road trip – A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens

a second look, birds, bucket list, following the rules, friends, fun, making memories, nature, Nature's beautiful creatures, nothing's easy, perseverance, photography, road trip

A trip to Cape Coral…

March 24, 2023 naturecoastimagesblog

Cape Coral is a 3 hour trip from home, which explains why we have talked about driving there before, but we were trying to ensure the best timing to see the burrowing owls with their chicks. April through June is what we have seen in print, but seeing chicks turning up on photographers Facebook feeds sent us off on our journey. Ordinarily I’d have been perfectly happy to see one of the owls at all, but setting your heart on seeing a chick is asking for disappointment. Maybe it was bad luck, or maybe it’s just that we don’t have any ‘inside’ information on places to look.

We stopped at a park to eat our lunch and talked with a resident who was shooting hoops on the playground. I asked if he knew any good spots to see the owls and he said they are ‘everywhere’. And yes, the marked off nests for the burrows were easy to spot as we drove around, but we didn’t see any owls there. He said that Hurricane Ian had hit the area hard, and the burrows were abandoned because they were wet. But now, he said, they are starting to see the owls returning. He noticed two owls that had returned, one on each side of the road, on his dog walks. He said that after a while they had joined forces and were now at the same burrow. Maybe that is good news. And I have to hope that his observations hold true, that the owls are returning. And soon all the nesting sites will be occupied by these cute little birds.

This one was standing near a perch that marked his burrow.

turned his face to the sun and the wind ruffled his feathers.

We saw a total of three owls, all seemed to be on their own near a burrow.

'scene' along the way, black and white, exploring new places, Florida landmarks, fun, making memories, nature, perseverance, photography, road trip

Let’s go for a ride…

February 28, 2023February 27, 2023 naturecoastimagesblog

My immediate comment at the suggestion of ‘going for a ride’ will always be, “Where to?” And these days I will always expect to take some pictures when we get there. But there was no destination in mind when we headed out yesterday, and if we would have known we would have had the scooter and trike with us. We saw a sign for Dade Battlefield Historic State Park and turned in. The site preserves the battlefield where the Seminole Indians fought the soldiers under the command of Major Francis L Dade in the Second Seminole War. What little we saw of it made us want to come back when we are able to ride the trails. And learn a bit of history that we may have missed growing up in Massachusetts.

You drive in and park at the visitor’s center. When we arrived we saw a volunteer taking a group out for a narrated tour of the battlefield. This looks like a nice place to ride and explore.

Having just taken a class on black and white photography I had in mind finding scenes that might translate to black and white well. Or at all.

There were many live oaks creating tunnels to lure you into the woods. We didn’t see the 400 year old oak that the volunteer told us was here. I think we knew immediately that this place would be worth another visit.

I think I like this black and white the best.

We also ‘found’ the Florida National Cemetery and drove in to see it. I was there with a friend a few years ago for the Memorial Day festivities and it was a very moving place to be. The feature photo doesn’t do it justice, because there are fields and fields of gravestones, all perfectly tended and around every corner. We now have a plan to go back this Memorial Day. All and all it was a beautiful day for a drive…

I’m looking forward to the class on editing your black and white photos.

a second look, adventure, birds, egrets, Florida wildlife, friends, fun, live and learn, nature, Nature's beautiful creatures, nesting, perseverance, photography, road trip

The Vienna Rookery…

February 24, 2023February 23, 2023 naturecoastimagesblog

Photographers are told that you ought to visualize the photo you want to take ahead of time. I’m not sure that they mean on the drive to your destination however. I had no problem visualizing the rookery full of great blue heron nests, with babies calling out to be fed and their parents flying in and out. But when we got there I could only see a couple of nests with great blue herons standing at attention minding the nests.

This is the first shot I took. Ah, thought I, Dad on guard, and that pile of feathers to the left must be Mom, laying on eggs.

But the pile of feathers turned out to be these two ‘chicks’. Not little balls of fluff. And I now thought that maybe that was Mom, keeping an eye on things out out of reach of the little darlings.

They were flapping those wings too, thinking of the places they’ll go.

They were yapping at her, but she didn’t seem to be impressed.

There are other ways to get your other’s attention however.

The great blue herons were outnumbered by the great white egrets. And the egrets were still in the nest building and posing stage of things. Just like in the rookeries much closer to home.

