While the blog started as a record of my backyard garden and birds, it quickly grew as I discovered bird photography. This page contains images taken “beyond the backyard” during my travels around Central Florida (and beyond!)
January 7, 2011 - I headed to the Circle B Bar Reserve on my off-Friday determined to remember to check the eagle’s nest next to the Nature Center. I always seem to forget to walk over and check it on my way out! As I arrived at the nest, I saw one Bald Eagle sitting on it. Another eagle […]
January 6, 2011 - I’ve been enjoying have the HDR capabilities of Photoshop CS5. I’m no expert in HDR, and I’m learning how to adjust the controls so that the pictures look good. I don’t try for the over-the-top color effects of some HDR photos, but instead just enjoy the additional dynamic range and color tones that make my […]
December 31, 2010 - Lots of people decided say goodbye to 2010 with a visit to the Circle B Bar Reserve. I’ve never seen so many people there in a morning. It was fun to finally meet Herman and a bunch of people from the Circle B Flickr group. I took “The Beast” and had a fun time getting […]
December 29, 2010 - It was probably not a good morning to be a bird at the Circle B Bar Reserve. The temperature was around 28 when I arrived at 7:30 in the morning. The ground was covered in frost. Skies normally covered in American White Pelicans were empty. But it was pretty in an eerie way, and by […]
December 28, 2010 - Dyeyo and I drove over to Viera Wetlands in search of the Ross’s Goose that has been reported there on the BirdBrainz list serve. We didn’t see the goose, but we did see a group of happy, diving Hooded Mergansers. It was the first time either of us had seen a female Hoodie (we don’t […]
December 27, 2010 - I couldn’t resist the itch to try out my 500mm lens any more! It was pretty windy today, so rather than going to Circle B, Rich and I went up to Oakland Nature Preserve at sunset. Maybe I’m just very spoiled by Circle B, but Oakland doesn’t seem to have as many birds as it […]
December 25, 2010 - Santa arrived early at the Circle B Bar Reserve today, bringing plenty of insects and nuts for the birds for Christmas. His reindeer are not fond of Florida weather, so the American White Pelicans volunteered to help him fly his sleigh! Santa cartoon courtesy of Microsoft Office Clipart
December 23, 2010 - The skies of the Circle B Bar Reserve were covered in American White Pelicans this morning. We arrived at sunrise and stayed till about 11:30. During that whole time, wave after wave of pelicans flew in. They must be powered by Energizer…they just keep coming, and coming, and coming! This morning we walked up Heron […]
December 22, 2010 - It was a gorgeous morning at the Circle B Bar Reserve. We arrived at 7:00, just before sunrise, and the birds put on an amazing wake-up show. The hundreds of Wood Storks and Sand Hill Cranes that roost in the marsh overnight all woke up and flew away, nicely illuminated by the rising sun. They […]
December 21, 2010 - On Thursday afternoon I took two fun pictures at Circle B: one of Sandhill Cranes flying against the sunset sky, and another of the sunset landscape. Then I combined the two pictures in Photoshop Elements. I think the composition is fun…as long as I admit to the Photoshopping! Here are the two original images:
December 20, 2010 - Dyeyo and I continued our bird-watching safari. After we saw the Snow Bunting in Palm Coast, we went to Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Rufuge, where several Snow Geese have been reported there over the last week or so. They were there! They usually don’t come to Florida. There was a mix of white morph adults […]
December 20, 2010 - Dyeyo and I planned a bird-watching “safari” trip for today. Our first stop was the Palm Coast Waterfront Park where a tiny Snow Bunting has been hanging out for the last couple of weeks. This bird nests in the Arctic and migrates to the New England latitudes. Only about twenty have been documented as far […]
December 17, 2010 - There were plenty of birds in the skies this afternoon at the Circle B Bar Reserve! I got there around 3:30 and hiked Heron Hideout, Marsh Rabbit Run, and Wading Bird Way. The American White Pelicans are back and roosting on the water at Wading Bird Way! Yay! When I first arrived, the skies above […]
December 12, 2010 - A recent Birdbrain post indicated that there were about 20 Hooded Mergansers in a small pond outside a Perkins restaurant at the intersection of Conroy-Windermere Road and Apopka Vineland Road in Orlando. So Rich and I stopped there this morning after we dropped his folks off at the airport. There were no Hoodies this morning […]
December 11, 2010 - Dyeyo and I went for a quick walk at the Circle B Bar Reserve this afternoon. I’ve been wanting to photograph one of our spectacular golden sunsets that we’ve been having lately, but tonight’s wasn’t like that. It was pretty, though. I waited for the sun to start going behind a cloud, then took this […]
December 10, 2010 - My in-laws are visiting this weekend, and Rich and I took them for a walk to the Circle B Bar Reserve this morning. We were welcomed by some Killdeer on the Heron Hideout trail. This is my first sharp Killdeer picture, and I was excited to get it. :) A hawk was watching us from […]
