Florida Variety

[AndrewHux]

Been quite a long time since I have signed on here. Here are some images from a recent trip .

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[coastalconn]

Nice job controlling the highlights on the Hooded Merganser. I always tend to blow the white part on their heads. Nice shots thanks for sharing!

[WesternGuy]

Welcome to the forum, or is it welcome back. These are very good shots. I am assuming from the title that you shot these in Florida. If so, I would be curious to know where. I am headed there in a couple of weeks and am always looking for places to go and shoot birds. I do know a lot of them, but I am still interested in where folks go to shoot. Thanks for sharing.

WesternGuy

[AndrewHux]

Nice job controlling the highlights on the Hooded Merganser. I always tend to blow the white part on their heads. Nice shots thanks for sharing!

Thank you much,the Male Hoodie is indeed a hard bird to expose. I think I was 2/3rds or 1 stop down on that shot .

Welcome to the forum, or is it welcome back. These are very good shots. I am assuming from the title that you shot these in Florida. If so, I would be curious to know where. I am headed there in a couple of weeks and am always looking for places to go and shoot birds. I do know a lot of them, but I am still interested in where folks go to shoot. Thanks for sharing.

WesternGuy

Thank you much , I dunno why my post count is back to zero maybe cause I was away who knows. Yes indeed these were in Florida, we go down there every year for Christmas with the kids and grand kids and we always take off for a few days and find birds ,its such a great time of year to shoot birds and actually if your going in a couple weeks your hitting it really good where bouts are you going in Florida? .This year we were on the Atlantic side and we visited Viera Wetlands and Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. I know of a few spots so let me know and I can give you some info either on here or back channel if you prefer .

[flow]

Welcome to the forum, or is it welcome back. These are very good shots. I am assuming from the title that you shot these in Florida. If so, I would be curious to know where. I am headed there in a couple of weeks and am always looking for places to go and shoot birds. I do know a lot of them, but I am still interested in where folks go to shoot. Thanks for sharing.

WesternGuy

Depends on where you're going to be. The migration routes cross the entire state, more or less, but the earlier you're here, the farther south you have to be. Start showing up down in the Keys late Jan-Feb ... Tallahassee might have to wait a little longer. I'm in St Pete, right in the middle, and haven't seen much outside our normal residents yet. We're having a mild winter though, so they might still get here earlier than "normal".

[WesternGuy]

AndrewHux and flow, I am headed for the western part of the peninsula - Fort Meyers, Sanibel Island, Venice Rookery, Cape Coral, and some other areas in and around Fort Meyers. I am spending a week with Art Morris on one of his IPTs (Instructional Photo Tours). After that, I have a two day workshop with Robert Amoruso at Gatorland in Orlando. I also want to try and get to Viera, Titusville and Merritt Island if there is time. Then we are going up to St Augustine for about 2-3 days and I will try and visit Alligator Farm Zoological Park while we are there and maybe other areas. We were there, St Augustine, last year and did the tourist thing - the Fort, Old city and lighthouse, etc., so this year it is the birds and flowers (I have decided that 2013 is the year of birds and flowers). I know that there are lots of places to photograph bald eagles, but I do not know of any specific places, so any insight you can give me about sites in these areas will be appreciated. I did get a couple of good shots at Viera and on the Merritt Island road last year, but would like to find a nest that I can comfortably photograph - comfortable for the birds that is.

WesternGuy

[flow]

Sanibel & Venice Rookery, if they live up to their reputation, you'll be tripping over opportunities. Look into Ding Darling Reserve. (If the tour doesn't cover it already.) Same with Merritt/Titusville - there's so much territory held off for the Cape that you can find almost everything over there - it's a de facto wildlife preserve. Although a lot of it is totally off limits to visitors. But there are some park type spots for people.
Don't know much about St Aug though - there are some state parks & beaches up there that have good reputations, but we've only done the tourist stuff the couple times we've been up that way.
Welcome to Florida State Parks too

[AndrewHux]

