Tag: #southwestflorida

The Only Kind of Rain We Get

In Southwest Florida, the only kind of rain we get in March is not the wet kind that falls from clouds and waters the plants. No, this time of year it rains yellow blossoms in the breeze.

tabebuia tree
Yellow blossoms of the Tabebuia tree rain in the breeze at Naples Botanical Garden, March 2022.

I associate the perennial blooming of this lovely tree with Spring Break, since we often visited Naples, Florida when my children were on Spring Break in late March. If you take a walk in Naples today, you will see countless numbers of Tabebuia trees in bloom, raining yellow flowers. Are they as numerous as alligators in the Everglades? Well, maybe not, but much prettier.

Gator on the Move

I made a sunrise trip to Ten Thousand Islands near the Florida Everglades hoping to see roseate spoonbills, but instead got a good look at a very large alligator. He was old, long and big bellied, yet still looking for his next meal. As he swam parallel to the shore, I followed him down the trail for about 15 minutes, getting a good look at him at each clearing. He was looking at me, while I was looking at him (her). Do you see the sunrise reflecting in his eye?

With my Sony 200-600 mm lens, I could stay at a safe distance, but get a close look at this gator’s face. Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Southwest Florida, February 2021.

To give you an idea of the length of this alligator, here is a second photo showing its length. As he cruised the marsh, pelicans, cormorants, anhinga, and a variety of herons flew off to safety.

Some shoreline grasses blocked my view of this 10-foot alligator, but I didn’t want to approach this dangerous creature, as they can move very fast when they attack. Here, he seemed to be crawling on a sandbar.

Color Me Orange

The delicate curve and pattern of this palm branch and its sharp shadow that echoes on the ground drew me over to photograph this patch of ground. I chose to isolate these elements to emphasize the shapes I noticed.

Infrared photograph of a palmetto branch and its shadow at Naples Botanical Garden in southwest Florida. Infrared enables the use of high contrast and a single hue that stands out against black and white for an artistic interpretation of the scene.

When it came time to process this infrared photograph, I slid the hue for the foliage over to a hot orange. The hot orange against the white shelly gravel spoke to me about the heat of the tropics. It was a hot afternoon in sunny southwest Florida, the perfect time of day for a high contrast infrared capture.

Snowy Egret Ballet

Silently watching a rookery island at sunset, I observed flocks of ibis, flocks of pelicans and flocks of snowy egret gently glide along the water to land on the island and take refuge for the night. One bird in flight is a graceful wonder to watch, but a flock of one species in flight together is a veritable ballet.

#snowyegret. #sunset, #rookerybay, #rookeryisland, #flock, #fllight, #wildlife, #birdphotography, #nikon, #birds, #florida, #southwestflorida, #behavior, #naples
Incoming! A flock of snowy egrets: notice their black legs and yellow feet.

Seconds later, the flock extended their wings and feet to land on the rookery island. Zoom in to get a closer look!

If you look carefully, you can find several pelicans and cormorants already nestled in the tree branches.

Bald Eagle Pair

We haven’t seen an eaglet yet in this bald eagle nest, but we got a close up look at two good looking parents in Rookery Bay in their waterfront home. Nesting season begins in December or January in Southwest Florida, and baby eaglets develop in the nest for about 128 days. During this time, the eagle pair will be territorial to protect their young.

#baldeagles, #eagles, #eaglepair, #nesting, #southwestflorida, #rookerybay, #birding, #birdphotography, #wildlife, #southwestconservancy, #naplesflorida, #nikon
These bald eagles are coparenting as they guard their nest in Rookery Bay in Southwest Florida. You might see them on a sunset cruise with the Southwest Conservancy.

Another bald eagle pair can be found in North Naples, Florida in a cluster of golf courses that includes Royal Poinciana, Wilderness, Hole in the Wall and Country Club of Naples. This cluster of courses provides a wide region of Audobon friendly land filled with lakes, creeks and woods. It’s a great place to view a wide variety of bird species near dawn and dusk.

Naples Yacht Club

It’s no wonder that Naples residents are a happy population. With blue skies, warm temperatures and lush landscaping the norm, it’s hard not to wake up happy.  Docked at the Naples Yacht Club pier today is a lovely vessel called “Good Fortune.”

#naples, #florida, #yacht, #sunny, #happy
Friday afternoon at the Naples Yacht Club.

Feeling like a bird in flight

After I captured this image of an ibis taking flight from the beach, I began to wonder what it would be like to take flight to the sky at a moment’s notice. Only birds can do this, but what a gift! I think the closest I can come to that feeling is to glide through the water while swimming. As I glide weightless with the water rippling through my hair and the cool water skimming over my body, I feel that magic combination of freedom and relaxation. I wonder, why don’t I swim more often?

#birdinflight, #ibis, #florida, #fllying, #feelings
As I approached the ibis, he took flight, but I still captured this image — looking even better in flight.