I suspect that waking up early at John’s Pass Hotel, which is right on the boardwalk, is the closest I’ll ever come to walking out onto my balcony for a sunrise, or sunset for that matter, photo op. I used to wish for one or the other, but not being able to afford a view like that in the first place has me feeling like I dodged a bullet now that I hear of people’s property insurance bills of +/_$30,000 per year! The cost of living in Florida, which not so long ago was very affordable, is now on the rise and rising. I suspect that the same is true most everywhere else also, so I expect to be a Floridian for the rest of my days. Thankfully there is no lack of photo ops everywhere.
This great blue heron was already up when we walked out to the balcony to see the sunrise.He tolerated our shifting positions as we looked for just the right angle.This green heron was being blown in the wind.I think the birds were active because the fishing boats were being readied for their day.It wasn’t the spectacular sunrise I might have hoped for, but it was still pretty and I was happy to be there.Then the sun came peeking through.This egret posed nicely for us.The end.
I went out early on Tuesday. I was seeing beautiful light out back before the sun rose high enough to peek over the fence and shine right in my eyes. Still blue hour I guess. And some of the usual birds visited while I hoped for hummingbirds, so I imagined a post where I explained that all my favorite birds were still coming to the feeders, and that includes the red wing blackbirds who are visiting by twos lately. But I hadn’t written anything yet so on Wednesday morning I went out again, even though whatever quality the light had the day before wasn’t quite so nice that day. And I didn’t have to wait long for the hummingbird to come visit the fire bush. I got a lot of pictures and was tempted to go put them into the computer to see what I got, but I thought I might as well sit there until the sun came into my eyes and I would have to go inside. And she came back a second time, but stayed in the foliage and left quickly. Which is when I heard a particular whooshing sound, and I realized that a hot air balloon was out there somewhere, but I couldn’t see it. It was flying low, behind the trees, so I had to wait until it came into the open to take some shots. I was already quite delighted by this turn of events, and then the hummingbird came back a third time. What a lucky day!
I took so many pictures and they all are this shot, or close to it.Slightly different angle in this shot.Just so many flowers to visit and she tries to hit them all.A little different shot for a change.One click in Photoshop replaced the dreary white sky with this. All righty then.
It’s those lucky days that keep you going out to try again…
It was another eagle-eyed photographer who pointed out the little alligator lurking in the weeds at the edge of the water at the rookery. A baby alligator, which implies that a mommy alligator must also reside in there, the thought of which hadn’t ever crossed my mind before this visit.
We ask a lot of our cameras and lenses these days. We aim into the shrubbery and ask them to focus on the subject, and they do. Cameras these days will lock onto eyes once they find them. These three tricolor heron youngsters are still on the nest, still calling for their mother to bring food, even though they are getting big.Night herons are hard to spot, unless you are lucky enough to see them fly in and land.Just the second nest of egret chicks I’ve spotted at the rookery. We can hear the babies, but the nests don’t happen to be located well for us to see them.This must be what mamma sees when she arrives back at the nest.Photobomb!This is the first picture I took that day. I was excited to finally see a wood stork baby. But it didn’t keep its head up for very long, and the foliage was waving around in front of the nest, so this is the only shot of it that I got.
Technology, I’m a fan. But I barely use the capabilities of the camera I already own, so I don’t spent much time wishing for newer, better equipment. If I would put my mind to it I would probably be amazed at what else my camera can do, but once I’m out there ready to take pictures I forget about everything and just have fun. And that is really the point, isn’t it?
I bought the little ceramic birdie feeder with the notion that it would make a great photo prop. And that has worked out well since I’ve gotten quite a few bird photos framed in the opening. For once a theory turned into a reality. But now I’m tired of the background of those photos being a white vinyl fence. I’m sure I could replace the background in Photoshop, but I can’t seem to convince myself that it would be worth knocking my head against the wall to figure it out.