December 4, 2010 - I’ve been called the Birdie Paparazzi. But today I was the one being followed! An otter came bounding up the path after me at least twice. He was cute! This morning I decided to hike Alligator Alley, since it was foggy and I felt like taking sunrise pictures. It’s also been a while since I’ve […]
November 30, 2010 - I had some fun pictures of the American Coots at the Circle B Bar Reserve this Sunday. So here’s a special coot-only post… I caught the coot below flapping his wings as he reached into the water for a breakfast bite. Look at those big white feet! I always have to laugh when I see […]
November 28, 2010 - I found the birds! Last Monday I was disappointed to visit the Circle B Bar Reserve and find practically no birds in the skies. Today was quite the opposite! The morning was cool and bright — a nice change from yesterday’s cloudy gloom! I walked out on Heron Hideout and immediately saw my first flock […]
November 26, 2010 - I’ve heard birders mention Viera Wetlands so often that I had to get over there to see it for myself. It reminds me of Circle B Bar Reserve in that it is a local wetlands area with great birds — and unlike Circle B, which is so dry right now, this wetlands had plenty of […]
November 23, 2010 - Dyeyo and I visited Fort De Soto this morning. After my last trip there in September, I was looking forward to beaches covered in birds. But the North Beach was almost totally empty! We ran into a nice couple from England who have been vacationing at De Soto for the last month. They said that […]
November 22, 2010 - Relatively speaking, there were very few birds at the Circle B Bar Reserve this morning. Usually we are greeted by flocks of White Ibis and Wood Storks flying over Heron Hideout. We see Osprey and various wading birds flying overhead. Lately a bunch of Roseate Spoonbills have been filling the marshes with pink. Today there […]
November 21, 2010 - We decided to postpone our usual Circle B Bar Reserve trip for a day, since the weather forecast called for a cloudy day with lots of wind. But when I woke up this morning, it was surprisingly sunny, and just a little breezy. So Rich and I headed to Oakland Nature Preserve to see if […]
November 14, 2010 - I’ve been going to the Circle B Bar Reserve at least once a week since June, and plenty of times before that, and I’ve never seen a River Otter. Dyeyo’s seen them plenty of times. Well, I finally got to see one today! There were otters running up and down Marsh Rabbit Run all morning. […]
November 13, 2010 - I’ve had some people asking me why I get up at the crack of dawn to go to Circle B. The answer is “to get there during the great morning light.” So what’s so great about morning light? Compare and contrast the following two pictures. Both feature a Greater Yellowlegs, taken yesterday morning on Heron […]
November 12, 2010 - I spent my off-Friday morning at the Circle B Bar Reserve. I heard my first American Goldfinch of the season! I never saw it, but the call is unmistakable. Heron Hideout is definitely a great place to be at sunrise these days. The water levels in the marsh are extremely low, so the birds congregate […]
November 10, 2010 - Our MFC Spirit magazine at work is having another photography contest and so I am entering a picture of the famous Circle B Sandhill Crane colt. I’m posting it here so that I can download it easily at work…
November 7, 2010 - Hundreds of White Ibis took to the air this morning over the Circle B Bar Reserve. The cold and the wind kept most of the birds under cover, but the White Ibises seemed to know how to navigate despite the gusts. On Heron Hideout, the marsh on the left is completely dry, and it seems […]
November 6, 2010 - Rich and I went to the Sunset and Symphony concert at Bok Tower Gardens tonight. The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra played a bunch of fun music, including “Harry’s Wondrous World” from Harry Potter, “The Sound of Music”, and a medley from “Fiddler on the Roof.” It was really cold out (for Florida) and we were happy […]
November 1, 2010 - Apparently the “Water, Wings, and Wild Things” event yesterday spooked a lot of the birds at the Circle B Bar Reserve…but the wrens stuck around and celebrated Halloween with us! The marshes were fairly quiet this morning, but there were plenty of little bids for patient photographers… We started off walking to the far end […]
October 24, 2010 - There were Eastern Phoebes everywhere at the Circle B Bar Reserve this morning. Plus a whole lot of other birds… After Al and several other people saw a Cuckoo during this past week, we headed out to see if we could find it too. Al also reports that the river otters are back along the […]
October 18, 2010 - I’ve often wondered how the image quality would be if Dyeyo and I were to stack our teleconverters. I got the opportunity to do an experiment yesterday at the Circle B Bar Reserve. We had seen an adult Bald Eagle flying over the marsh several times, and it finally settled in a treetop all the […]
October 17, 2010 - Things are certainly picking up at the Circle B Bar Reserve. Besides seeing the first American Coots of the season, this morning we saw a juvenile Bald Eagle doing some nice close fly-bys, three Roseate Spoonbills, and plenty of Gray Catbirds and Eastern Phoebes. Last night when we left at sunset, we said good night […]