AndrewHux and flow, I am headed for the western part of the peninsula - Fort Meyers, Sanibel Island, Venice Rookery, Cape Coral, and some other areas in and around Fort Meyers. I am spending a week with Art Morris on one of his IPTs (Instructional Photo Tours). After that, I have a two day workshop with Robert Amoruso at Gatorland in Orlando. I also want to try and get to Viera, Titusville and Merritt Island if there is time. Then we are going up to St Augustine for about 2-3 days and I will try and visit Alligator Farm Zoological Park while we are there and maybe other areas. We were there, St Augustine, last year and did the tourist thing - the Fort, Old city and lighthouse, etc., so this year it is the birds and flowers (I have decided that 2013 is the year of birds and flowers). I know that there are lots of places to photograph bald eagles, but I do not know of any specific places, so any insight you can give me about sites in these areas will be appreciated. I did get a couple of good shots at Viera and on the Merritt Island road last year, but would like to find a nest that I can comfortably photograph - comfortable for the birds that is.

WesternGuy

Wow you have it covered pretty darn good going with Artie .....AWESOME, Estero lagoon in Ft Meyers Beach is also a good spot You didnt mention Circle Bar B Reserve in Lakeland which is good also but lots of walking . Also if you get to Viera only Cell #1 and the lake are open to vehicle traffic all other areas are closed to vehicles but you can walk the whole thing.I dunno about the Alligator farm in St Augustine but have heard they used to cater to photogs but new owners or something there was some kind of stink going on bout that,never have been there. Florida has a plethera of places to go and get birds,good luck I am sure you get some great images .

[cwcaesar]

Florida birds...these remind me of home. I grew up there, moved to Tennessee at 16, but I do miss a lot about Florida. Thanks for the pics and the stroll down memory lane!

[SCraig]

Beautiful shots, especially the 2nd and 3rd. I'm not sure what they are but I love the shots

We've got a few wildlife refuges around here that are usually packed this time of year, and I keep saying I'm going to go to a couple but never do. I swapped email with a ranger at one of them who told me that they have a photo blind but it's by appointment only. She said to let her know when I was coming and she would get me a permit made out.

[matthewo]

hey, man i almost thought i was on the wrong forum for a second.... LOL

[AndrewHux]

Florida birds...these remind me of home. I grew up there, moved to Tennessee at 16, but I do miss a lot about Florida. Thanks for the pics and the stroll down memory lane!

We enjoy our yearly treks to Florida and make the most of our time chasing some birds around.Thank you for looking cwcaesar.

Beautiful shots, especially the 2nd and 3rd. I'm not sure what they are but I love the shots

We've got a few wildlife refuges around here that are usually packed this time of year, and I keep saying I'm going to go to a couple but never do. I swapped email with a ranger at one of them who told me that they have a photo blind but it's by appointment only. She said to let her know when I was coming and she would get me a permit made out.

Thank you much Craig,birds are a quite rewarding subject to shoot ..not an easy subject but when your successful thats where the rewards come in. I would make the most of your invite to hit that refuge specially if you have an inside connection .

hey, man i almost thought i was on the wrong forum for a second.... LOL

LMAO......you never know where I might appear.

[WesternGuy]

Sanibel & Venice Rookery, if they live up to their reputation, you'll be tripping over opportunities. Look into Ding Darling Reserve. (If the tour doesn't cover it already.) Same with Merritt/Titusville - there's so much territory held off for the Cape that you can find almost everything over there - it's a de facto wildlife preserve. Although a lot of it is totally off limits to visitors. But there are some park type spots for people.
Don't know much about St Aug though - there are some state parks & beaches up there that have good reputations, but we've only done the tourist stuff the couple times we've been up that way.
Welcome to Florida State Parks too

Thanks for the link. I will definitely followup on this one. We will be going to Ding Darling as well. I am really looking forward to the trip with Art. Just have to figure out how to get a decent amount of photography equipment there from Canada - working on it.

WesternGuy

[carlos58]

great series and great shots