Another Magnolia Park Summer Sunset

By Jess Yarnell

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

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Another summer evening, another sunset at Magnolia Park. This sunset didn’t have the fiery colors of my July 4th Firework images, but it was still pretty. The park was less crowded, so I got to move around more and try some new vantage points.

Sunset at Magnolia Park

The dock was empty, so I headed out to photograph over the lake.

Sunset over Lake Apopka

But I quickly realized that I liked the framing of the trees in the foreground. I’ve never managed the shot below without people on the dock!

Sunset at Magnolia Park

I played peek-a-boo with the sun as it tried to hide behind the trees. I was impressed at how well the HDR blend worked with the dark foreground and super-bright background here.

Sunset at Magnolia Park

Funny, though, I ended up at one of my usual spots as the sun actually set. There is something about how the trees frame the sunset that I really like. The sun’s rays made a starburst in those last few moments of daylight.

Sunset at Magnolia Park

Rich was with me on this visit, and he patiently waited with me for the afterglow (those beautiful brilliant colors that come 20-30 minutes after sunset). But it didn’t happen that evening. I think there were too many dense clouds on the horizon. So instead I pulled out my intermediate telephoto and did some blur shots of the clouds. A fun way to end a good day!

Sunset Blur

A Third Pied-Billed Grebe Nest at Lake Apopka

By Jess Yarnell

Saturday, August 19, 2017

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This summer at Lake Apopka, I’ve been keeping an eye on a far-off lump of dirt. It’s positioned far off in the marsh, behind several layers of vegetation. You have to position yourself carefully in one specific location to get a semi-obstructed view of this little island floating on the water. Why the interest in this particular location? Well, it’s a third Pied-billed Grebe nest!

Pied-billed Grebe Nest

I first noticed the nest on July 1. This is a highly cropped image taken with the Beast and a 2x teleconverter. I checked on the nest with each subsequent visit.

The First Two Babies

On July 2, I spotted two tiny babies sitting on the nest under Mom’s tummy. You could hear their tiny peep-peep-peeps clearly all the way across the water. But the intriguing thing was that Mom continued to incubate, and before I left, I saw her turning some additional eggs…

Turning the Eggs

On July 4, there were additional babies wiggling on the nest. It was hard to get a clear picture, but there are clearly four little heads sticking out from under Mom. She had her hands full with that family!

Four Little Heads at the Pied-billed Grebe Nest

The nest was empty on my following visits. I spotted the birds nearby, but they quickly found ways to hide in the dense vegetation. I keep hearing them, though, so I know they are doing well. It’s been such fun following the grebe families on the wildlife drive this summer. :)

Summer Backyard Birding

By Jess Yarnell

Thursday, August 17, 2017

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We had a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in the backyard a few weeks ago! She stayed for at least three days, eating voraciously at my nectar plants. Her favorites were my fire bushes and coral honeysuckle. I grabbed my camera and went out to see her…

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

It was a dark evening with a lot of cloud cover, but I managed to get a high enough shutter speed to freeze her wings as she nectared at the honeysuckle. Planting honeysuckle over my photography blind was one of the best things I’ve done in the backyard! All the birds seem to like the vine for its flowers, berries, and protective cover.

My American Beautyberry bush is beginning to put on berries. All summer I’ve been trying to get good pictures of the baby cardinals in the backyard. Finally I got a good opportunity as the juvenile cardinal posed on the beautyberry.

Juvenile Cardinal

Then the cardinal moved to the bird feeder and started eating suet. She flew so close to me that it was hard to focus on her, and I got some head shots as she stuffed her beak!

Juvenile Cardinal Head Shot

We have a new family of House Finches growing up in the backyard. It’s fun to see the feeders covered with birds like they were this spring. One House Finch paused on a shepherd’s crook to look at me…

House Finch

This last shot is another one of the baby cardinal. She flew over to the bird blind and started poking around. I think she was hunting insects. She has such an expression of curiosity on her face. So cute, and so perfect for her!

Curiosity

Find my birding list from today on eBird.