Black-crowned Night Heron

After getting home from vacation, and taking a break outside yesterday morning, I spotted this Black-crowned Night Heron hunting on the banks of Joe's Creek, in my backyard.

This is the first time I find one of these guys in this area. I know they're around; but the Black-crowned Night Heron is very secretive, unlike his counterpart, the Yellow-crowned Night Heron. I see them at all times of day and night anywhere I go in Florida. This Black-crowned Night Heron is a rarity and quite a treat for me.

It was about 7:30 in the morning and the water was very still, which made a beautiful reflection for me to capture. What about a nice bonus. Be sure to click on the photo for a larger version so you can see the detail. It may not be my best avian shot, but I like this one because it's a rare opportunity to see one of these birds.

Chicks First Day Out

Every year the Mallards, Mottled and Black Ducks come here to mate, raise their families and fly back to where ever they go once the chicks have fledged. And, every year we have a few more with the ones who survive.

This year is no exception. They always nest in the same place and they always bring their chicks to each lawn on their first day out. Last Saturday was their big day--or debut, so to speak. I was sitting on the patio when this Mottled pair spotted me and brought their chicks over to meet me. They're just so adorable. Be sure to click on the photo to bring up a larger size so you can really check out these cute little chicks. This must be one of the pairs who fledged last year, because the brood is so small. Usually, they have 12-15 chicks and only 4 or 5 make it before the 'gators and Hawks get them. So far, I've seen all 5 every day this week, so they're safe for now. I don't know how many will make it this year. Within about 3 - 4 weeks, they'll be as big as the mother. They grow so fast. For now, I'll just enjoy the cute little peeps I hear when they visit.

Crab-like Spiny Orb Weaver

This Crab-like Spiny Orb Weaver is one of my favorite spiders to photograph. I like their smiley faces on their backs and their colors.

These spiders are fairly common in this part of Florida. I can see them on most any days in my backyard; which is where I spotted this one. They're pretty small, only about 3/8" in diameter, but their webs are distinct, so they're easy to spot. They can be found in woodland edges and shrubby gardens and their favorite food is small insects.

Settings used for making this image are as follows: ISO 400, partial metering off the spider in aperture priority mode; 1/250 at F10 for greater depth of field and +1 2/3 exposure compensation because he was backlit against the sky and I wanted to retain detail in his head. I used fill flash at -2 exposure compensation to keep the whites from blowing out and I used my Tamron F2.8 90mm macro lens. This was shot hand held; but I recommend using a tripod whenever shooting macro shots. In this case, this spider was quite a bit over my head, so a tripod wasn't practical.

Mallard Drake

Nothing spectacular tonight; just this Mallard Drake swimming in the lake in my back yard.

Every year we get Mottled Ducks, but this year when they came back they brought along a few Mallards with them. This one is a young Drake. His head still isn't fully green, it's more of a dark green/black if that's such a color. He was one of about 10 swimming around today. In the past years, we've only had 2 pair that would come, nest, fledge their young and leave, only to return later and do the whole thing again. This is the first time I've seen these Mallards here and their quite welcome. It's nice to be able to photograph a few different birds when it's too cold to go out shooting anywhere else.

I just can believe how cold it is in Florida. Usually in January, we'll see a few days get into the 60's and maybe a night or two in the low 50's or upper 40's. This has been a rough 3 weeks! We're expecting more cold weather over the next week. I wish it would go back up north where it belongs.

Red-shouldered Hawk

This Red-shouldered Hawk just finished trying to get a Limpkin for dinner. However, the Limpkin turned on him and the Hawk was relegated to perching on this fence waiting to capture something a little bit easier.

Red-shouldered Hawks or Buteo lineatus are in the Hawk and Eagle family. They are resident in Florida and can be found in wooded wetlands and swamps. They prefer lowlands, especially swampy woods and bogs.

The Red-shouldered Hawk hunts by sitting in a low perch then swooping down to snatch their prey. They eat snakes, frogs, insects and small mammals. What amazes me is that the little Northern Mockingbird can set this much larger hawk on the run. I have often watched as 2 Mockingbirds working in tandem chasing these Hawks away. The do a great job of it, too; I might add.

This photo was made at ISO 200, F7.2 and 1/60th of a second in aperture priority mode. The gold on his right side is from the low, setting sun around 5:00 pm. I used partial metering off the bird to ensure a good exposure with my 55mm-250mm zoomed all the way out. Image was heavily cropped in Lightroom and his eyes were brightened in Photoshop. Other than that, no other post processing.

