Category: life goes on

attention to detail, attitude adjustments, blessings, Florida landmarks, friends, fun, life goes on, making memories, perseverance, photography, strangers become friends, timing is everything, unintended consequences

Our last race track photo shoot…

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Yesterday was the last of the Tampa Bay Downs photo shoots of the season, which ends right after the Kentucky Derby. Except for one weekend in July it will start up again in the fall. It was going to be HOT, and I wasn’t too enthused about going at all until Bernie said that he’d like to shoot from the grandstand and that sounded like an excellent idea. Standing trackside doesn’t give me a good angle to shoot, but the grandstand makes for a better angle and has huge fans to keep you cool. Walking out onto the balcony is still shaded and is a good option too.

I had my eyes open for shots of the people that were there also, but I think this kid would have caught my eye even if I hadn’t thought about it ahead of time. My son always toted a toy with him wherever we went and I thought for a second that this kid had brought a toy horse with him. Maybe this dinosaur goes everywhere with him. Note the horse ‘tattoo’ on his arm.
I thought that the babies in this group might make cute photos, and then the trainer brought over #8 to say hello.
I had already noticed the gray horse as they led the horses out for this first race of the day. I kind of wanted the gray one to win, but if not him then maybe #8 who had stopped to see the kids.
I wasn’t at the perfect spot to get a shot of the photo finish which had the horse in the center nosing out the other two horses. #4 was third.
I thought I could cheat and tell you that the gray horse won after all, but those with sharp eyes would probably notice all the dirt in the air and catch me in a fib.
When they moved the gates into position for the next race I thought it would be interesting to get a few shots of them loading up the horses. Number 6 was having no parts of getting into the gate however. AI got rid of a huge, bright red tractor that was center stage in the shot.
I always have to try to get the horses as they come right at you out of the last turn and into the home stretch. #6 is on the left, and, sadly, he didn’t win the race either.
The third race was a turf race so we like to get a shot of them coming down the chute. When I looked at the pictures in the computer I saw that a sea gull appeared to be racing with them, but they were gaining on him.

Thank goodness pollen season is nearly over, or so said the ophthalmologist the other day. My eyes were itchy and dripping so we left after this race. Lately we have been the only ones from the photo group who have shown up for the once a month trip to the races. I went to one just after I joined the group in 2017, and I was surprised to meet another member who also had grown up in Brockton, MA. Life happened in the meantime, and we are now the 5th couple who have met by joining the group. Funny how life turns out sometimes.

'scene' along the way, a second look, attention to detail, attitude adjustments, birds, facing facts, Florida wildlife, life goes on, nature, Nature's beautiful creatures, on closer examination, perseverance, photography

Easter chicks…

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Do you see it? The egret chick tucked into the foliage at the rookery? I’m not sure that I saw it when I took the picture, seeing it required zooming in. But some movement must have caught my eye and made me concentrate on that spot down low in the shrubbery. Because it was difficult to see I kept looking around for a different nest, an easier to see chick on Easter Saturday.

I wandered the length of the rookery looking for more potential little bobble-heads deep in the nests where adult egrets and wood storks stood watch. But nothing caught my eye except a couple of tricolor herons that popped out of the shrubbery and chased each other around for a bit.
When I looked at my photos I wondered why I had taken so many of this Woodstork high in the trees, but then I remembered the dragonflies that were everywhere and I had assumed they’d show up in my photos. Not that you could tell what they are unless I gave you a clue.
Finding a spot where the dragonflies were landing wasn’t easy, but I stuck with it because I love them.
I eventually gave up my search for another more accessible nest and returned to see the only chicks that I could see.
As I took my pictures I wondered if I’d be able to get rid of some of the shrubbery in front of his face using AI. Someone else might do a good job of that but I think it’s beyond me.
I spy another little eye! There will be competition at meal time soon enough.

I’ve been fighting off a cold and felt better yesterday so we went out shooting, and I was glad we did. We’ll be stopping by often since the fun is just beginning.

In the meantime Happy Easter to all. I miss the family celebrations of years past, but grateful for the blessings my life holds now. Hoping you also feel blessed this Easter Sunday.

attention to detail, attitude adjustments, birds, Close encounters, egrets, Florida wildlife, life goes on, nature, Nature's beautiful creatures, perseverance, photography

Back in business…

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The rookery that is. A couple of weeks ago there were just a few birds to be seen and I thought that maybe this rookery had been abandoned. But the visit last night disproved my theory, lots of birds are back. Of course the plants are again choking out the water, maybe even more so than a couple of weeks ago, but hopefully that doesn’t matter.

