Aunt Nettie

The weather was inclement on my days off from work which made for a challenge to get some fresh wildlife photography included in this post.

The Little Blue Heron above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

It wasn't until hours ago that it all came together for a message you will hopefully appreciate.

The sky finally cleared on Friday and offered some of the best light I remember from experiences I've had the last couple of years during the rainy season in southwest Florida.

The fellow visitors above were photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

Weather conditions were ideal with little chance of rain with a low tide a couple of hours before sunset at Matanzas Pass.

Therefore I chose to visit Bunche Beach to see what kind of wildlife action was happening there.

The Willet above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

Just before I left for the venue, I sent an email to Tom Obrock reminding him of the low tide at the preserve.

I was pleased to see that he had made the effort to travel there to observe the wildlife as well.

The Little Blue Heron above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

He told me of future plans he has to visit Idaho where he will undoubtedly report in his blog some exciting observations.

After parking the car in the late afternoon, I headed toward the west channel with relatively light winds at the time and more birds seen that direction.

The Short-billed Dowitcher above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

The tide at the beach was about as low as it gets in the summer months and offered an interesting scene where numerous sand bars are beginning to form into the bay perpendicular from the beach.

They will allow great opportunity for birds to rest, feed, and be observable in the future.

The Western Sandpiper above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

If the wind was strong from the west, I think I would have made my way to the east channel as I've had success with photographing wildlife under those conditions in the past.

Under such conditions I think I would have also been concerned about the possibility of methane in the air due to the British Petroleum gusher feeding oil to the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

The Short-billed Dowitcher above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

It seems unfathomable to me the potential adverse impact to this venue from the BP disaster.

With the west channel much shallower than that to the east, it attracts much more fishermen.

The White Ibis above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

Today was no exception as there were a lot of patrons to the preserve that were throwing cast nets for bait certainly with plans to fish elsewhere as they didn't have poles with them.

Their activity caused most of the birds I was observing to exit the area on a few occasions as the men made their way back and forth along the channel.

The fisherman above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

As usual, when I plant myself down for viewing of the birds at Bunche Beach in the west channel, it was a little unnerving as small fish, crabs, and plant debris made contact with me in the water that is very murky.

I had the opportunity to experience a tide change and the resulting stillness of the water that seemingly lasts only seconds.

The Roseate Spoonbill above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

An unusually cloudless sky to the west at the time of sunset had me completely focused on the birds in great light more so than the opportunity to capture the setting sun.

I walked much further west than expected after both Tom and another visitor to the preserve had told me of the black-crowned herons observed beyond where I was.

The Sanderling above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

The view of the preserve and San Carlos Bay from a scenic point of view was stunning under such great weather conditions.

With the loss of my Aunt Nettie this past month, I've decided to name my long lens in remembrance of her.

The Semipalmated Plover above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

Fellow Pbaser, Susan Rovera, made a comment at my Bunche Beach Preserve gallery recently expressing the thought, "You get the most from your (70-)300mm zoom."

Just before my latest trip to the preserve this past week, I made settings on the 5DM2 as recommended by Artie Morris for the 1DM3 as best was possible with what can be done with the former camera.

Tom Obrock above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

The most radical change made was setting the "picture style" to Neutral.

Most recently I was using "landscape" thinking that it might provide some more sharpness and color in the wildlife images I take.

The Black-crowned Night-Heron above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

I'll have to report later if I see a significant improvement in image quality.

One of the better results in changes the camera's settings apparently has improved the loss of quality while brightening dark shadows.

The Black-crowned Night-Heron juvenile above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2010.

Closer to the wildlife is definitely better if you can manage it with great care.

Lights, Camera, Action

The learning curve of capturing video with the Canon 5dmk2, making very basic editing of the video for its duration, and uploading it to the web for viewing was accomplished in the past few weeks.

The Burrowing Owl above was photographed at Cape Coral Library in April 2010.

The subject of the video involves the mating behavior of the Florida Burrowing Owl which has been observed with concerted effort at Cape Coral on Florida's west coast about two hours south of Tampa.

Although only having observed the Burrowing Owls for the first time in the 2010 mating season, I have devoted countless hours to learn about the behavior of these birds that occasionally provide an opportunity to document their behavior visually for a mere few seconds at a time.

The Common Moorhen with juvenile and White Ibis above was photographed at Lakes Regional Park in May 2010.