Muscovy Family

It's so sad when I see only one duckling left out of a clutch of 8-12. These two Muscovy's are fiercely protecting this little one. In this shot, they're running for cover beneath this Elderberry bush because three Red-shouldered Hawks are flying above them searching for food. I stayed around until the hawks left so they wouldn't grab the baby.

Nature is wonderful, but so cruel at times. I don't know how these birds grieve or even why they choose to have their clutches in a lake filled with 'gators and many hawks. Year after year I watch their broods disappear. It's no wonder their clutches are so large. That old cliche, "only the strong survive" must've come from the natural world. Sometimes I wish I could protect the little babies. At least I know that if I'm outside nothing will happen to them. The hawks and the 'gators take cover. Unfortunately, I can't be there all the time. On the other hand, the 'gators and the hawks have to eat, too. It must be tough being at the low end of the food chain.

If you've never encountered Muscovy ducks, you don't know how friendly and how gentle they are. Everytime they have a new clutch, they always bring them to our yards to "visit" and show off their young. They're so adorable.

Some of the people in my neighborhood complain because there are so many of them and they even tried to have an ordinance put in place to get rid of them and make it unlawful to offer them food. We don't live within city limits so our opinion will not be heard, but the ordinance didn't pass. I'm happy about that. They know they're safe in my yard and in my neighbors' yards.

Watching them communicate with one another is such a treat to me. Muscovies don't make very loud sounds. The males sort of blow wind through their mouth; I think it comes from their throats and wiggle their tails. The females have a very low whistling sound. When they're communicating with one another, they face each other wag their tails and bob their heads and necks. It's the cutest thing to watch.

Muscovy Ducks are always welcome in my yard.

Honey Bee on Shephards Needle

Lately it's been really busy at work and between that and running 3 photo clubs and trying to get a wedding business started, I haven't had much time to go out shooting. Actually, I haven't had much time for anything.

One good thing is that I can always find subject matter in my own back yard. I spotted this Honey Bee hanging on for dear life trying to sip this nectar. They seem to prefer the nectar of yellow flowers. At least that's how it seems to me. I usually can find bees around yellow or white flowers with yellow stamen. It just might be my imagination, but that's the way I see it; and I've photographed lots of them.

I have to keep my distance when I'm photographing bees and most insects because I'm deathly allergic to their stings. Due to the allergy, I have to shoot them with a fairly long lens so I don't get too close. Sometimes, the lens has enough magnification to keep the photo full frame, rather than having to crop in to get close.

This one was shot at about 1:00 in the afternoon. Tricky light, most of the time, but it was pretty cloudy and I got lucky that I didn't have more of an exposure latitude problem. The settings used for this photo was a shutter speed of 1/1000 to stop movement at F5.6 to sufficiently blur the background at 0 eV (exposure compensation). I used an ISO of 400 to guarantee that I'd have a fast enough shutter speed with partial metering at 250mm with my 55-250mm lens. As it stands, I didn't have to crop it. I was lucky enough to be able to get a close enough focus by shooting at an angle from up above him.

Cassius Blue Butterfly

Another little cutie from my back yard. This one is a Cassius Blue Butterfly. The positive ID is by the eye spots on the wings that are circled with yellow/orange. The Cassius Blue is from the Gossamer-wing family and is very small. Its wing span is only 5/8". It can be found in central and southern Florida in fields, woodland edges and residential areas. It prefers Leadwort for food.

Here he is sipping on a Shepards Needle. These daisy-like flowers can be found in most fields.

I especially like making photos of these tiny butterflies because of their beauty, and the challenge. Sometimes the hunt is just as satisfying as the capture. These little guys don't rest on flowers very long. They're fast flyers and like to flit from flower to flower. I've found that if I wait long enough, they'll come back to the same flower over and over.

Settings used for this shot on a bright sunny day are 1/500 of a second to stop all motion of both the flower and the butterfly, and F7.1 the sharpest aperture for my favorite lens. To get the fast shutter speed I moved the ISO to 400 even though it was sunny. It was around 4:00 pm so the sun was beginning to make its descent and was a bit lower in the sky, bringing out the detail in the flower and the butterfly. I used partial metering to be sure the butterfly would be properly exposed and -1/3 eV so I wouldn't blow out the white in his body. In post-processing, I burned in the flower petals just a tad. With my 55-250mm telephoto lens zoomed all the way out to 250mm, I was able to get enough magnification to show the butterfly fairly large in the frame and it also allowed me to sufficiently blur the background. There was no cropping in this shot. It is full-frame.

