Photo lesson

Earlier this week I had a photo lesson with a local photographer named Jason Collin. We met at Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg in the morning. We worked on floral photography using different lighting and different set-ups. He made me use my tripod most of the time (which I hate using) so it was good for me to get the practice in. He also let me use his prime macro lens which is harder to use than you think. It's a trick to get it into perfect focus. Above are some of the pictures I took.

You can check out Jason's blog here - http://jasoncollinphotography.com/blog/.

Ibis on the fence

This weekend we had some visitors in our backyard. I looked out the window and 6 ibis were sitting on our fence. There was a juvenile ibis sitting on our neighbor's fence. It was funny to see them all lined up in a row. They just watched me as I came around the corner of the house and snapped a picture.

Limpkins

Limpkin scratching at Walsingham Park.


Limpkin eating a freshwater mussel. This was taken at Kapok Park in fresh water.

No rain for a while so the lake was low. There were a lot of snails showing in the lake bed. This is the limpkin's main diet.


This pink stuff is apple snail eggs. They lay their eggs above water so the fish don't eat them (that way the limpkins can eat them when they are fully grown). I noticed this big blob at the Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland when the dragonfly landed on it. Now I see these blobs at the lakes around here. I guess that's why the limpkins hang out at these lakes.

I had heard there were baby limpkins at Walsingham Park so I went looking for them this weekend. Of course, I never found the babies. I did see 2 adult limpkins there but the park is so big they could have been hiding anywhere. It was such a beautiful day everyone was there jogging or walking their dogs.

You don't see limpkins as often as you see other big water birds such as ibis, herons or egrets. They are fresh water birds hanging out at lakes and rivers. They are called limpkins because they look like they are walking with a limp. These birds are very loud. I've been at Kapok Park close to dark in the spring and heard them call out to each other. It is mind numbing. I'm sure the houses around there love that.

Another so-so birding day in SW Ohio

Seeing all my birder friends' lists from recent trips from all over the place has got me wanting to see birds. Since my current financial situation will not allow me to travel to the places where good birds are, I can only bird locally for now. (My life list has been stuck at just under 300 for some time, partly due a lack of funds and the lack of quality bird habitat in SW Ohio - specifically referring to wetland/shorebird habitat)

I decided to stop by East Fork State Park Nov. 16th. I have had the feeling that I am overdue to get a good bird or rarity for some time now, but today was not the day. A quick scan of the beach and the lake with the scope only produced Ring-billed Gulls and 3 Herring Gulls. That was it. As I was getting ready to take off, a woman and her child walked down to the water's edge and the child threw something into the water. About 3 seconds later, I noticed a bird with white wing patches flying in fast from the right. It landed right in front of me. It was my FOS (first of season) Red-breasted Merganser (female). I don't know where the bird came from, but I can see how I missed it as it was feeding(?):

Feeding or drinking? female Red-breasted Merganser

The bird finally stopped feeding(?) and started preening.

After not seeing anything else, I decided to stop by the dam as I had to go that way anyway. Scanned the lake a second time and only came up with 2 Mallards and 6 Pied-billed Grebes. As I was getting ready to leave, a large bird flew in from over the tree line - an immature Bald Eagle that landed in a tree across the lake. At about the same time, another birder came running up to the car asking if I had seen it. I stopped to talk to him and ended up carrying on a long conversation about eagles, people we both know, and eagles. Always enjoy meeting new birders!! About 5 minutes into our conversation about eagles, another immature Bald Eagle flew in from the same direction and landed in the same tree.

I was able to get a distant shot of the eagles from across the lake. There are 2 eagles in the picture below if you look hard enough. (click on image for larger image)

Fall 2009 Florida Birding Migration Action II

Well, it's been more than a week since my return from my Fall 2009 trip along the Great Florida Birding Trail traversing all four of the regions within it.

The Northern Mockingbird above was photographed at Trout Point Nature Trail in November 2009.

The start of the journey led me through and out of the South Region of the Trail into the East Region. From the East Region I entered the Panhandle and then, on the final leg, didn't make a stop other than to fuel the car as I drove through the West Region of the Trail on the way back home. Thus my significant observations within them were limited to only the East and Panhandle Regions.

Regrettably, I have had limited time to present my observations in words and images to you here, let alone review my notes and images taken during the trip.

The Sandhill Crane above was photographed along the Great Florida Birding Trail (East Region) in November 2009.

I have been making progress. I spent much of a day creating the galleries at the pbase site which will serve as a reference for several dozen of the venues visited within the Trail on this trip.

There was certainly too much driving involved in comparison to time spent observing wildlife. I had a very enjoyable time nonetheless.

The Snail Kite above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in September 2009.

The Garmin GPS device worked interestingly. I'm sure I would not have taken many of the routes the machine advised otherwise, but it offered an education on the latest our technology has to offer. At one point, I was wondering if the device was working correctly as it led me through some seemingly extremely rural areas.

I stayed at four different chain's hotel/motel rooms along the trip. All were very accommodating and pleasant. This might be explained by the competitive pressure put upon them by the likes of the newest hotels built adjacent to them. The pricing was reasonable at the time of the trip.

The observation of many familiar species of birds was made in my journey with others I've seen before, but rarely. I also caught glimpses of the likes of the Carolina Chickadee, and am optimistic I can crop images taken of such rarities (for me).

The diverse habitats along the way were distinctively evident as were the species that lived within them.

Juggling the great interest I have in my work and that of my hobby results in what you experience here.

Avipoxvirus

Today, I decided to take a walk down my road to look for birds (what else?). Really didn't see much bird wise (maybe because the neighbor's dogs were following me barking constantly???).

What I did find was another dead bird laying on the side of the road. This time it was a Common Grackle Quiscalus quiscula that appears to have succumb to complications from the cutaneous form of an Avipoxvirus. What's up with me finding all these dead birds on my walks? :-(



Since avian pox is contagious to other birds, I used a stick to turn the bird over. I don't know if this particular strain can infect psittacines, but didn't want to take any chances. This is also another good reason to disinfect your bird feeders and bird baths as often as possible (luckily, I have never seen this bird at the feeders or birdbath).

Waste plant birds

Two glossy ibis with a moorhen looking on.

Glossy ibis eating by himself.

White ibis

There's always a spoonbill hanging around the waste plan.

I had read last week on Pinellasbirds.com that there had been several glossy ibis hanging around the pond across from the waste plant. I had looked last week while driving to to get lunch. Yesterday I saw them. There were 3 of them eating close to the street. Of course I pulled over and snapped a few pictures. Glossy ibis look black from far away but they actually have a reddish brown body with dark green wings. The colors seems to glow in the sun. They are pretty rare to see here. I've only seen a handfull in the Tampa Bay area. There's always so many white ibis but very few glossy ones. It will be interesting to see how long they stay at that pond.