There have been a few instances when the mating event was observed to occur twice with the same pair of birds within 10 minutes.

I haven't devoted an entire day to the observation of the birds uninterrupted, so cannot speculate the average number of times the birds may attempt to copulate in a day.

The Common Moorhen juvenile above was photographed at Lakes Regional Park in May 2010.

Mating behavior certainly occurs daily, however, as I have observed the behavior with numerous pairs of Burrowing Owls in the neighborhood of the Cape Coral Library and Skyline Boulevard.

A visit to the area on 6 May 2010 with hopes of observing owlets as anticipated proved to show that the offspring are relatively late in their arrival this year potentially due to unusually cold winter weather and early heavy rains last month that may have flooded burrows.

The White Ibis above was photographed at Lakes Regional Park in May 2010.

Mating was also not observed yesterday although both male and female owls were seen at the entrance to many burrows in the area.

Mating will typically last for mere seconds which offers great challenges in photographing the event successfully.

The Anhinga above was photographed at Lakes Regional Park in May 2010.

Tim Rucci commented to me this week that there might be disturbance of Burrowing Owl behavior with the use of flash photography.

The owls have not appeared to be affected by the accessory at all.

The Scarlet Ibis above was photographed at Lakes Regional Park in May 2010.

My video capture of a typical mating of the owls can be seen here and is also now a permanent link from the sidebar at my blog.

It is interesting that certain owls will apparently only mate after sunset, yet others will do so in late afternoon hours, perhaps distinguishing the maturity of the owls.

The White Ibis above was photographed at Lakes Regional Park in May 2010.

I have noted most recently that the male is much more distinguishable from the female as coloration in his feathers is evidently bleached from the sun that has become ever stronger as each spring day passes.

In addition to observing the owls this past week, I also made another trip to Lakes Regional Park to attempt to observe the Scarlet Ibis which I was able to do and photograph the species for the first time.

The Common Moorhen juvenile above was photographed at Lakes Regional Park in May 2010.

I also observed the juvenile Common Moorhen that was surprisingly absent from the exact same location the day before.

Audio Visual

In my hope to observe the Scarlet Ibis, I finally found it at Lakes Regional Park this past week.

The scene above was photographed from a kayak at Lakes Regional Park in April 2010.

I had brought my kayak with the expectation that I would find it roosting in one of the park's many very small islands within it.

Mere minutes after getting the watercraft on the ground upon my arrival, I caught a glimpse of a red spot out of the corner of my eye.

The scene above was photographed from a kayak at Lakes Regional Park in April 2010.

The Scarlet Ibis was in a group of White Ibis feeding in the shallow water at the park's south beach.

As I stealthily approached to get my first photograph of the creature, from about 50 feet, all the birds nonetheless took flight and I missed the shot.

The scene above was photographed from a kayak at Lakes Regional Park in April 2010.

Within minutes all the birds returned after circling the park, except for the Scarlet Ibis.

I launched the kayak to have an enjoyable morning attempting to find the Scarlet Ibis roosting, though was disappointed to find that the prime area for that possibility is off limits to public paddle boats.

The Green Heron above was photographed from a kayak at Lakes Regional Park in April 2010.

There are tremendous opportunities to capture images of a diversity of birds in flight at Lakes Park and I will return to take advantage of that.

Yesterday evening offered another first for me when I made another trip to Cape Coral to observe the Burrowing Owl.

The juvenile Bald Eagle above was photographed from a kayak at Lakes Regional Park in April 2010.

While I initially captured a few still images of the birds I was observing, the primary intent was to create a movie of the owl's mating behavior which the Canon 5DM2 is capable of doing.

After finding a burrow and birds that might accommodate my mission, I settled down and prepared the camera's settings.

The White Ibis above was photographed from a kayak at Lakes Regional Park in April 2010.

With patience, I was rewarded with documenting the event at the burrow which I had only observed the male at the last few occasions I drove through the area.

Regrettably on this first attempt, the male's wings were clipped out of the frame and the composition of the birds could have been much improved.

The White Ibis above was photographed from a kayak at Lakes Regional Park in April 2010.

The quality of the audio recording could also be much improved with an external mic as the wind was buffeting the camera gear pretty hard.

When I acquired the latest version of Photoshop Elements this past week, I chose the basic version, so back it will go to be exchanged for the version that can edit movies.

It's A Small World After All

The birding was extraordinary at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach again late this afternoon.

The Willet above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in December 2009.