Giant Swallowtail

I have been trying to capture one of these butterflies all summer long. Giant Swallowtails, don't light on a flower for any length of time. They are mostly in the air and very fast flyers. The wings also never stop fluttering and it's very hard to catch it without too much blurring on their beautiful wings.

It's funny that I've been forcing myself to get out there and shoot for the last two weeks, and for some reason, I've captured some of the best photos that I've ever captured. For that, I thank the members of my photography class. Since I've been teaching them, I've tried very hard to practice what I preach, but getting out there and shooting a lot, all the time thinking while I shoot. I can't be satisfied with just adequate photos, since I keep telling them to capture the best angle, perspective and to be careful to hold the camera steady. Writing the hand outs has also reminded me of some of the basics. Things I just did without thinking, now I have to think before I shoot and I'm not satisfied with "just capturing it on my card". I'm thinking about the best way to capture it. So, thank you, students. We all need to learn.

This butterfly was shot using F7.1 for 2 reasons; it is the sharpest aperture on my lens and to get a little extra Depth of Field to keep the flowers and his wings in focus. I used ISO 400 to give me a faster shutter speed (1/320th) to stop the motion of his wings. Today was an overcast day, so there were no lighting issues to deal with so I set it to 0eV, which worked out fine. It gave me a perfect histogram with no clipped highlights or shadows. That's the beauty of shooting on an overcast day. It also helps to increase the saturation in the colors. No flash was used.

Hairy Woodpecker

All I've been doing since Monday is shooting babies and more babies with, guess what?--a Nikon. If you ever want to tick off a Canon shooter, give them a Nikon and tell them they have to work with it.

I shoot babies for a living, and until Monday, we had a mobile photo studio to use at the hospital. Our company is growing and we are replacing our mobile studios in all our hospitals with Nikon cameras. Actually, I don't want anyone to get the wrong impression--this is a good thing, and one I've wanted for a long time for my hospital.

But, it is very hard to use a Nikon since I've never used one in my life and everything is backwards. It's like Nikon and Canon got together and said, "OK, we're the top two camera companies for pros, so we're not only going to compete, we're going to do every opposite so our pros will remain loyal to their brand". It's uncanny how different the two cameras are. The lenses mount by turning in opposite directions, so do their zoom controls. Where Canon uses a wheel, Nikon uses a 5-way button, Canon's menus are in a horizontal motion to go from one series to another, while Nikon is vertical. About the only things I've found in the same place and that work the same are the shutter button and viewfinder. I'll bet they couldn't figure out how to make those different. It's just so weird. I like it though (did I just say that?). Canon and Nikon are both excellent cameras. One can't be knocked above the other and each photographer has his/her preference to how they like the feel and how each camera works.

I'm going to shut up about this rant for now and get on with my photo. Since I hadn't made any new photos since the butterfly day except for babies, I'll share with you this cute little Hairy Woodpecker. He was taken on the same day as the butterflies I just shot. He was so busy working hard to get his snack that he really didn't pay much attention to me at all so I was able to get fairly close. The lighting was poor, but I couldn't walk away from this show no matter what the lighting was like.

This was shot at 1/60th at F7.1 (my lenses sharpest aperture), +1/3 eV, ISO 400, partial metering because there was a lot of light directly behind him, at 250mm.

Insect Porn

I promise this is the last of the bug shots for a while. I thought the title would get your curiosity going.

These two Rambur's Forktail Damselflies were so busy "getting it on" they didn't seem to mind my lens close up to them. This is the first time I've ever seen Damselflies mating, and I was lucky to have enough time to run into the house, grab my camera and come back to make the photo. Actually, I took several of them and this was the best of the bunch. Once they flew off to another blade of grass, still in this position while flying, I left them alone.

Forktails, genus Ischnura, are a small group of damselflies in the narrow-winged damselfly family, Coenagrionidae.

Immature female forktails have a characteristically orange throax. Species identification can be done by examining the striped pattern on the thorax and the length of the orange coloration down the abdomen.

Rambur's Forktails are a common Southern species and can be found from coast to coast in wetlands and on pond edges. These were found on the bank in my backyard.

White Tipped Black Moths

This was taken in my back yard in St Petersburg, FL. I've never seen these little moths before and I couldn't find them in any of the insect books I have. Finally, I gave up and Googled, "black moth, Florida" and finally came up with the name of these little guys.

They are so cool with their red thorax and black abdomen and, as you can see they're pretty small. They really love my Mexican Sunflower tree, too. They were just all over it. Each one landing on a flower and staying there for quite some time.

To judge their relative size, I've included the whole flower in this photo. The flower is about 4 - 5" in diameter, so by comparison, these are pretty small moths. They're easier to see if you click on the photos to see a larger version.