October 16, 2010 - Dyeyo and I made an unusual late-afternoon trip to the Circle B Bar Reserve today, hoping to get some fun sunset shots. It was strange to be there in the afternoon instead of the early morning. The differences in lighting almost made it feel like a totally new place. When we first got out to […]
October 13, 2010 - Somebody asked me this weekend why I bother to use flash outside. After all, the sun is up and there’s plenty of light, right? What I explained is that fill flash can be useful, even outside in bright sunlight. For one thing, bright sunlight tends to create harsh shadows, and a bit of fill flash […]
October 10, 2010 - A month ago I was ecstatic to see a warbler at the Circle B Bar Reserve. Today I nonchalantly dismissed one as “just another Palm Warbler.” How quickly do the birding times change!! This morning’s hike took us up Heron Hideout and out Marsh Rabbit Run. We spent most the time chasing the little guys. […]
October 9, 2010 - Rich and I decided to go birding at Bok Tower this morning. It’s been a while since we’ve gone there, and Rich says it’s starting to be cool enough to go birding with me again. :) There were tons of birds! We couldn’t turn around without turning into a Gray Catbird. “Maaaw! Maaa! Go home […]
October 3, 2010 - The weather was cool, the sunrise was awesome, the birds were out, and there was a breeze! I couldn’t imagine a more perfect morning at the Circle B Bar Reserve. There was a Tricolored Heron in his usual place, fishing where the water flows under the trail. He looked great in the morning light. The […]
September 27, 2010 - Sunrise at the Circle B Bar Reserve is magical. Maybe because two mornings are never alike. This morning, we were hiking on Heron Hideout when suddenly about twenty Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks took to the air around us. Calling back and forth to each other with their sweet distinctive whistle, the birds flew round and round […]
September 19, 2010 - I felt like playing with Photoshop today, so I made another warbler and migrant bird collage. These little birds are usually high in the oak canopies, and it’s hard to get great pictures of them. They also hop around really fast. You come home with a stiff neck and then squint at your pictures, asking […]
September 18, 2010 - The sky was clear and the winds were northeast and there were not many migrants at the Circle B Bar Reserve this morning. It was a bit cooler, though, and a walk through the marsh at dawn is always pleasant. Thankfully I didn’t see any alligators, either! I started out on Heron Hideout and checked […]
September 12, 2010 - I keep running into photographers at the Circle B Bar Reserve who complain that nothing is happening. They remember the thousands of pelicans and myriad of other species seen last November through April. There isn’t as much activity now, but there’s still plenty to photograph, especially if you know where to look! The plan this […]
September 11, 2010 - The Circle B Bar Reserve is my favorite place to be at dawn. The landscape is so beautiful with the sun just peeking out over it, and the critters all waking up to a new day. We were treated to an early-morning view of the Black-Bellied Whistling Duck family. They are usually not out until […]
September 6, 2010 - Yesterday at Circle B, Dyeyo and I said that it will be nice when we can go back on the Marsh Rabbit Run trail, where the trees are not as tall and it is easier to get good pictures of warblers. Then Dyeyo teased that a warbler ought to hop down onto my camera lens […]
September 5, 2010 - I stitched together some pictures from yesterday’s trip to Fort De Soto and made a panorama: I also made a little video of the birds on the beach…
September 5, 2010 - Dyeyo and I enjoyed a nice walk at the Circle B Bar Reserve this morning. It’s a time of year when finding birds is very hit-or-miss. We felt like we hit the bull’s eye with several sightings of migrating warblers. We got to Circle B at sunrise, and as we admired the freshly mowed (and […]
September 4, 2010 - After hearing about Fort De Soto from birders all over the state, I finally drove over there to check it out. It was everything that people said, and better! I’m not all that familiar with the shorebirds. Before I went today, I couldn’t tell a sandpiper from a plover — and hopefully some of the […]
September 3, 2010 - Gotta love off-Fridays. I went to Circle B this morning to check on the fall migration status. It was a pretty quiet morning. Walking on Heron Hideout out towards Alligator Alley, I enjoyed watching some Glossy Ibises fly over. I got some decent flight shots. Next time I should turn on the fill flash. I […]
August 29, 2010 - We were so excited by the migratory birds that we saw yesterday at the Circle B Bar Reserve that we just had to go back this morning. I was hoping to get better pictures of the migrating warblers, in non-foggy light. But the marshes were very quiet this morning. We saw two American Redstarts by […]
August 28, 2010 - It was a cloudy, foggy, and humid morning at the Circle B Bar Reserve. As we headed out Heron Hideout into more and more fog, we doubted that we would see much. But it turned out to be our most productive species morning in several months. The migratory birds are definitely making their way back […]