Monday, March 22, 2010

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.

10 comments:

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

What luck you had on this trip Ken and got some wonderful action shots.

I have met some of my fellow bloggers too and was lucky enough to be able to show them a part of my world here.

Brad Myers said...

Ken, It was great to meet you and Tim. We had hopes of seeing a shuttle go up and have tried the last three years with all being cancelled, maybe some day.

My trip included family so I could not spend the same time out photographing as you did, but since the in-laws were only 25 minutes from Viera wetlands I did make numerous trips. It got better with eagle photos and a couple of keepers of an American Bittern flying with a large frog in his bill.

Great photos and I will be looking forward to amny more. I hope we get to photograph whitetails in SNP some time together.

Have a great summer, Brad.

Elaine said...

What a beautiful series of shots! How wonderful to be able to get shots of birds that were on your wish list.

You left a question on my blog asking if I ever see Sandhill Crane chicks at Creamers Field. I haven't seen a chick, but Cranes have been known to stay at Creamers over the summer and nest there. We have had a pair bring their colt and feed in the fields around our house in August for the last couple of years. Some Cranes nest in the Goldstream Valley right out of Fairbanks. There is a pair that come back to the same spot to nest year after year, and their story is told on alaskasandhillcraneblog.blogspot.com and the couple that have that blog also have a website with photos of Cranes and other wildlife at christyyunker.com. I don't expect to see any Cranes here until the very end of April and the first part of May.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of your photos from McKinley, and whatever you happen to run across on your trip north.

Jose's World said...

I go all the way to South America to photograph caracaras and you get them in Florida!!!

The photos are better than those of a shuttle launch. Congrats in the skimmers, these are hard to catch,

Tim Rucci said...

I really enjoyed shooting this past week with you, and it looks like you got some great shots. Glad you got he skimmer you had been wanting, as well as the flyers. Too bad we struck out on seeing a white morph reddish egret. Good thing we decided to drive back over to Merritt Island for Friday, as that turned out to be the best day. I finally posted some shots but I am still sorting through the last of the images. Looking forward to Katmai Island!

Anonymous said...

Excellent photography.

Andor Marton said...

Excellent stuff Ken ... as usual. The flying birds - spoonbill, ibis and fishing skimmer - are very nice and the anhinga too with that catch in the beak.
Apparently they are the same species there like in the Pantanal in Brazil. I hardly wait for another series.

Debra said...

What a fantastic shot! I really admire your photography...you are extremely talented!

Jeannette StG said...

Beautiful shot!

Bob Pelkey said...

Sorry to have not met you, Ken, and see Tim in more than ten years as you made your trip through my area of Florida. Plan on photographing mating Burrowing Owls at Cape Coral next year.