I was told that we were a month late to see the great blue herons at the just hatched stage. And we think that our kids grow up too fast. But then there will be a new family to raise next year, and we’ll come back in January.

a second look, adventure, birds, bucket list, friends, fun, Just do it, making memories, nature, Nature's beautiful creatures, on closer examination, perseverance, photography, road trip

Myakka River State Park…

February 23, 2023February 22, 2023 naturecoastimagesblog

When we left home our destination wasn’t the Myakka River State Park, but it was only a half hour away from our destination, and after driving an hour and a half to get there it was a shame not to stop by. There are spoonies there after all, and I see the most beautiful photos of them online. In those photos they are landing, or taking off, or just flying overhead. But none of that was going on when we got there. You can see them from the parking lot, and the path to walk to get a closer vantage point is not too long. But what was going on, or not going on, is evident in the feature photo. Maybe it was the fact that we were there in the afternoon, possibly siesta time.

The spoonies hang out where the river meets the lake, which just so happens to be where the gators hang out also. Lots of them, just to the left of the scene in the feature photo. And also in the water, swimming over to get a closer look at us as were take our pictures from the opposite shore.

Was the great blue paying attention to the gators in this picture? The little blue certainly wasn’t. And the spoonies aren’t paying attention at all.

They weren’t all totally inactive though, I just had to look a little more closely.

And when I saw one shaking it’s booty I made sure to get a picture.

Of course spoonies weren’t the only birds there. I shot bursts of photos trying for pictures of this osprey flying right overhead. When you shoot bursts the camera needs a break to catch up with itself now and then. And during one of those buffering moments this osprey dove into the water and came up with a fish! Right in front of us! But I can’t prove it because I missed the shot, darn it.

We both took lots of pictures of this black-necked stilt because we hadn’t seen one before. He was wading and hunting for his lunch with lots of other wading birds.

Among the waders were a few limpkins. They were hunting for their favorite treat, apple snails. But any snail will do. Their beak has a bit of a twist to the end, specialized for getting the snails out of their shells. They must be successful because the riverbank was covered in empty shells.

Finding a little blue heron there shouldn’t be a surprise, they seem to be everywhere.

As always it was a fun way to spend the day. And we have to take advantage of the weather while it’s still a relatively cool 80 degrees or so. Hot in the sun if you just stand there, but in the shade it just can’t be beat!

adventure, attention to detail, birds, brainstorms, connections, Florida landmarks, Florida wildlife, friends, fun, making memories, natural wonders, perseverance, photography, road trip, technology

The Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive…

January 21, 2023January 20, 2023 naturecoastimagesblog

This place has been on my mind to visit for a while now. It’s not a place to go in the summer when the sun is relentless, even if you are driving and hopping in and out of the car for pictures all day. As it turned out this particular day was quite windy, and therefore chilly, but I thought it was a great location to take my friend and her new camera with its great zoom.

This first gator view was across the water. I thought my friend might be freaked out, but she was too busy taking pictures to panic.

The colors on this grackle caught our eye. Shot through the windshield. Apparently the camera ignored the dirty glass, isn’t technology grand?

An Osprey hunting. I have no idea why the sky was so dark in this shot.

Did the osprey find his lunch? This one did anyhow.

A snowy egret, with her golden slipper on display.

A tricolor heron, pausing for a moment in the sun.

Merlin says that this is a Wilson’s Snipe. A first for me!

We drove home and stopped at our favorite, and only, place to get a ‘South Shore Pizza’ here in Florida. Kathy agreed it was up to par. I left Brockton, MA at age 20, and longed for this fabulous pizza ever since, always being sure to visit the Cape Cod Cafe when I’m ‘home’. Now I can get one whenever the urge strikes!

Florida landmarks, foggy sky, food, friends, fun, growing old, lest we forget, perseverance, photography, road trip, sunset

The week that was…

January 20, 2023January 19, 2023 naturecoastimagesblog

The second day of my ‘old’ friend’s visit, can’t tease her without admitting my own age also, brought us to Longboat Key to visit yet another old friend. Such a lovely spot to sit and talk about life after high school. Another high school friend commented that it must be fun to reminisce about our high school days, but that didn’t seem to be the main topic of conversation. We seemed to be concentrating on what came after high school, raising kids, and grandkids too. And where life has brought us now. How lucky we are to reconnect after such a long time.

It was a nice day to walk on the beach. Our friend said that people were commenting that there were no intact shells on the beach. Most had been pulverized by Hurricane Ian. But this area was spared from major damage.

We decided to head toward Anna Maria Island for dinner but traffic was quite backed up, and the sunset was early, so we stopped at The Beach House and this was our view while we enjoyed our dinner.

I ducked down in front of the sunset watchers to get a few photos. It hadn’t looked too promising to start with, but it just got better. Eventually we all took a few pictures.

Even after the sun had set the sky got more colorful.

The next morning dawned cold, with blustery winds. I headed down to the beach early, to try to capture the look of the surf. It was a bit foggy too, hence the feature photo. My friends chose to try some watercolor painting while I was out taking pictures. Then after a nice lunch it was time to say goodbye and head home again. But there was talk of another visit next year…