Tag: #southflorida

Eight Wood Storks

On my annual trip to Shark Valley in Everglades National Park, I witnessed something for the first time. Eight wood storks were roosting in a single tree! I frequently see one or two in Pelican Bay or on the golf course, but I have never seen so many of them together, and I had never seen them in a tree. This remarkable scene was a distance away, but my Sony lens has a 400mm reach.

Eight wood storks roost in a tree in Shark Valley, Everglades National Park. It was an overcast day in March, right after a rain shower, Sony a7rIV, 100-400mm lens at 400mm.

The Early Bird

What they say is true. The early bird gets the best light. (Maybe the worm too.). Patches of golden light filtered through the trees and lit this Great Blue Heron standing erect in the marsh. An hour later this soft, golden light was just a memory, or in this case, a photograph.

Admire the delicacy of this Great Blue Heron’s feathers as it stands tall and elegant in this serene setting at Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Preserve at sunrise.

Exciting Sighting: Wurdemann’s Heron

I love Nature and Birds and Learning in general, so I find it super exciting to be introduced to a beautiful bird that is new to me. I spotted and photographed my first Wurdemann’s Heron in Rookery Bay south of Naples, Florida in March 2018.  What is a Wurdemann’s Heron, you might ask?

#wurdemanns, #heron, #morph, #southflorida, #rookerybay, #florida, #birdphotography, #nature, #Wildlife, #sony
From a slow moving boat around the mangroves in Rookery Bay, we spotted a Wurdemann’s Heron perched on a high branch.

It is a color morph of the Great Blue Heron and the Great White Heron. The size resembles that of the Great Blue Heron I have seen. It is a handsome bird.

#wurdemanns, #heron, #birdphotography, #bird, #southflorida, #florida, #sony, #wildlife, #nature
Seen from another angle as our boat circled the Wurdemann’s Heron’s location, you can appreciate his long legs, white belly and breeding plumage.

And one more image before he flew away.

#wurdemanns, #heron, #rare, #morph, #rookerybay, #birdphotography, #sony
The Wurdemann’s Heron shows the red shoulder of the Blue Heron and more brown coloring than either the Great Blue or Great White.

Photographer’s note: these images were shot with the Sony a2r7 and the Sony Zeiss 100-400 mm lens (at 400mm) at 1000 ISO, f/8 and 1/800 or 1/1000 second. Evening light was low, and it was necessary use a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion of the boat I was on. The Sony performed well with minimal noise and a sharp rendition of the subject. These images were cropped and processed in Lightroom;  the file size was reduced in Photoshop for the smooth loading on this blog post.

Jesus Christ Lizard

Nature never ceases to surprise me. Glad I aways have my iPhone with me, even when I go out to mail a letter.

This week I discovered a brand new species in South Florida, one I had never seen before. It’s the basilisk lizard, nicknamed the Jesus Christ Lizard, because it can walk (that is, run) on water. If you want to see, just google it or watch here on you tube.

It’s body is rather large like a snake, and this one on the tree outside my condominium was bright green. It can run five feet per second, but luckily this one held still until I could snap a few iPhotos. You can see it is very long.

 

Lizard_5149LR

Lizard_5151LR

I think it’s pretty funny, as long as it stays outside my condo. When you come in, please close the door quickly!