Natural photo props have their own issues. I have several poses of this brown thrasher sitting up looking proud of him (or her) self. But in those photos the upper branch is then crossing the bird’s head, a no, no according to the guy editing photos on his computer right beside me. Again, I could take the branch out in Photoshop, which is easy and I do know how to do that, or I can just choose to edit a different picture.I had totally forgotten about this little Carolina wren with the cross-crossed beak. He or she looks well and happy so I guess the fact that it might not win a birdie beauty contest is no big deal. Think how nice it would be if we all just were happy with whatever nature gave us.As much as the doves annoy me when they park themselves in a feeder and pig out, they are pretty. Maybe a little blue eye shadow wouldn’t be a bad idea.Drinks are on the house at this establishment.And more hummingbird photos because I was able to get quite a few of them that day, but many repeat almost the exact same pose.Somehow the flowers on the fire bush don’t appear to me to be all that exciting, but then I’m not a hummingbird.Dinner!
In this case I think it has to be the sixth time that was a charm. I have spent a whole lot of time sitting in the doorway to the lanai with my camera, all in the hopes of getting some photos of a hummingbird. Even today I missed one when it showed up the first time, then it zoomed in again for just a second and left. So I felt like there was no chance that it would be back again, but I got ready anyhow. Not only did he return and I got some pictures, but when I looked at my photos in the computer I saw that the Mrs was with him. Somehow we hadn’t noticed two of them.
I had never seen a male ruby-throated hummingbird in the yard before.Instead of zooming in and then zooming out he stayed and visited the flowers on the firebush.This isn’t the best picture but it really shows up that ruby throat.And here we have the female, which had been the only one we’ve seen so far.
If I applaud myself for my perseverance it sounds a lot better than just admitting that I’m stubborn. I’m so happy to have gotten a chance to get some photos, I hope they come back again.
It may not have been exactly the day you might have pictured when I describe it as a beautiful day. It’s a little early to be dreading the hot weather already this year, but that was my first thought when we decided to head to the rookery at about 3 PM yesterday. Scorching sun was on my mind, with my recent and seemingly unending visits to the dermatologist lately I slathered on sunscreen and donned a hat and off we went. Much to my surprise the sky was hazy enough that the sun wasn’t an issue. And another surprise came when I looked at my pictures. I wish you could see them as I see them in my computer because I think the foliage looks amazing. The birds are nice too of course, but that foliage looks so good. It wasn’t any talent on my part, or my nice but middle of the road camera and lens, it was the light. And you can’t buy that!
You see the ‘kids’ carrying on in the feature photo. This is the nest that we saw last time. Mom looks exasperated.Then mom decided she’d had enough for a while. Can’t say that I blame her.This Woodstork pranced around and flapped his wings and he finally got his lady love to notice him, and he bowed down before her.And then his moment was spoiled by an interloper grabbing the attention.This is my favorite picture of the day. Yes I love the snowy egret, but the foliage really got me. Have you ever heard the sound snowys make? If you haven’t you ought to google it. They may look elegant, but it took me a long time to decide that it really was the snowy making that silly noise.I thought the tricolor heron had just taken a drink, but it seems he got a nibble too.If a dragonfly chooses to pose then I’ll always choose to take his picture.We only found one other nest with two younger great white egret chicks.This nest was further into the foliage and even the photoshop tricks weren’t going to be able to let me get the branches out of the way without ruining the picture.This little guy is trying to be not so little.On the drive home we were lucky enough to be stopped for a traffic light with a family of sandhill cranes moseying along the side of the road.Even if there was a place to pull over I wouldn’t stop for pictures of them on this road. I’d be afraid I’d disturb them and cause them to head into the street. But I wasn’t going to miss my chance to shoot out the car window.
When we were getting out of the car and I heard the decibel level of the birds out there I was sure we’d finally see the numbers of nests that we’ve seen in the past. And I think they are there this year too, but deeper in the foliage or on the other side of the ‘island’. I’ve heard that the later toward sunset the better the rookery gets, but we were ready to head for home, and dinner.
A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens 