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 surrounded by rain drops
Most of the birds just continued with their normal routines, feeding in the marsh.
American Coots
This Purple Gallinule came out for a quick view
Common Gallinule with its tail up
Others waited outside of the water for the rain to stop.
Little Blue Heron on the bank
Great Egret waiting on concrete
Soaked Anhinga drying on the rocks
Anhinga waiting for the rain to stop
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 as the rains calm down
Tri-colored Heron hunting nearby the 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 in overcast light
Anhinga with a nice catch
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.
An Osprey with a huge Catfish
Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk who gave us quite a show
The Cattle Egrets were tough to photograph unless you stayed in the car
Not all of them were fully cooperative though.
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.
This Fulvous-Whistling Duck came in close for a decent photo op
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.
White eyed Eastern Towhee
Some young birds made an appearance, too.
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 just after the rain calmed down
American Bittern photographed toward the end of the day
And, of course, there were Alligators. I photographed this one below the Osprey.
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!
I have many great memories from my trip to Florida earlier this year – most of them involve my favorite birds – waders. One that really stands out is a “honey hole” that we ran into on Blackpoint Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island. It was a small pond that must have gotten fairly deep surrounded by White Ibis, Snowy Egrets and one of each of a Tri-colored and Little Blue Heron.
Snowy Egrets, White Ibis and Little Blue Heron
When we drove up, a car was already parked at it, so we went in behind and waited our turn for the “best seat.” We were still able to pick up on the action from the distance. The Ibis were foraging at the edge of the pond while the Egrets and Herons wandered around. Eventually, the other car moved on and we had front row seats.
Juvenile White Ibis
Little Blue Heron coming in while we waited
Little Blue Heron pretending to be a Snowy Egret
The little pond was so full of birds that they Snowy Egrets were showing a little attitude towards the others when they got close.
Roused Snowy Egret
The most interesting part, however, was how the Egrets and Herons would go after fish. We watched as they would skim the water with the tip of their toes and reach down to grab a fish.
Tri-colored Heron crossing the pond
Tri-colored Heron going all in
Snowy Egret reaches in
Snowy Egret grabs a fish
They would, for the most part, come up with a fish.
Tri-colored Heron skips across the pond with a fish
Snowy Egret crossing the pond with a fish
At times, the birds would go at the same time.
Two Snowy Egrets with fish
Two Snowy Egrets take on the pond simultaneously
Which led to a few mid-air collisions…
Snowy Egrets collide
Snowy Egret and Tri-colored Heron skimming at the same time
And then they collide
But do not miss a beat in air
I did capture a video of the action with my phone.
Eventually, a bird that we were waiting to photograph flew in – a Roseate Spoonbill!
Roseate Spoonbill Joins the flock
This was the first time we were able to photograph an adult up close. It stayed at the edge with the Ibises.
The Spoonbill stayed at the edge
Foraging Spoonbill
Roseate Spoonbill
It stayed for a little while before flying off – I was very happy with this photo session! We photographed at this little spot for over an hour even though the sun was high. What a great spot!
One of the birds that I really wanted to see in Florida was the Reddish Egret. I was hoping to get at least a glimpse of its very animated fishing tactics. They will run, jump, spin and pluck a fish out of the shallow water. I did get to see this bird multiple times, with a couple of really awesome photo ops. The bird was a bit difficult to photograph since it was constantly in motion, but I was able to get many satisfying photos! I will warn you that this post is going to be photo-heavy. I took so many photos of this bird and I cannot narrow down which ones I want to share.
The first Reddish Egret we saw was at Merritt Island at Shiloh Marsh. This was an evening visit after birding at Orlando Wetlands all day. The lighting was behind our subject, but it was great get our life bird as soon as we arrived at the coast.
Reddish Egret running in the water
The next time we would see this bird was probably the best experience we could ever ask for. It was our first time driving Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island. We had no idea what to expect and where to find the good birds. We quickly found where the key spot to photograph in the morning was. The water was calm, the sun was at our backs and the birds were cooperative. We watched as a Reddish Egret fished right in front of us.
Using its wings to reduce glare in the water
Running across the water
Grabbing a fish
Down the hatch!