Many egrets in breeding colors and displaying their availability for all to see.
I appreciated this one posing with a nice yellow flower.
We saw no wood storks last time, but they were back en force.
The wood storks always have taken this high spot, and I guess it was still waiting for them this time.
I suspect he was going to grab some foliage to feather his nest.

You know what else was back? Fire ants! It took only seconds to realize I’d been bitten. My own darned fault for wearing flip flops. When will I learn?

attention to detail, attitude adjustments, birds, coping, egrets, facing facts, Florida wildlife, in the neighborhood, life goes on, live and learn, nature, perseverance, photography

Nature’s mysteries…

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Yes, there were birds at the rookery that we have enjoyed going to visit, especially because it was fairly close to home, but not nearly in the numbers that we have seen in the past. Our frequent trips to Wild Birds Unlimited to replenish the stock of bird food take us right past it, so we have stopped a few other times also and were disappointed to see few birds. But we were encouraged by postings from other photographer friends that suggested that the birds might be back. Our stop a month or so ago had been pretty discouraging, in that there were almost no birds there. And we have heard similar reports about the other rookery that is in ‘our’ area. So I looked up info on Google about birds abandoning rookeries and found out that yes, they will if a disturbance has happened. And they might set up shop again not too far away, but it didn’t sound as if they would return to the former rookery. As densely populated as this area of Florida is I’m wondering where they would find another area to go to nest and raise their young.

This egret at least seemed to be gathering nesting material.
We saw a few anhingas also, but the trees weren’t full of their nests as they have been in the past.
And so the few that were there had lots of real estate to themselves.

Wood storks seemed to have had the first hatchlings in the past, but we saw no wood storks at all that afternoon. The only excitement was that tricolor heron from the feature photo. He was tiptoeing through the, um, I’m not sure what those water plants are but they certainly weren’t tulips. There were nests of tricolors at this rookery in the past, but this one was the only one we saw, but at least he seemed to be happily hunting a snack.

a second look, adventure, attention to detail, attitude adjustments, birds, Florida wildlife, fun, life goes on, moments, nature, perseverance, photography

Painted Buntings…

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We were off to see the painted buntings yesterday. Lately one of the hot spots to see them has been the Celery Fields, so that’s where we headed. I think it would also have been nice of these pretty birds to stop in the shrubbery so that all my pictures didn’t have the cage feeders in them, but you take what you can get.

This is the only photo I got that was basically/almost out of the cage. It shows all the amazing colors of the males.
What could be better than finding the bunting you hoped to see? Why, finding two of them of course.
We don’t want to neglect the female painted buntings. There is so much green behind her that it’s not easy to see her ‘pistachio’ coloring.
It was ladies only on the feeder for a moment. Our bunting’s color shows better, and she is sharing space with a female redwing blackbird.
Here are those colors again. Just amazing.

So we spent our first anniversary doing what we like to do best, taking pictures. Not all photography expeditions turn out the way you hoped, but this one did. And life seems to be turning out even better than I hoped too…

backyard visitors, birds, bluebirds, facing facts, Florida wildlife, fun, gardens, in the neighborhood, life goes on, perseverance, photography

A surprise visitor…

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I believe that the new holder for the woodpecker cylinder has proven to be a success. Oh the blackbirds still land on it, but only a few at a time. And I haven’t seen the numbers of them out back since we switched out the feeders. It was probably my fault, two big cylinders out at the same time, and one with extremely easy access, was a pretty good invitation for the birds to visit in larger numbers. The new holder has a better tray around it, so it hold seeds that get spilled, and I do see lots of little birds landing and feeding there. But this bluebird was such a surprise to see, I almost couldn’t believe that that’s what I was seeing. I hope he or she keeps on visiting. 

I’ve been hunkered down in the house, bundled up because I”m too chilly. But then when I went outside to see if I could take a few pictures I discovered that it’s warmer out than in. This has been an odd stretch of weather, and I have my nerve complaining about it. It will be so nice to see some sunshine again…