Harns Marsh With 2X Extender

Bob Blanchard and I were in agreement this past week that an earlier arrival at Harns Marsh Preserve might be opportunistic in getting a better read on where and what wildlife would be offered in the best light of the day, also known as the golden hour.

The Greater Yellowlegs above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

I've not seen it noted before the potential impact cloud cover has on this event.

In the morning, I believe clouds to have an impact for good or bad with certain conditions extending the time for photography in the best light by hours or of course missing the opportunity completely.

The Black Vulture with Turkey Vulture above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

The light was brighter much earlier than expected under the circumstances of the morning with an unusual absence of clouds to the east that sometimes mutes the sunlight beneficially as was the case just this past May 9th.

The majority of my visits to the marsh have had heavy cloud cover on the horizon to the east.

The Wood Stork above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

There was a significant thunderstorm that rolled through the area since last week's visit to the marsh which offered only a negligible rise in the water level seen at the marsh.

This was made clear as the spit of "land" utilized to place my elbows in the mud last week was just a bit smaller.

The Black-necked Stilt above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

I was intrigued by Bob shooting with his 2X extender allowing a much closer view of his wildlife photography subjects last week.

I had acquired a 2X extender for planned trips to STA5 at the beginning of the year to photograph the subjects that had been reported at greater distances than is the norm in Florida bird observation.

The Semipalmated Sandpiper above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

The extender is certainly useful for photography at STA5 where most wildlife observers I've seen there utilize spotting scopes and you're typically observing the birds over prolific numbers of alligators.

With the sky so remarkably clear on my return visit to Harns Marsh Preserve this week it seemed like I arrived later than I should have.

The Wood Stork above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

Approaching the tractor I caught sight of a pair of Black-crowned Night-Herons at the north side of the lakes.

I backtracked with hopes of photographing them in their slumber as I walked along the vegetation only finding myself almost knee deep in muck.

The Wood Stork above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

On higher ground I continued toward the area I had seen the unidentified species of bird I hoped to get a glimpse of again.

With its second sighting, I'm quite confident it was Least Bittern.

The Black-necked Stilt above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

After I settled down to observe the scene, I again I had the sense that I was at one of southwest Florida's most remarkable places for wildlife observation.

There weren't any BCNH seen further which was surprising and leads me to believe that they are possibly nesting.

The 1st Spring Little Blue Heron above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

Black-necked Stilt were again observed while I thought there was a sixth of the species briefly, but determined there were again only five.

Almost immediately after my observations at this point I was sure that I was not going to get the images of the wildlife I had hoped.

The Roseate Spoonbill above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

The wildlife was too close and mobile for me to effectively capture what I was seeing with the camera with the 2X extender attached resulting in far fewer "keepers."

I should have the extender with me at the marsh, but certainly won't keep it attached to the camera for the entire visit as was the case this week.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

American White Pelican were again observed, but never close enough to photograph effectively.

A Mottled Duck was observed with an orange band on its left leg.

The Mottled Duck above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

There were also four Sandhill Crane seen flying north at a great distance.

I'm envious of Tom Obrock photographing the crane with juveniles in the area of the marsh a couple of weeks ago, as I haven't been so fortunate.

The Great Egret above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

It was a treat to see what I believe were about a dozen migrating Semipalmated Sandpiper in breeding plumage while I find it very difficult to distinguish this species from Western Sandpiper.

The sandpipers seemed out of place so far from the beach where the peeps are much more frequently seen.

The Snowy Egret above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

By far the vast majority of my time this week was observing the behavior of the Black-necked Stilt.

I believe that the stilt is very territorial and calls in alarm if you are within their territory.

The Semipalmated Sandpiper above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

The Black-necked Stilt will also flap it wings in a very animated manner for an extended period.

The species was noted to be quite aggressive to birds even much larger than itself while harassing a spoonbill this week.

The Black-necked Stilt above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

If you're ever in the situation of having to photograph your wildlife subject into the light, you must use extreme care not to underexpose the image.

I perhaps go a little heavy with the setting, but believe the results to be satisfactory under the circumstances.

The Black-necked Stilt above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

This effort was made intentionally to test all the lighting conditions at hand without neglecting wildlife observation for the sake of the better photograph.

Investigate my image's EXIF data to understand what's involved.

The Black-necked Stilt above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

The image of the Roseate Spoonbill presented last week was overexposed by at least a couple of stops, but was glad to get an image I thought worth presenting.

The Black-necked Stilt worked extremely hard for a meal and I was fortunate to capture a feeding shot which I did not realize in real time.

The Roseate Spoonbill above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

I had never seen this species with a catch before not withstanding that my observation time of this species has been very limited.

I hope to photograph the feeding behavior again with a fish in beak while stilt are extremely fast and offer a great challenge.

The Black-necked Stilt above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

A near complete review of images taken of the Black-necked Stilt this week revealed why the species is so aggressive toward birds so much larger that itself.

In the immediate area where a flock of spoonbills, storks, and egrets flew in for a pause in their routine was the nest of the stilt with a pair of unprotected eggs that could so easily be crushed.

