Florida

A friend/blogger Tim Rucci and I had originally planned to photograph the shuttle launch. Unfortunately the month's cold weather postponed the launch until April. So, since we already had the time set aside, we decided to photograph birds instead. One of our first stops was Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge near Titusville, FL. We met another blogger Klaus the first day and photographed with him and his friend Donnie. The shot above and below were captured within the refuge. For years I have always wanted a good Roseate Spoonbill flier and Black Skimmer doing his lower bill thing. Good times on this trip because both circumstances happened and we were able to photograph the birds in good light.

Another cool image captured in Merritt Island was the below White Ibis flier.

At Viera Wetlands near Melborne we also scored a bird I have not had an opportunity to photograph until this trip. The below immature Cara Cara below was very cooperative, remaining on the wetlands entrance fencepost for several minutes. Small world thing happened while photographing this bird. Someone stood behind me and said, "A little different than deer in Shenandoah". Lo and behold, it was another blogger friend, Brad Myers who I had not had the pleasure to meet until that day.


We also headed south to the Everglades National Park. Plenty of birds and gators in the Glades. The above Anhinga and below Alligator were photographed in the Shark Valley area. We watched the Anhinga for hours hoping to catch him with a fish. The sky blue reflection made the gator shot below more visually dynamic in the green water.

Blue Skies.