These were shot after 4:00 pm when the sun was pretty low in the sky. Especially when photographing yellows, the sun needs to be lower in the sky and not shining directly on the flower so the yellow doesn't blow out or become over saturated.

Footbridge Lake Seminole Park

It is rare that I get a decent landscape worth posting; but more than one in the same place is unheard of for me. Landscapes are not my strong point. I really have to work at them.

I posted one yesterday and this one today. Both were taken the same day in Lake Seminole Park. It must be the beautiful sky and the combination of good light and of course, it was the scenery that made the image possible at all.

This footbridge spans over a stream that feeds two sections of Lake Seminole. The brook is loaded--and I mean loaded--with blue crab. At any given day, one can always spot the birds fishing for crab in the shallow waters of this stream. On this day, an elderly lady tied a half of chicken on the end of a string and flung it into the water. She pulled out crab after crab until an American Alligator chased her away. She said she got plenty for supper, so she didn't mind getting chased away. I guess the 'gator wasn't in the mood for sharing.

Winding Brook

Shooting landscapes isn't really my strong point, but every now and them I come up with one I like.

This one was taken the other day while I was out shooting with my friends at Lake Seminole Park in Seminole, FL.

Florida (at least this part) doesn't have its own rock, so we either have to truck it in or make it. These "rocks" appear to be man made; but I like the way their placed on the edges of this brook.

Turk's Cap

This was taken in my back yard. The red and green remind me of Christmas.

Turk's Caps are strange flowers. They look like Hibiscus that haven't opened yet. The stamen look the same and the petals have the same texture as Hibiscus, yet they never open. These are fully in bloom.

The shrub is getting a bit out of hand and for some reason, the limbs are weak. We're going to have to prune it back quite a bit and I wanted to get some photos before we do it. I wish I knew what was causing this. I've never seen another shrub have this problem; and these are all over Florida. They're native and grow wild.

Turk's Caps have no fragrance and are not bothered by Deer. Hummingbirds love them, however.

Little Blue Heron

This Little Blue Heron was just at the end of my fence under a tree when he spotted me trying to get a shot of him. Just as I was about to give up because he kept moving further and further behind the tree, he moved. I got really lucky because he moved to the stump just in front of the house with no tree cover.

I made the shot and for some reason, he didn't mind me being there--or he didn't see me, because he never moved at all.

Little Blue Herons and Tricolored Herons are similar in color except the Tricolored Herons (a.k.a. Louisiana Heron) have a bit more maroon color and have a pure white chest and neck. They are quite a bit smaller than the Great Blue Herons that we're used to seeing. These smaller herons are a bit more skittish than the Great Blue Herons as well.

Taken in my backyard at Joe's Creek, in St Petersburg, FL.

Muscovy Duckling

This cute little guy is one of 5 ducklings that hatched from a nest behind my Amaryllis plants in my backyard.

He's about a month old now. There were 12 originally, but the 'gators and/or hawks got the other 7. These little ducklings and their mother still come into the yard to rest out of the sun. As you can see, they have absolutely no fear of me.

This is one of 3 broods that were hatched here this season. The first set were originally 17 born in July. Only 4 remain and they're almost as big as their mother. The other set also has 4 out of 11. They're about the same age as these guys. It appears they all have the same father.

All the sets had one pure yellow duckling. In the one hatched in July, the yellow one has a pure white neck and breast. The two younger yellow ones are beginning to get their darker feathers now and I believe they'll also have white neck and breasts.

It's so much fun watching them grow. I can't believe how fast they grow up. The mother will stay with them probably for 2 1/2 months before she leaves them. The 4 who were hatched in July still stay together. I'm waiting to see how long they do that.

Osprey in my Tree

This one is the most elusive, hard to photograph bird I've ever photographed. He perches in this tree overlooking the river behind my house whenever he's hungry. For over 2 years I've been trying to photograph him but have rarely got a really good one.

It seems he's learned the chimes on my door from my alarm. As soon as he hears the chimes, he checks to see if I have my camera. Then he does one of two things. If I have my camera, he lets out a couple of screeches to let me know he's seen me and takes off across the lake. If I don't have my camera he buzzes my head and goes back up to the tree.

The only way I can catch him is if I go out my front door and walk all around the house while I keep really low and be careful to hide behind trees, my shed or whatever I can think of. Then once I think I'm close enough, I quickly come out, capture my image and he takes off. I only get 1 shot if I'm lucky and I have to be quick. This is the result of one of the lucky shots.

I think I like the hunt as much as getting the photograph. :)

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