The Black-necked Stilt above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in May 2011.

The nest seemed precarious with so many factors against the hatching of the eggs and survival of the next generation of Black-necked Stilt.

STA5 Revisited

I had made an afternoon visit to Estero Lagoon earlier in the week with hopes to capture the Green flash in the setting sun.

The Willet above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

No luck with that although I had an enjoyable time nonetheless.

There were no birds in the north lagoon upon my arrival which might be expected under the circumstances.

The Snowy Egret above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

A good number of shore and wading birds worked the surf as shelling by humans was observed.

The lores of one Snowy Egret in particular had a brilliant dark pink that can be seen during the breeding season.

The Royal Tern above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

What I believe to be the same pair of Reddish Egret seen a few months ago were present with one of the birds sporting its leucism.

A few Willet meandered by followed by a few Ruddy Turnstone.

The Ruddy Turnstone above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

In addition, a solitary Osprey and a Royal Tern had control of the sky above.

A Brown Pelican arrived in the last light of the day and dove in the water in search of prey.

The Snowy Egret above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

After photographing the setting sun, a solitary Roseate Spoonbill was seen actively feeding in the lagoon.

An 18 inch red snake (possibly Red Rat Snake) was seen in the mangroves in the last light of the day.

The Brown Pelican above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

Due to my inability to appropriately plan a visit to STA5, I made a last minute email to Margaret England to advise her of my interest in joining the first Big "O" birding tour of STA5 on the morning of March 23rd.

Upon my arrival a few minutes after sunrise, I was surprised that there were no vehicles at the entrance gate.

The sunset above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in March 2011.

A South Florida Water Management District employee entered STA5 as I waited in anticipation of seeing Margaret greet her visitors to the Stormwater Treatment Area as was the case in February.

As the minutes ticked by I sensed something was wrong.

The Snail Kite juvenile above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

With Snail Kite active in the northeast corner of Cell 1A, I walked to water control structure G-343A which allowed me site of my vehicle and any incoming cars.

The water level in Cell 1B appeared lower to me than I thought I had seen it last month.

The Purple Gallinule above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

If this was indeed the case, it was only a matter of inches and possibly impacting the number of birds which were half those within this cell seen previously.

A water control structure to the east of the entrance to STA5 appeared to have water pumped into Cell 1B near maximum flow.

The scene above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Some bird species certainly favor ideal conditions for them to be present in an area.

This was brought to my attention by Tom Obrock in my first observation of Black-necked Stilt at the Exit 131 Rest Stop on Interstate 75 in late July of 2010.

The Snail Kite juvenile above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Although I observed a handful of the stilts at STA5 in February, it was a treat to see them again this past week.

Shortly after I settled down to observe and photograph the scene, a SFWMD helicopter was apparently making a survey of the area and flushed the stilts from behind tall grasses to my southwest.

The Caspian Tern above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

I had not seen one of these "official" helicopters since an overflight at Bunche Beach Preserve about a year ago.

I was able to count 11 (one is out of frame in the image enclosed) of the birds in the flock before they flew out of view and would not return.

The aircraft above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

In addition to the stilts, as many as 25 Fulvous Whistling-Ducks were seen in flight and was likely my first sighting of the species.

After the helicopter left the scene, the ducks returned either individually or in small groups.

The Green Heron above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

I had never observed so many Green Herons as on this occasion which made low flybys on a frequent basis.

It was a treat to see the male and female Snail Kite with a juvenile while for some reason the male Snail Kite is not seen predictably at Harns Marsh Preserve among the many females of the species there.

The Black-necked Stilt above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Many of the other regular species expected to be seen in the area were present in my few hours of observation at the STA5 water control structure.

Later in the morning I was surprised to see a small caravan of cars approach from what appeared their first lap along the levies.

The Anhinga above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

It was at that point that I knew I wish I were able to have committed to this trip much sooner.

I was impressed to hear that this group of observers had arrived at 6:00am "for sunrise" although it didn't actually occur until about 90 minutes later.

The Fulvous Whistling-Duck above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Sunny conditions predicted for the day were were not seen in the morning with heavy fog and low cloud cover through mid morning.

After the fog burned off the clouds that remained diffused the available light making the long distance photography somewhat of a challenge for focus tracking and sharp images especially considering the necessary heavy crops of the images taken.

The Limpkin above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Although it was my expectation to again explore STA5 on this visit, I'm glad that things happened as they did which gave me the opportunity to have a better understanding of bird behavior in a relatively confined area over a longer period of time at this venue.

I'm looking forward to a return to STA5 next winter.

The Green Heron above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Interesting wildlife news this past week was the report of the sighting of the oldest free flying bird known that is a survivor of the most devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami to strike Japan since records have been kept.

The Laysan albatross seen is believed to be in excess of 60 years of age and was observed supervising its chick within Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge after the disaster.

The Snail Kite above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

The albatross was banded in 1956 with the designation triple O seven as seen in the most recent photograph of the bird.

A great story about the bird and facts about the species may be read here.

