Exotic birds all over Florida...but sometimes, they come to you!

Well, I tend to go every few months out to some wetlands preserves nearby armed with my big bazooka lens, Tamron 200-500, to look for wading birds and other Florida bird life to shoot. In January, two such excursions resulted in some great opportunities and some really cool birds captured in good weather:

I caught this beautiful red-shouldered hawk up in a tree with gorgeous light and a clear blue sky...I just had to snap some shots of that beauty:





This little mockingbird (the state bird of Florida) was up on top of a tree singing away, and the light was good...even though she was pretty far even for the big Tamron 200-500 lens at 420mm (times 1.5x
crop factor):



This great blue heron you can just about reach out and touch. She's built her nest just 10 feet off the trail, so at 300mm (450mm equivalent), you're almost on top of her:



Purple gallinule, coming at ya! This gallinule was poking around on a branch looking for seeds, and was at first hesitant to stretch out in my direction with that big black bazooke pointed her way...but eventually her interest in the seed overcame her trepidation over me:



As the breeding season was just kicking into gear, the great blue herons were pairing together and building their nests in anticipation of egg-laying. Here, a heron couple shares in the nest-making duties:



It looks like an argument...but it's just the typical tousling and fencing that goes on when the nesting is imminent:





A week later, I tried again. This one's a bit distant and not as good a shot, but I wanted to share this because it's about the best shot I've got (out of only 2 or 3) of a double-breasted cormorant...I
only just saw one of these about a month ago, and find them fairly hard to shoot because they spend most of their time underwater!:



A pretty osprey was up in a tree keeping a lookout for food in the water below:



This awfully cute and fast little grebe was only above the water for a few seconds at a time, before diving back under the duckweed to hunt for small fish. It can stay underwater for around 45 seconds to
a minute at a time:



I never had time to process these as I followed up with some business, the trip to Disney, processing those Disney pics, then more work to catch up. The DSLR's been resting since Disney, unused. I finally got to these this weekend and uploaded them. Quite a surprise, then, when yesterday I hear a strange squawking out my front door...it was about squirrel-feeding time, and I checked out front to find all the squirrels hiding and flicking their tails in fear, and that loud screech continued. When I stepped out the door and looked at the tree in my front yard, I saw why the squirrels were throwing a fit.

There, in my front yard, was a juvenile hawk...presumably a red-shouldered...who had arrived to see if he had the hunting skills to pick himself up a rodent for dinner! I grabbed the camera, quickly threw on the 200-500 lens, happily still had 42% battery left over from Disney in January, and rattled off 5 or 6 shots before he took off. He even squawked at me while I fired some shots. I had no time to check camera settings, just point, focus, and fire some bursts...he was gone in 2-3 seconds.

Ironic how sometimes the thing you travel all over looking for, arrives right on your doorstep!

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Thanks HW and Goofmick.

HW - I was always a bit surprised to hear people describing herons and egrets as being very hard to get close to...yet every time I post on bird or wildlife threads, that's the response. Having been down here so long, I've gotten used to seeing these types of birds all over town, and they obviously have gotten very accustomed to being in close proximity with people. When you go to wetlands preserve areas, you can get within 5 feet of many of these birds before they'll dart off. And often, some of these end up right in your yard - flocks of ibis, egrets, roaming hawks, etc. It's something I've taken for granted, living in such a wildlife-intensive area, until I got into photography!

 

nice series Justin. I've been looking forward to your winter birds shots this year!

 

Thanks Craig.

Actually, for the amazing reach, the lens is surprisingly portable and hand-holdable - but it certainly isn't small. To me, seeing some guys shooting out in the reserve with 500mm F2.8 lenses that have their own tripods that look strong enough to hold up a Boeing 747 for a tire change, mine seems dainty by comparison!

HW - that would be quite frustrating indeed. You need to drop down this way for some shooting - you can pluck feathers off their tail before they'll leave!