American Tree Sparrow in snow. Ithaca, New York

As winter was starting to draw to a close, I wanted to get out and make some images of birds in the snow. So, one afternoon before we were supposed to have a huge snowfall overnight, I set up a pair of perches near my feeders and set up my blind nearby. The next morning I spent a couple frigid hours sitting in the blind photographing a handful of species as they came in for seed.

Black-capped Chickadee in snow. Ithaca, New York.

I have a lot to learn about photographing at setups and learned a ton that day, but despite my inexperience, I still walked away with some images I was pleased with. I was able to photograph a couple species for the first time, particularly American Tree Sparrows which were plentiful that day. I also added some decent images of Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, and Tufted Titmouse to my files. I’ll post a few of the images today and a few later this week.

American Tree Sparrow in snow. Ithaca, New York

I plan to do a lot more of this type of photography this spring and summer. As I said, I’ve got a lot to learn but hopefully by the end of the summer I’ll be making some spectacular images.

At the Southern Terminus of the Florida Trail. Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida

In mid January I decided that I would take the first few months of 2011 and hike the Florida Trail.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with this particular trail (that is probably most of you), it is a National Scenic Trail that runs from the swamps of Big Cypress National Preserve to the beaches of Fort Pickens near Pensacola, Florida.  It is a pretty incredible trail and one that is only thru-hiked about a dozen or so people each year.

Bromeliad and Orange Blaze of the Florida Trail - Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida

My interest in the trail started a couple years ago when I was in the Everglades and realized that the southern terminus of the trail was located on Loop Road, one of my favorite locations in the entire region.  I had planned to do the Big Cypress section in 2010 but things didn’t work out.  So, this past fall, when I was grasping at straws and quickly realizing I needed a significant change in life, I decided I’d do the trail.

The idea was  to spend three months rediscovering the state I grew up in, and to have some good time to sort my thoughts out for the future.  The plan was to get back into photography and return to basics a bit.  So, on a Saturday in late January I hit the trail.

For the next four days, I crossed Big Cypress National Preserve on foot, starting on Loop Road and ending on Interstate 75.  During those four days I got to experience an incredible place slowly and at my own pace.  Unfortunately, about half of the 40 or so miles required wading in either shin deep mud or knee deep water.  The water wasn’t a big deal, but the mud was brutal.   Each step required sinking deep into the mud and then prying my foot back out to take another step.  As a result of this motion, both of my heels turned into giant blisters.

The Florida Trail in Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida

When I reached I-75, I was met by family and returned to my parents home in Orlando for a break while my blisters healed (insert bad pun here).  During the next two weeks, I rethought my plan.  While I absolutely loved my four days on the trail, despite the mud and the blisters, I reconsidered my goal.  After all, during those four days, I was typically too tired to take photos.  The act of carrying my camera gear meant an incredibly heavy pack. On a practical note, I love food too much to want to eat oatmeal and noodles for three months.  Those reasons, combined with a couple job opportunities and a chance to go back to school, meant that I decided to head back to New York, a decision my wife was very pleased with.

My three month long trip ended up being four days.  Did I fail?  Heck no.  I completed one of the most difficult sections of the trail and the section that I have been wanting to do for several years now.  I got my head wrapped around some of the things I wanted to think about.  I had a great time.  I’d call it a success.  Sure, I only covered 40 miles, barely 3% of the entire trail, but I loved every minute of it and I know I’ll be back someday.  Hopefully that day will be sooner rather than later but we’ll just have to wait and see.

Have you ever wanted to do a trip like the Florida Trail?  Maybe the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail?  I’d love to hear about your dream or maybe even your experience!

There is a chance that I will be able to get on site and create a series of panoramas of the ship and the excavation but we aren’t sure yet.  Details are still being worked out so I am just headed down prepared to either shoot or work from the hotel.  Whatever happens, We will be in the city for at least the next week or so.  I’ll post some more details about the project sometime this coming week once I know more myself.

If you are in the City and want to meet up for coffee or a drink, shoot me an email or leave a comment here.  Hope everyone has a great week!

Having grown up in central Florida and lived in Texas for the last few years, I am used to seeing warblers during migration, not singing on territory like they do here.  This means I have quite a steep learning curve trying to learn the songs of local birds. I am making rapid progress, but there is an incredible amount to learn!

Just a few weeks ago, I was birding at Sapsucker Woods and could hear a very loud song a little ways off in the forest.  I searched and searched and searched and could not find the bird.  Not a chance.  I knew I had heard it before, but I had absolutely no idea what it was.  Finally, since it was starting to get dark, I gave up and headed back home.

The next morning, I was birding at Genung Preserve very close to my house.  As soon as I stepped out of my car, I heard the song again, and this time it was very close.  After a minute or so of searching I finally tracked down an Ovenbird, singing from a fairly low branch in a conifer.  I tried for a few minutes to get some photos, but the light just wasn’t there, as the sun hadn’t cleared the horizon yet.  Since he was clearly on territory, I decided to go find some Blue-winged Warblers and return later in the morning.

After having a successful shoot with a nice male Blue-winged Warbler, I returned to the Ovenbird and followed him around for a while.  I took tons and tons of photographs, but the low and dappled light made it extremely difficult.  Out of all my frames, I ended up with a single frame (top image) that I was fairly pleased with and a couple more that are ok, but nothing spectacular.  Since this bird is right around the corner from my house, I’m going to have to return to see if I can do better!

Northen Parula (Parula americana) - Foster Pond, Finger Lakes National Forest, New York

On Friday morning at the Finger Lakes National Forest, one of the better birds of the morning was a Northern Parula.  We had at least two individuals but, as typical with Parulas, they were high in the canopy.  At one point, I set up on a blooming apple tree to sit and see if anything would come into feed, as I had seen a several Yellow Warblers do just that.  A few minutes after setting up, this Northern Parula visited briefly for about 30 seconds.  I came away with a couple good frames, the best of which you see here.

Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) - Foster Pond, Finger Lakes National Forest, New York

Yesterday morning, I spent a couple hours with another local photographer Raghu Ramanujan at Foster Pond in the Finger Lakes National Forest.  It was a spectacularly beautiful morning and the woods were alive with warblers feeding and singing.  Despite the huge amount of activity, we struggled to create photographs because we couldn’t really get close to many of the birds.

Rather than get frustrated with myself, I decided to switch gears a bit and focus on creating images of the warblers in their habitat rather than close up portraits.  While I love the challenge of getting close to warblers and other small songbirds, creating environmental portraits can be even more of a challenge and extremely rewarding when one works.

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) - Foster Pond, Finger Lakes National Forest, New York

With environmental portraits, there is a lot more to consider when creating the composition.  Take the above image of a Song Sparrow for example.  Not only do we have to consider the actual bird as part of the composition, we also have to consider all of the other vegetation on the right side of the image.  These additional elements can create for a busy and distracting image unless managed carefully.  Additionally, when we make the bird smaller in the frame, it commands less of a presence in the image so placement in the frame is even more important.

Blue-winged Warbler (Vermivora pinus) - Foster Pond, Finger Lakes National Forest, New York

Whenever I am creating an environmental portrait, it is my goal to use the included foliage to inform the viewer.  For example, in all of these images, the foliage is either in the process of budding out or in bloom.  This clearly indicates the images were taken in early spring.  Additionally, some of the birds are singing which also suggests a bird on territory.  By including all of these different elements, we can start to tell stories through our images, a task much more difficult with simply a single bird sitting on a stick on a solid colored background.

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) - Summerhill State Forest, New York

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) - Summerhill State Forest, New York

Like yesterday’s Song Sparrows, many Dark-eyed Juncos hang around the area over the winter and are commonly seen at feeders.  They also set up territories and begin singing early in the spring.  They breed in forests dominated by conifers but are also seen in mixed woods.  I have had them singing in my back yard in the past few weeks, but I was able to photograph this male singing in Summerhill State Forest last week.  I have enjoyed photographing these sparrows both this spring and last fall because we don’t get them in central Florida.

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) - Summerhill State Forest

Talking about Song Sparrows as a migrant might not be totally fair as some birds stay over the winter and some migrate south.  However, regardless of whether they are returning migrants or just over wintering birds, Song Sparrows are one of the first birds of spring to start singing.  Here in Central New York they are everywhere and their song is ubiquitous.  It seems that nearly every time I put my binoculars on a sparrow, it turns out to be a Song Sparrow.

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) - Summerhill State Forest

As far as images go, I have some better images in my catalog from a few years back, but I am posting images taken last week so we’ll have to make do with this one.  Trees and underbrush is starting to really leaf out now so getting more spring like images should be easier next week.

Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) - Summerhill State Forest, New York

Sorry it was so quiet around here last week.  I have had a busy week but now have some time to share a few new images.  Songbird migration has finally gotten underway.  For several weeks there have been huge flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds and American Robins around, but now many sparrows have also returned and are now on territory and singing.  Last week, I was able to find and photograph four different species of sparrows in just two days.  Over the next few days I’ll be sharing with you a few images of these birds while we wait for the warblers to start showing in the next few weeks.

Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) - Summerhill State Forest, New York

Swamp Sparrows are some of my favorite sparrows as they have a wide variety of rich browns in their plumage.  They breed, as their name suggests, in wet marshy places.  This particular bird was singing in the reeds alongside the bog in Summerhill State Forest.  The habitat was still very brown as very few plants had started budding or sprouting, but I plan to return several more times in the next few months and hopefully will get more spring like pictures!  Tomorrow we’ll take a brief look at Song Sparrows.

Northern Parula (Parula americana) - Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida

Yesterday I looked at the flycatchers that can be seen and photographed on a regular basis at Anhinga Trail, so today we’ll look at the Wood Warblers.  These small, typically colorful birds can be extremely difficult to photograph.  Most prefer the canopy of tall trees and rarely come down to eye level.  Well, at Anhinga Trail there are no tall trees so you can get lucky and get a canopy loving species like a Northern Parula at eye level.

Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) - Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida

The obvious warbler that is commonly seen at Anhinga Trail is the marsh loving Common Yellowthroat.  These birds are ubiquitous here, though they are often difficult to photograph.  They are fast moving, like dense vegetation, and never stay in one position for long.  Photographing any of these warblers will be an exercise in quick and accurate focusing and require a ton of patience!

In winter, Palm Warblers are also very common.  They can be a little bit easier to photograph as they will forage in open ground and perch some of the small trees in the open.  They are easy to spot and identify due to the constant tail flicking.  I’ve had decent luck with these birds feeding in the reeds, on the ground, in willows, and even in a small pond apple.  Be patient and position yourself so as the bird feeds, it works towards you.

Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum) - Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida

I have also seen and photographed Northern Waterthrush, though I didn’t get any new photos of one this year.  You might also spot a Black and White Warbler in the trees and of course a trip into the Gumbo Limbo Trail can be even more rewarding, though it can be difficult photographic conditions since it’s so dense and dark.  Also in migration, warbler numbers can increase rapidly but heron and egret numbers at Anhinga Trail have decreased and the mosquito population has become hungry so if you visit, do so at your own risk.