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.

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

Today I’ll share with you a few of the flycatchers that can be seen hunting and calling around the boardwalk.  The first, and most common one, is the Eastern Phoebe.  There are always at least a couple individuals that winter along the trail and seem to have their own preferred hunting areas.  I spent a few minutes observing this particular bird’s favored perches and then set up in a good position where I could photograph several of the perches.  After that it was just a matter of waiting and making the image when he landed on the perch.

Great-crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) - Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida

While I was waiting for the phoebe to land in the right spot, a Great-crested Flycatcher flew into range.  These much larger birds are a little more difficult to photograph though you can hear them calling on a regular basis.  I find they only like to sit low enough to be photographed for a brief period of time before moving back to the taller trees.  Because of this you have to work fast and make do with what he offers.  In this case, he used a couple perches in this area but this was the only clean shot I had.  I would have preferred to have him perched on one of the tall reeds but again, I’ll take what I got.

Tomorrow I’ll look at the different warbler species I have seen and photographed at Anhinga Trail.  Next time you are there, pay attention to the smaller birds hopping in the reeds above the heron you are photographing.

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.

The first species I found on my own at Eco Pond in Flamingo on Thursday afternoon.  This location used to be one of my favorite haunts when I lived nearby in 2005, but today Hurricane Wilma has radically changed it.  More on that in an upcoming post.  On Thursday, I was mostly wandering around seeing if I could find any songbirds when a small brown sparrow dashed across the trail.  After about 10 minutes, I managed some great views of the bird only to quickly realize it wasn’t one of the species I see regularly and can identify by sight.  I made a mental list of all the field marks and back to the car I went, only a couple hundred yards.  With a field guide in hand, I quickly and easily identified the bird as a Clay-colored Sparrow.  This is a very irregular visitor to South Florida, judging by the range map, and listed as rare on the park checklist.

Since I hadn’t seen the bird before (ends up it is on my lifelist but with no date/location notation), I decided to head back with the camera and get some photos that could support my identification.  I spent a while chasing down this active sparrow and managed a few photos that clearly show all of the field marks and confirm the identity of this little beauty, but nothing that would be classified as marketable or saleable.  What you see on this blog are very significant crops of the original frames.

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

The second bird came Saturday evening at Anhinga Trail.  This bird could be called unusual in itself as it has a giant beak and is a little odd.  The Smooth-billed Ani apparently has been seen for about the last month, but it only showed up on the state wide bird lists in the last couple days.  This bird I did not find on my own, in fact I saw the bird with at least 50 other birders as one person spotted it and we then followed the “ani parade” to his location.  Like before, I was able to get confirmation and documentation type photos, not my usual high quality images.  Regardless, it is always fun to see an ani.

Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani) - Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida

Smooth-billed Anis are resident here in South Florida but their numbers have crashed over the years and I’m not sure why.  I don’t think they were ever all that common, but they are seen on a regular basis.  Today, I only hear about specific birds a couple times a year.  There used to be a family group on the backside of the Ft. Lauderdale Airport that was very reliable, but I have no idea of that group is still there.  My first ani was as a very young kid at Eco Pond and it was a big deal then, though there weren’t 50 or more birders staking it out.

Finding rare and unusual birds is a lot of fun and if you choose to give it a shot there are a couple ways to approach it.  First, you can chase a bird someone else has found and posted to your state or regional Rare Bird Alert or email group.  This is easiest as there are often very specific directions and you know what you are looking for.  Or you can simply go find one on your own.  It takes a lot of patience and attention to detail, as you may need to double-check every common bird to ensure it isn’t something rare.  While chasing someone else’s rare bird is fun, finding one on your own can be even more rewarding!

American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) - Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida

It’s hard to come to Big Cypress and the Everglades and not take a few photos of the abundant American Alligators.  I have hundreds in my files but they keep attracting my attention and my lens.  This image is simple and I have little to say about it except that the reflections attracted my attentions and I simply love the deep greens in the water.

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.

Earlier this week in Big Cypress, I went for a walk out into Gator Hook Strand along a trail that I had never hiked.  The trail requires some wading and since I had been wading earlier in the day, I figured I would go ahead and dive in again.

