Locations

Everglades: Anhinga Trail Songbirds – Flycatchers

March 11, 2010 By Drew Fulton Leave a Comment

Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) - Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida

Anhinga Trail is known as one of the premiere locations to photograph Anhingas, herons, egrets, Wood Storks, and more. The place is so well known that on Saturday evening I witnessed well above $100,000 worth of lenses and camera equipment pointed at a single Great Blue Heron. It’s a popular place and I have been there so many times, I am much pickier where I point my lens these days. On Friday morning, I decided to focus on the often ignored songbirds of Anhinga Trail.

The marsh and reeds that line the edges of the canals can be extremely productive for a number of songbirds. On most visits, I see at least several species of warblers, a couple flycatchers, a couple blackbirds, and typically a handful of other species. Most photographers simply ignore these birds as they look for the charismatic herons and egrets.

Everglades: Unusual Birds

March 10, 2010 By Drew Fulton Leave a Comment

Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida) - Eco Pond, Everglades National Park, Florida

It’s always fun when you find an unusual or out of place bird when birding. I had the pleasure to do just that twice over last weekend. Now when I am talking about unusual birds, I’m not talking about the birds themselves being weird or strange, I’m saying that their mere presence is unusual. So this past weekend I had two pretty cool and unusual species show up in Everglades National Park.

Big Cypress: Burned out Cypress Dome

March 8, 2010 By Drew Fulton Leave a Comment

Cypress Dome after Wildfire - Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida

At the end of last April, lightning ignited a wildfire in Big Cypress National Preserve, just south of Interstate 75 as it crosses the state. The fire burned for about two weeks and fire crews from the preserve worked hard to contain the fire. Now about 10 months later, I have been wading through the burned out dome photographing the charred trunks contrasted with the brilliant greens of new sawgrass growth.

Big Cypress: Dingy-flowered Star Orchid

March 5, 2010 By Drew Fulton Leave a Comment

Dingy-flowered Star Orchid (Epidendrum amphistomum) - Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida

This weekend I will be searching through Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve in an attempt to find blooming orchids of any variety. I have no idea what I will find or if I will find any at all. This isn’t the ideal time of year for some of the most spectacular species but there should be some in bloom and I’m here now so I’m going to give it a try.

Big Cypress: White-tailed Deer

March 4, 2010 By Drew Fulton 3 Comments

White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) feeding in swamp - Kirby Storter, Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida

White-tailed Deer live in the Everglades and Big Cypress but they are seen only occasionally. I probably can describe each and every encounter I had with them during my time down here in 2005. They are very secretive and aren’t out in the open much. I think that the tall grasses also help to hide them from visitors.

Prior to this trip, I had only photographed them in the Everglades once and the image is far from special. The image I have been using in my book and whenver I talk about deer on my website is from farther north in Florida, though still in what would have been the historical Everglades. Now I have new images!

Big Cypress: Fog, Prairie, and Palms

March 2, 2010 By Drew Fulton 2 Comments

Fog, Palms, and Prairie - Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida

As I am always attempting to make interesting images out of difficult situations, I had to try this the other night when a heavy fog rolled over the prairie just after sunset. Before I explain what my goal for the image was, take a minute to study it.

Now, click to read on and see if my idea actually worked.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Daily Musings, Featured Photo, Florida Tagged With: Big Cypress National Preserve, fog, Palms, Prairie

Great Birding and Even a Whale!

February 26, 2010 By Drew Fulton 4 Comments

Female Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) - Eco Pond, Everglades National Park, Florida

Last Saturday, I spent the day visiting Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Orlando Wetlands Park with a close friend of mine. Sean and I have known each other practically our entire lives and Sean is my only other friend who was interested in birds as a kid and will still go birding with me today. My dad joked that he should drive us on Saturday so that we could stand on the center console of his car with our heads sticking out the sunroof looking for birds. There was a time when we were kids that we both could do that at the same time. I don’t think we’d fit today.

In any case, we headed off to visit some of our old haunts and track down a couple specific birds. Our goals included a White-faced Ibis at Orlando Wetlands, a Painted Bunting at the same location, and then just a swing through Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to see what else we could find. We got all that and more…

The Florida Dry Prairie

February 23, 2010 By Drew Fulton Leave a Comment

Florida Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus) - Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, Florida

The Florida Dry Prairie is a rather nondescript habitat. It’s a big prairie of bluestem grasses and wiregrasses and palmettos. In fact, it’s not even really all that dry. At times it can be very wet, but its called a dry prairie simply because it is much drier than the wet prairies elsewhere in Florida. So what is special about these prairies? Well, they are home to sparrows, lots and lots of sparrows, but one of them is particularly unique.

Archbold: Prime Scrub Jay Habitat

February 22, 2010 By Drew Fulton 3 Comments

We know that the Lake Wales Ridge harbors some really unique life and habitats. We know that the local scrub is regulated by fire. But what exactly is the prime habitat for the Florida Scrub Jay? Let me just show you…

You need Adobe Flash Player to view this content.

Prime Scrub Habitat at Sunrise - Archbold Biological Station, Florida

As you can see here, Florida Scrub Jays like low scrub habitat with a mosaic of oaks and palmettos growing under five or six feet. As the head ornithologist at Archbold said, “If you can’t see the horizon you aren’t in good habitat.” Typically this short vegetation has patches of open white sand in spots where you will often find Scrub Jays foraging for fallen acorns and insects.

At first glance, wanting to live in a big wide open environment may not seem ideal. As a bird, you are easily exposed to predators from above. However, this is where Scrub Jays thrive, so let’s explore why.

Archbold: Scrub and Fire

February 21, 2010 By Drew Fulton Leave a Comment

As I continue to explore more and more habitats, I am continually amazed how many of them are dependent on fire for both formation and regulation. It is truly amazing the number and diversity of habitats that are classified as pyrogenic, meaning that they are entirely regulated by wildfire. The scrub of the Lake Wales Ridge is definitely one of those habitats and I’d like to use this series of panoramas to show you how.

You need Adobe Flash Player to view this content.

Intersection of Burns - Archbold Biological Station, Florida

This first panorama isn’t exactly the most exciting image as it is directly on top of a road, but I am including it because it is illustrative. At this intersection, you can clearly see three different sections of scrub at different stages of fire succession. Looking straight ahead when the image loads, you’ve got a recent fire, less than a year ago. If you pan to the right and cross the first road, you see a taller patch of scrub. This patch burned about 8 years ago. Continuing to the right, you will cross another road and see an even taller patch that hasn’t burned for at least 25 years. Let’s take a closer look at each of these forests…

Everglades: Anhinga Trail Songbirds – Flycatchers

Everglades: Unusual Birds

Big Cypress: Burned out Cypress Dome

Big Cypress: Dingy-flowered Star Orchid

Big Cypress: White-tailed Deer

Big Cypress: Fog, Prairie, and Palms

Great Birding and Even a Whale!

The Florida Dry Prairie

Archbold: Prime Scrub Jay Habitat

Archbold: Scrub and Fire

News and Updates

Connect with me at:

Projects: