Current Topic: Photography

Snail Kites at Dusk

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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.

Snail Kite

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.

Snail Kite

Snail Kite

Snail Kite

Snail Kite

Snail Kite

The birds successfully grabbed dinner more than a few times too!

Snail Kite

Snail Kite

Snail Kite

Snail Kite

The male eventually came up very close for an even better photo session.

Snail Kite

Snail Kite

Snail Kite

Patience certainly paid off here!

Snail Kite

Dancing with the Cranes

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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.

Sandhill Cranes

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…

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes

And then, just like that… they went off to another spot.

Sandhill Cranes

I did not find the Owl, but this moment certainly made up for it!

Pretty in Purple

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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.

Purple Gallinule

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.

Purple Gallinule

Unfortunately, some required a bit of post-work to brighten the shadows.

Purple Gallinule

Purple Gallinule

The birds would pass right by as I waited low to the ground.

Me and a Purple Gallinule

Me photographing one of the foraging birds

Purple Gallinule

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.

Purple Gallinule

Thankfully, one of my best photos, a head shot of the bird, was taken while it was foraging naturally within the reeds.

Purple Gallinule

I enjoyed watching these birds move along the edge of the water with their very large feet.

Purple Gallinule

I even had the chance to photograph one walking over lily pads – a photo op that I really wanted but missed last year!

Purple Gallinule

Purple Gallinule

I would certainly say that I got better photos of them this year. Of course, I am always looking something for even better.

Purple Gallinule

Rain Won’t Stop the Birding

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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

Pied-billed Grebe surrounded by rain drops

Most of the birds just continued with their normal routines, feeding in the marsh.

American Coots

American Coots

Purple Gallinule

This Purple Gallinule came out for a quick view

Common Gallinule

Common Gallinule with its tail up

Others waited outside of the water for the rain to stop.

Little Blue Heron

Little Blue Heron on the bank

Great Egret

Great Egret waiting on concrete

Anhinga

Soaked Anhinga drying on the rocks

Anhinga

Anhinga waiting for the rain to stop

Anhinga

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

Glossy Ibis as the rains calm down

Tri-colored Heron

Tri-colored Heron hunting nearby the Ibis

White 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

Blue-winged Teal in overcast light

Anhinga

Anhinga with a nice catch

Snowy Egret

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.

Osprey

An Osprey with a huge Catfish

Red-shouldered Hawk

Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk who gave us quite a show

Cattle Egret

The Cattle Egrets were tough to photograph unless you stayed in the car

Not all of them were fully cooperative though.

Belted Kingfisher

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.

Fulvous Whistling-Duck

This Fulvous-Whistling Duck came in close for a decent photo op

Fulvous Whistling-Ducks

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.

Eastern Towhee

White eyed Eastern Towhee

Some young birds made an appearance, too.

Pied-billed Grebes

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

American Bittern just after the rain calmed down

American Bittern

American Bittern photographed toward the end of the day

And, of course, there were Alligators. I photographed this one below the Osprey.

Eastern Towhee

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!

Anhinga

Anhinga drying its wings

Loons, the Divers of the Sea

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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

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

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

Common Loon

Red-throated 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.

Common Loon

Common Loon

Common Loon

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…

Common Loon

Kissing the water

Common Loon

About to go for the dive

Common Loon

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

Common Loon with a fairly large crab

Common Loon

Down goes the crab

Red-throated Loon

Red-throated Loon downing a large fish

Common Loon

Common Loon Eating shellfish

Common Loon

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

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!

Red-throated Loon

Red-throated Loon at Manasquan

Common Loon

Common Loon at Manasquan

Acknowledging Gulls on the Jetty

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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

Herring Gull posing on the jetty

Great black-backed Gull

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

Great black-backed Gull up close

Herring Gull

Herring Gull portrait

They can be loud and obnoxious, which is not always a bad thing when you capture that behavior.

Herring Gull

Herring Gull calling

They are often found eating dead fish on the jetty…

Great black-backed Gull

Great black-backed Gull with fish

…or running around with crabs in their beaks.

Herring Gull

Herring Gull with crab

Herring Gull

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

Great black-backed Gull with Atlantic Stingray

It was eating an Atlantic Stingray!

Great black-backed Gull

Great black-backed Gull

You never know what you will run into on this jetty, even with the more common birds.

Great black-backed Gull

Great black-backed Gull

Mergansers on Brodhead Creek

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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

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.

Common Merganser

Common Merganser

Common Merganser

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!

Common Mergansers

I was able to slowly creep closer to them behind the vegetation and get some nice views of them resting, preening and stretching.

Common Mergansers

Common Mergansers

Common Merganser

Common Mergansers

Common Merganser

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.

Common Mergansers

A Colorful, Crowded Jetty

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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.

Harlequin Ducks

The birds were very comfortable – even when more and more photographers and admirers approached, they stayed in place.

Harlequin Ducks

A hen and a drake share a rock

Harlequin Ducks

Two drakes on a rock

Things got pretty crowded once the tide started coming in and the birds were a bit rowdy.

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Ducks

Most of them flew up to higher ground and started to settle down.

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Ducks

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!

Harlequin Duck

Harlequin Duck

Harlequin Duck

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Duck

Harlequin Duck

Harlequin Duck

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Duck

Poor Weather Brings the Birds!

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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

Dark-eyed Junco

As usual, the birds pose nicely on the branches that are attached to my feeder poles.

Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker (male)

Tufted Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse

Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker (female)

Hairy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker (male)

House Finch

House Finch (male)

Black-capped Chickadee

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

Tufted Titmouse

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

White-breasted Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

White-breasted Nuthatch

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

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.

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

At least the bad weather brings the birds! I’ll enjoy it while I can, from the comfort of my home.

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

American Kestrel in Brooklyn

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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

American Kestrel perched on top of a tree

American Kestrel

American Kestrel

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.

American Kestrel

American Kestrel

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.

American Kestrel