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

Along the trail I found at least 3 species of orchid, likely 4 or 5.  Many were just a few single leaves with no blooms so they are difficult to identify, especially considering I don’t have my flower and orchid field guides with me.  However, I did manage to find one in bloom and it was a new species for me, the Dingy-flowered Star Orchid (Epidendrum amphistomum).

As it’s name suggests, it is a fairly simply colored flower with a cluster of tiny blooms hanging at the end of a long stalk.  The individual blooms are sort of a yellowish-brownish-greenish and only maybe a half inch maximum on the longest measurement.  I headed out here only slightly prepared.  I did have my macro lens but not my flashes so I didn’t have the setup I would ideally want but I still managed a few interesting images.

This weekend in Fakahatchee I will be carrying only my landscape gear and macro gear so I will be ready if I do find any of these beautiful orchids.  Hopefully the strong winds of last week will stay down which will make my life so much easier!

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!

The boardwalk at Kirby Storter, as I mentioned yesterday, is one of my favorite places.  I have spent a lot of time in there over the past month and on 3 of my 4 evening visits, I’ve had two White-tailed Deer feeding up to their bellies in the water.  After seeing them there twice, I returned the following day with a long lens in hand ready to try and photograph the deer.  Sure enough, there they were but boy were the conditions tough.

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

These images were made possible by the amazing capabilities of modern cameras like my Nikon D3.  This image was taken with a 200-400mm Vibration Reduction lens at 400mm from a monopod.  The camera was set to 1/30^th of a second and the aperture was f4.  The thing that made this possible was an ISO of 3200!  Yes, the image has some noise but it is not distracting and I am really pleased with the quality of the image.  Amazing how new technology, while it won’t make the image for you, opens up new possibilities in image making.

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.

My goal was to isolate a single hammock, particularly a palm hammock for its graphic shape, among the fog. My hope was to draw the viewer in, force them to study the image, and discover the hammock themselves.  I imagine the viewer first saying “why the white image?” and then the discovery of the hammock becomes a surprise.  Did it work?

I’d love to hear about your experience, as a viewer, when you first saw the image.  Thanks for providing the feedback!

Common Moorhen (Fulica americana) in flight - Lake Jackson, Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, Florida

Continuing with the theme of something new and totally different, at least for me, I am posting this Common Moorhen.  I rarely shoot anything like this, nearly an abstract.  While unusual for me, I sort of like the image.

I had spent almost an hour doing some audio recording at the edge of Lake Jackson in Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area and one of the main things I was recording was a flock of American Coots as they woke up, gathered into a flock, and then a few birds at time, flew across a section of open water.  I had wanted to capture this flight of birds with my camera as well but unfortunately, all the birds had crossed the gap by the time the sun came up.  Instead, I had a chance to photograph a Common Moorhen has it crossed the gap.

The light wasn’t what I had in mind, but I liked the graphic nature of the image.  The silhouette of the bird on nearly white water with the trailing feet and reflection caught my eye.  I increased the contrast significantly for the image and took the nearly white water to the extreme and this is the image that results.  What do you think?

Do I keep it?  Do I continue to shoot stuff like this?  Do I forget it and go back to the more traditional approach.  Let’s hear those opinions!

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in Flight - Lake Jackson, Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, Florida

I put this image montage together a couple weeks back and wanted to share it.  I’m not totally sure how I feel about it or even if it is exactly what I am after.  I like the concept, and this is my first try.

I was photographing at Lake Jackson in the Prairie Lakes Unit of Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area south of Kissimmee when I saw this Great Blue Heron.  He was too far away for a standard portrait so I decided to try something a little bit different.  Since the bird looked agitated, like it might fly, I decided to try this.

What you are seeing is a series of frames showing the Great Blue Heron preparing for take off and then flying the first few wing beats.  Each frame is stitched together, using the background as a reference.  This allows you to see the path the bird takes as it leaves its perch to fly to the other side of the lake.

What do you think?  Is this a successful image?  Does it work for you?  I want to know!