It was great that I met Frank from Montreal whom I had photographed at Little Estero Lagoon nearly a year ago. Doden's visit here as well has me believe that the preserve is no longer the unknown venue it has been.

After surveying the scene from the parking area, there was not a bird to be seen to the west, but heavy concentrations of them to the east. I made a trek toward the east channel as I had perhaps not in ten months.

The White Ibis above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in December 2009.

There were four large groups of birds seen. The groups were dominant in numbers overall by the Black Skimmer. There also were large groups of Willet and Sanderling. The other expected shore birds were for the most part seen.

My expectations of the visit to the beach were again to improve my quality of BIFs, or birds in flight. There was a lot of opportunity to do that under near perfect conditions.

The Laughing Gull above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in December 2009.

The sun was nearly set as Frank appeared to have given up on the birding opportunity shooting with the D300. I was able to coax him to stay. It was then I realized who he was.

I told him every change in my camera settings in the final 15 minutes we had to photograph the action that became especially alive under very low light conditions. Perhaps we can compare the images of our equivalent brands of gear sometime.

The Royal Tern above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in December 2009.

Minutes after sunset, I was shooting at 5000 ISO as I let Frank know. He didn't speak positively of his experience with high ISO with the D300 he's been using this past year noting excessive noise, but I let him know that he had given up on the shooting opportunity way too early.

The last species observed was the Great Blue Heron that flew in under extremely low light and was impossible to photograph at that time.

Random Thoughts

There have been enough breaks in inclement weather to allow for an occasional observation of bird behavior here in southwest Florida this summer without too much fear of getting the photography equipment wet. There has been a mid season downward revision to the hurricane forecast which is no guarantee that there won't be a chaotic scene at some point by November.

The White Ibis above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in August 2009.

If a hurricane does ultimately make its way across the southern peninsula of the state, I will be curious to see what kind of fallout of unusual species for the area may occur. The ensuing beach erosion would be among the tragic results of a significant storm. We get our fair share of this devastation in the winter months in this area.

I was extremely challenged by photographing birds in flight at the beach Thursday in the late afternoon and early evening. Somewhat so due to the sun behind some clouds and the specific bird subject, the Black Skimmer, that only landed on one occasion at close range very briefly to swallow its catch. The study of the species had me crawling around with my tripod.

The Black Skimmer above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in August 2009.

This species is a relatively fast flyer that makes abrupt changes in direction. It also had no problem at all flying directly toward me on a number of occasions. I had the impression that the birds were attempting to drive me from their feeding grounds or I may have simply been in their way.

In any event, it's a beautiful species which it appears I got a couple shots of in focus. The majority of the 300 plus images were not.

The Black Skimmer above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in August 2009.

It is such an unnerving experience to have the marine creatures that the birds favor for their sustenance crawl on you when your immersed in the water with them. When I undressed in the shower that evening, I was not surprised that I brought home a hitch hiker, a small crab, that I don't think survived after a trip down the drain.

With the exception of a major malfunction with the Canon 1D M3, the Canon 5D M2 and all the related accessories acquired this past year have exceeded my expectations. They give the user at least the opportunity to take an interesting shot.

The Brown Pelican above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in August 2009.

I've made an initial investigation of the playlist music player which looks like an interesting gadget that will allow a visitor here or at another site to listen to music chosen by the host. I will be adding that feature in the near future.

I was very surprised to read in Arthur Morris's blog recently that he will not be visiting Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge for the first time in 10 years due to what he believes to be a significant decline in wildlife photography opportunities.

The Least Tern above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in August 2009.

I mentioned this to Park Services Specialist, Brie Ochoa, at Lovers Key State Park, and her thought was that the poor water quality at Lake Okeechobee is potentially working its way through the Caloosahatchee River into the Gulf of Mexico and the estuaries at DDNWR.

My personal thought on this is that just like at any venue, it may be hit and miss on what you'll see for a variety of reasons.

The Reddish Egret above was photographed at San Carlos Bay: Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2009.

Virtually any venue in Florida might be considered a tourist attraction, especially in the winter months. As the snowbirds arrive, the wildlife simply responds to the disruption that is sometimes abusive. Such has been the case in my wildlife observations when I see an occasional beach enthusiast unfortunately have complete disregard for the birds at rest or feeding. The disregard for wildlife happens in all seasons by locals and visitors alike.

The water temperature has gotten noticeably cooler.