Looking for fish
Grabbing nothing but water
Going after a dragonfly
Bowing down to get a fish
A successful catch
Other birds caught our attention when the Egret left, but it soon returned for more fun.
Coming back close to us
Searching in perfect light
Running with wings spread open
Running left
Running right
About to pounce
Looking for some fish
Running with wings open
Shielding the sun
Stopping for a moment
I never thought I would experience that – especially in the perfect light with the perfect reflections. It was magical!
Later on that day, we came across another Egret. We were able to get fairly close in a blind. In fact, the bird came up really close to the window that I was photographing from.
Right outside the blind window
Looking for fish
Got one!
The next morning, we went right to the calm pool where we watched the egret at sunrise. This time, a Tricolored Heron stole the show, but a younger Egret did show up. This one was not as animated as the adult.
Young Reddish Egret
We did, however, find an adult down the road who let us watch him for a few minutes before taking off.
Rousing feathers
Rousing Feathers
Taking off
The bird sill “pops” in the distance
Our final encounter with the bird was at Gator Creek on our last day. It was a great way to say farewell to this beautiful bird.
Diving in
Running on water
Going for the strike
Grabbing a fish
Stopping to preen
The Reddish Egret quickly made its way to the top five of my list for favorite birds. What a fun bird to watch!
Last December, I realized that I had a lot of vacation days that I had to take – five of which could be transferred to the first quarter of 2015. With those five leftover days, I decided to plan a trip for March to the state that I have drooled over when it comes to photographing birds – Florida. Two of my friends and I took off from work during the third week of March. The original plans were to go to the Gulf Coast, however, that seemed to be where all the spring breakers wanted to go. Since we only planned two-to-three months in advanced everything was booked, and anything left was too expensive. We looked to our friends on Facebook for some help and they recommended locations that would be spring-breaker free.
Our first location was in the vicinity of Orlando where we birded both Lake and Osceola counties. Our friend, Gallus, who is doing a Lake County big year, offered to take us around and show us some birds. I made a wishlist of birds that I would possibly like to see and Gallus weeded out everything that was not possible, let me know which ones would be givens and which we would have to work for. I am pretty sure that we saw most of the birds that were possible – we just had to save some for next time – Gallus did an amazing job!!
We were on our own for the evening that we arrived (Saturday, March 14) and got our feet wet at Brinson Park off of Lake Tohopekaliga. It gave us our first good looks at a Tricolored and Little Blue Herons, White Ibises, Anhingas, a cooperative Limpkin, Wood Stork and others. It was a nice start to what Florida has to offer.
A very cooperative Wood Stork
My first Tricolored Heron close-up!
White Ibis, photographed later in the trip at Venetian Gardens
Limpkin, photographed later in the trip at Venetian Gardens
An Anhinga pops its head up from feeding
On Sunday, Gallus picked us up and we were off for some birding. Our first stop was Clearwater Lake Recreation Area where we were greeted by a singing Yellow-throated Vireo. I am not used to hearing this bird so early in the year! Our goal was to find the nesting Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. On our way to the Woodpecker cavities, we ran into small flocks of migrants and nesters and also saw Pine Siskins flying overhead – this was a great county bird for Gallus since they can be hit or miss. Red-headed Woodpeckers and Brown-headed Nuthatches stole the show – these are birds that us northerners are not used to seeing.
The beautiful forest of Clearwater Lake Recreation Area
This Pine Warbler was part of the mixed flock
Along the trails, we heard a life bird singing – the Bachman’s Sparrow – many of them, actually. One eventually showed himself so that we could officially add him to our life list.
Bachman’s Sparrow on a nice perch
We made it to the Woodpecker spot were we found three birds who gave us great views. We hung around that spot to watch them some more.
This pair of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers were photographed later in the trip
After a successful first stop, Gallus took us to Venetian Gardens for the Purple Gallinule. We easily found these birds and also got great looks at White Ibises and Limpkins, as seen in the photos earlier in my post.
The beautiful Purple Gallinule
Our next stop was Lake Apopka with small hopes of seeing a rare bird, even for Florida, the Groove-billed Ani – I say “small” hopes because the bird had not been reported for two weeks. It was mid day and the trail offered no relief from the sun. The Ani location was almost one and a half miles in. As we were walking, a Grackle-sized black bird with a blunt bill flushed out of the grasses – the Ani!! He gave us nice looks then moved deep into the shrubs. We waited him out a little and were rewarded with even better looks, out in the open.
