getting ready to depart our Florida home and head north to Delmar. So, I won’t be posting anything until the end of the week.

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Gatorland Photos

Two immature great egrets.

Spent last Thursday afternoon and Friday morning at the Gatorland rookery. Lot of birds and lots of gators. Walked along the boardwalk – each side had a great view. Gatorland is near Orlando and is generally a tourist attraction. But there is a rookery (nesting area for birds) to the rear of the property where photographers have access to a wonderful wildlife area.

My visit here and to Middleton’s Fish Camp on Blue Cypress lake was part of the “photo safari” that I took with four other friends who are as nuts about taking bird pictures as I am :}

Mostly great egrets, a few snowy egrets, a bunch of cattle egrets and a smattering of tricolors. Lots of egret nests and chicks/immature birds. Also, some little green herons and nests with chicks.

Saw one roseate spoonbill but the best were all the wood storks and their nests with immature birds. Also saw some “baby” anhingas closeup. Large american croc – and I do mean large and in large quantities. Most interesting was the morning “bellowing”. Lots of BIF but we used hotdogs to get the egrets to fly energetically.

See a bunch of the best on my Smugmug site. Newly upgraded and enhanced.

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Ospreys at Middleton’s Fish Camp

Adult Osprey

Went to Middleton’s Fish Camp on Blue Cypress Lake yesterday to shoot Ospreys and Osprey nests. Blue Cypress Lake is in the middle of nowhere – nearest town is Yew Haw Junction. Completely undeveloped and pristine – a gorgeous lake bounded by cypress forests.

We went out in a pontoon boat – pretty stable platform from which to shoot. Got fairly close to the nesting areas. My big beautiful telephoto lens got a workout.

This is one of the many photos taken of the Ospreys. This adult Osprey is coming in for a landing on the top of a mostly dead tree (their preferred nesting area). Besides the mature adults there were quite a few immature individuals in nests.

Go to http://digitalkarl.smugmug.com to see a selection of images.

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SmugMug Online

You can now visit my SmugMug photo gallery by going to http://digitalkarl.smugmug.com/

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Red Winged Blackbirds

Also at Wakodahatchee are many Red-Winged Blackbirds. Pretty common but the males are quite nice with their red and yellow shoulder feathers. Females are a subdued, streaky brown, almost like a large, dark sparrow.

He and his mate are taking care of their chicks.

Once again, taken with my Canon 40D + 300 f4 L.

Pictured below are first, the female and then the male feeding their young.

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Little Green Heron Chicks Growing Up

Here are the three little green heron chicks taken today at Wakodahatchee. They are growing up fast.

There are so many photographers at the site that it is sometimes difficult to get a spot to take pictures 🙂

Taken with the trusty Canon 40D + 300 f4L with flash dialed back -3 stops. This seems to work just fine with nothing but great fill light. A bit of postproccesing with Aperture 3 and the brand new Photoshop CS5 (woo hoo). There was a very small twig jutting into the very lower right body of the heron chick. It was removed using the fabulous healing brush with content aware on.

You can view a larger version of this image by just clicking on the photo. Wait a second or two until the image loads. Beautiful, is it not!

This is the female little green heron (Butorides virescens). They are common near  ponds, marshes and coastal wetlands, hence their presence at Wakodahatchee. The chicks are able to fly after 34-35 days so I will not be able to see them when they fly the coop – unless they want to come to New York. But fear not, the parents will tend to their young for more than 1 month after leaving nest.

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Little Green Heron Chicks

The eggs have hatched! Here are the chicks tended by our Little Green Heron at Wakodahatchee!

Canon 40D + Canon 300 f4 L IS.

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Lilly Macro

Lilly Flower Study. This photo was taken of a flower that was part of my trophy for winning the Flo Greenburg Award for Excellence in Floral Photography – Delray Camera Club.

I used a Canon 40D + Canon 100 mm f 2.8 macro lens with natural light and fill flash against a black poster board background. Processing using Apple Aperture 3 and Adobe Photoshop CS4.

It would be ironic if I entered this photo in the 2011 Flo Greenburg competition and won again!

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Little Green Heron & Eggs

This photo was taken this morning at Wakodahtchie Wetlands. The bird is a Little Green Heron and she is sitting on a clutch of three eggs. Hatching is estimated in a few days!

Taken with my Canon 300 f4 L IS + 1.4 extender.

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Gallery of Flowers

[flagallery gid=1 name=”Gallery”]

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