The Blue-winged Teal above was photographed at STA5 in March 2011.

Mockingbird Nocturnal Audio

As I've mentioned before, the documentation of bird behavior is becoming a greater interest of mine.

The Reddish Egret above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

Normally I would be presenting images here taken this past week, but due to much time spent doing research and recording birdsong as opposed to photographing wildlife, the images are for the most part from my previous week's trip to Ding Darling NWR.

In the last six weeks or so, there has been interesting nighttime activity of birds that have been making brief stops near my residence for a few days at a time or less.

The Great Egret above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

This week involved a bird not seen until the third day when I put the beam of a flashlight into the tree to determine the species making the racket.

After determining the bird to be Northern Mockingbird, I had thoughts of the video of the Sir Attenborough study of the Superb Lyrebird in Southern Australia.

The Snowy Egret above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

The Lyrebird is noted to remarkably imitate upwards of 20 other bird species, a car alarm, a camera's shutter mechanism, and a chainsaw cutting the forest within its surroundings.

While I'm very unlikely ever to see or hear the Lyrebird firsthand, another bird species that is perhaps equally as interesting is the appropriately named Northern Mockingbird.

The Tricolored Heron above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

The mockingbird and starling are species of bird that are adept imitators.

I often see the Northern Mockingbird in my efforts to observe wildlife but rarely hear its call.

The Red-breasted Merganser above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

The Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of Florida and four other states.

The male mockingbird is commonly known to be heard at night (unlike most other bird species I'm aware of) with its song certainly an effort to attract a mate.

The White Pelican above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

The recording of bird song with high tech recording equipment that I had anticipated engaging in during retirement is unexpectedly underway with nothing more than my cell phone and computer.

Recording attempts were made over several nights ranging from minutes to over an hour where through practice I was able to figure out what I was doing.

The Pied-billed Grebe above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

One 30 minute attempt was met with failure as I accidentally turned off the recorder when I placed the phone strategically in the tree's branches.

With a total of about two hours of mockingbird recording under my belt within a half dozen files, I began my investigation of a way to offer the best and longest recording to you here.

The Red-breasted Merganser above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

The drone of distant automobile traffic was regretfully unavoidable even at two o'clock in the morning.

I am impressed with how Birdjam presents its audio capability and asked them if I could emulate their service.

The Ring-billed Gull above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

I received a prompt reply advised to utilize Youtube as an entry level approach.

That wasn't considered the best help, so I began research on other options of having an audio file of the mockingbird's song accessible here.

The Snowy Egret juvenile above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

A lot of time was spent with a solution determined if you ever have an interest in uploading an audio file created by a cell phone.

The phone's AMR file conversion to a computer friendly one I was unsure of.

The Double-crested Cormorant above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

Conversion to an MP3 file verses a WAV file was decided upon due to the former reportedly usable with more computer programs.

It may have been a poor choice as the 76 minute AMR audio file at just over 7MB of memory converted to 105MB which seems like a comparatively awful waste of space.

The Red-breasted Merganser above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

My conversion of the AMR file to MP3 was made by a program provided by Miksoft which I highly recommend for its speed and simplicity.

I will return to Miksoft to make a donation for their resourceful product.

The Ring-billed Gull above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

Then was the decision that had to be made of the host for the file where I investigated four options other than Youtube.

I first looked into Fileden which I frequently see affiliated with many of the musical songs that are incorporated into the Playlist gadget seen here.

The Reddish Egret above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

This is where I wasted most of my time as I encountered a "fatal" error when attempting to become a member.

I really like the slick appeal and "simplicity" of Uploadrobots, but hit a snag there when the MP3 file size of the Northern Mockingbird recording couldn't be uploaded with the constraints of their free service.

The White Pelican above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

Filedropper was also investigated where I reached the point where a file became available to "download."

Since I know you don't want to do that, I then had the best impression with 4shared.

The Reddish Egret with Double-crested Cormorant above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

The upload of the relatively large audio file transferred at 4shared extremely quickly in comparison to Fileden.

Well, let's get back to the mockingbird.

The Osprey above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

The bird was very entertaining to study and hopefully worth your interest in listening to.

I've found the bird that had chosen to perch in a tree closest to me to be stunningly varied in its song.

The mixed shorebirds above were photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

This bird was the most adept with two of his competitors heard at greater distances clearly not having anywhere near the diversity of song.

The Northern Mockingbird male is thought to have between 50 and 200 songs in its repertoire.

The Red-breasted Merganser above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

With my longest recording at over an hour, I haven't had the time to determine if the bird repeats its song within it.

I wish I were more more knowledgeable of song and calls of different species as I can only recognize a handful of them in the recording and hope you can help identify them all.

The Red-breasted Merganser above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.

The image of the band of Bald Eagle 862 is presented below as promised with another angle of it offering additional detail.

The juvenile eagle should be near ready to take flight from its nest with no competition for food from a sibling as observed this year.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in January 2011.

Please consider enjoying the song of the Northern Mockingbird by pressing play at far left of the gadget below . . .



The Little Blue Heron above was photographed at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in February 2011.