Groove-billed Ani
All of that walking in the hot sun was totally worth it. We also tried to get looks at King Rails, which would have been another lifer, but they would not show themselves. Our next stop was the Green Mountain Scenic Overlook where we hoped to spot a Short-tailed Hawk. Here, a platform was built over the forest. The view is beautiful!
The view from the platform at Green Mountain Scenic Overlook
Our next target bird was the Florida Scrub-Jay, with the promise of some Florida oranges from a non-private grove. I think it’s safe to say that we had both.
Florida Scrub-Jay with tangerines
We also found our first Loggerhead Shrikes along the road. We ended our day of birding with attempts to find Burrowing Owls. Unfortunately, they did not return to the area we tried. We did, however, get both Least and American Bitterns in one pond. It was my first time hearing them calling.
Just throwing in a photo of a White and Glossy Ibis to end the days trip report
The first day was a huge success. Gallus added four more birds to his big year list bringing his total to 181, as of that day (he has since added even more). To read his trip report, see his blog 2015 Lake County Big Year.
Since we found most of our target birds on the first day, we spent the next day chasing other probable lifers – the Snail and Swallow-tailed Kites, Short-tailed Hawk and Burrowing Owls. Our first stop was Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area. Here, we had even better looks at the Red-cockaded Woodpecker and got some great photos of Eastern Meadowlarks. There were a ton of Vultures, some Osprey Eagles and other Hawks, but we did not get any of our target birds.
Eastern Meadowlark singing
Black Vulture in a tree
We tried another Burrowing Owl spot with no luck. We did see a ton of Cattle Egrets Crested Caracaras, Southeastern Kestrels, more Loggerhead Shrikes, Meadowlarks and Ibises.
Cattle Egret and cattle
Sandhill Crane
Leftovers from a Loggerhead Shrike
At this point, we were on a mission to find the Kites and checked out a few more hotspots. Gallus made the joke that we will see one from a parking lot without expecting it. We arrived at Brinson park and sure enough, a Swallow-tailed Kite flew by… while we were standing in the parking lot.
Swallow-tailed Kite
Gallus was pretty sure that he had a Snail Kite in the distance, but it was just too far. We tried our very last location at Lakefront Park – as we were driving, we spotted what looked like Harriers hovering over the marsh – NOPE! – they were Snail Kites! We parked and went over to where we saw the bird. Eventually, five different kites were in the area all at once. We watched as they hunted and even saw one transporting nesting material!
Snail Kite with nesting material
Snail Kite hunting
What a great way to end the first part of our trip! I have a ton more photos to share from the second part of our trip as we headed to the east coast. This part was more birding, the next will be more photography. I am extremely happy with the photo ops I had – I will post them soon!
I have been extremely busy lately with buying a new house, getting it ready, packing and moving. In between all of this madness I went to Cape May with my friends for our annual Fall migration trip. I still do not have the time to write about it, so I will leave you with some photos for a preview of what to expect. And I will say this – as far as the ratio of good-to-bad photos, this was my most successful trip yet even though the main point of it was birding rather than photography.
One of a pair of American Oystercatchers
Forster’s Tern flying by
A Sanderling running away from the waves
A beach full of Black Skimmers
Snowy Egrets at Forsythe NWR
Young Herring Gull flying by
Ruddy Turnstone on the rocks
Like what you see? Check back for more later this month!
Every bird lover has that one special bird that started it all. In my early camera years I always loved taking photos of animals. When I purchased my first dSLR I was sure to get a telephoto lens right away because I knew that I would want to photograph wildlife. I would visit Colonial Park in Somerset, New Jersey where I started photographing geese and ducks because they were the easiest targets. It was not long before I saw a Heron for the first time. A bird so beautiful and majestic, graceful and proud. In May 2008, I saw the bird that would change everything.
My first Great Blue Heron, cropped with a lower quality lens
After taking countless photos of waterfowl, this was the bird that I wanted to get a great photo of. When I went home, I found out that it is a Great Blue Heron. A very common bird, yet I never remember seeing one before. It was not until August that I finally got fairly close to one.
My second Great Blue Heron, shot with a Canon 55-250 lens
I spent two hours watching the bird, enjoying his beauty. I hoped that he would fly so that I could try a flight shot, but he wouldn’t budge. It turned out that I had to leave the bird! The next time I went to the park was after work, so it was already late. I did not find a Great Blue Heron until it was near dark, but I did find another interesting relative.
Green Heron
A much smaller bird in the Ardeidae family, the Green Heron. I soon found that this one was even more difficult to get close to. Most of the time I would only see them when they were spooked away by me walking by. They were just too quick!
The following weekend, I photographed both birds at the same park. I was getting closer to the perfect shot, but was still not quite there yet.
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
A couple of months later, I found another beautiful long-legged bird. This one was all white and gorgeous as ever. The Great Egret became a new target bird, along with my other Heron friends. My first sighting of it was in a tree only for about a minute. I later found it perched along the bank.
Great Egret
I would often go to the park after work, so I lost lighting quickly for bird photography. I started to become a bit creative with my photos.
Great Blue Heron Silhouette
But most of the time, I would end up getting photos of a bird who was flying away.
Great Blue Heron flying away
The next time that I would see a Great Blue Heron was in the middle of winter on a nice February afternoon. Some of the water was frozen over and I enjoyed watching as geese and ducks would slide around on top of the ice. The Heron quickly stole my attention when it landed on the bank right next to me.
Great Blue Heron
I enjoyed watching him fish for twenty minutes until he flew off in the other direction. An hour later, I caught back up to my feathered friend and watched him fish some more. He must have been hungry! He tried to grab an already dead fish that was much too large for him.
Great Blue Heron with a large catch
He fished in the open and searched under bridges for whatever he could find in the recently thawed waters. Pickings seemed to be slim.
Great Blue Heron
The only fish he caught were very small, so he had to keep going at it.
Great Blue Heron with a small snack
This was my chance. The Heron did not care that I was right there next to him. He would walk right up to me and right past me, continuing his search for small fish. I patiently stayed still and watched him, enjoying every bit of the show he gave me.
Great Blue Heron
He was so close, that I could get shots of his head that filled up the entire frame.
Great Blue Heron
And shots that were too close for the frame!
Great Blue Heron up close
My earliest target bird dream had come true. I had the perfect photos of the perfect bird, shot with my new Canon 70-200mm F4 lens… yeah, he was close! You do not get this type of opportunity close-up in central New Jersey off the coast very often.
Great Blue Heron
It was hard to top that experience. I never got that close again. My next great experiences happened at new location at Johnson Park in Piscattaway. Here, I saw a Black-crowned Night Heron for the first time!
Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron
A couple of weeks later at this park, I found myself passing by more Herons and Egrets that were not disturbed by my presence.
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron perched above the trail
Young Great Blue Heron
My journey for better photos of Great Egrets also proved to be a success from different locations.
Great Egret at Boland Pond in Binghamton, New York
Great Egret at Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey
Great Egret in Cape May Meadows, New Jersey
I also found two very interesting Herons abroad. In Costa Rica in the Corcovado Rain Forest, we came across a Bared-throated Tiger Heron who was perched above a waterfall.
Bared-throated Tiger Heron in Costa Rica
And in Italy, near Naples I found a bird that I really wanted to see – a beautiful Squacco Heron!
Squacco Heron in Italy
I also saw two types of Egrets in Italy, Little Egrets in the same area as the Squacco Herons and many Cattle Egrets in Isola della Sola.
Little Egret in Italy
Cattle Egret
My most recent exciting Ardeidae experience came during a drive through Nummy Island in New Jersey this past fall. We had five different types of them in one location! Great Blue, Tri-colored and Little Blue Herons along with Great and Snowy Egrets. This was my first time photographing Snowy Egrets up close and they certainly did not disappoint me!
Snowy Egret in flight
Snowy Egret chasing off another
Herons still fascinate me and will always hold a special place in my birding-heart. One day, I would love to go to Florida and be able to photograph them up close. I also really want great photos of my next target Heron, a Tri-colored Heron!
Great Blue Heron
If you made it this far, please comment and let me know your “gateway” bird!
