zackiedawg

Only got in a shortened day at the wetlands Saturday - rain in the morning, hot and humid afternoon, and threat of more storms late in the afternoon drove me back out. Here are a few shots from the brief visit: Green heron looking up at me: Tricolored heron, very close up: Great blue heron, very close up: A cooter turtle, perched on his shell with feet dangling - he looked like an of-road vehicle that got high-sided...but they like to do that to rest their legs - and when he wants to get off, he just tips his balance point forward and drops down into the water: Grey headed swamphen using those big chicken feet to grab at reeds - they pull the reeds out of the water and only eat the root side: Crystal, a 9-foot female alligator, sitting in the shade, still watching over her nest...it will take around 60-65 days for the eggs to hatch - she's in that window now, so hoping the eggs hatch::

Thank you - it's very cool when they do that - usually just after or just before a swarm. I've had two other occasions like this - about 7 years ago I encountered a bee ball like this, though even larger, on a walking trail near my house: The other occasion was considerably more unnerving - I was walking when I heard a droning buzzing sound in the air from behind me - when I turned to see what it was, I was facing a swarm of bees that looked like a cloud just a few feet away and headed right at me. I could do nothing except stand very still and hunch over, covering my face with my hands...5-8 seconds later, though it felt a lot longer, the cloud moved on past...not a single sting or even a bump (I guess they're pretty goo at flying around objects). It's said that when they're in transit and following a queen, they are extremely unlikely to sting as their mission is to follow her and watch over her...as long as she doesn't land on you, you should be fine...if she lands on you...you might become the bee ball!

Lovely day at the wetlands - despite the heat and humidity. Very few people willing to deal with the heat out there in the swamps, so I have it mostly to myself and the animals don't seem threatened by a single person. This means I can get some pretty tight closeups sometimes! A pig frog, looking up out of the duckweed covered water: I happened upon a 'bee ball' in the pine scrub forest - this typically occurs when a hive becomes too crowded and the original queen moves out - most of the workers follow her, and when she lands somewhere, they surround and protect her. Temporarily homeless, the scout bees will head out looking for a new spot to build a new hive...then will let the group know where to go and they'll settle the queen in and build a new home: This lovely double-crested cormorant was enjoying the rail of the boardwalk and couldn't bother to move when I walked by just 2 feet away...I love their eyes: And a few hundred feet farther down the boardwalk over the main lake, this black-bellied whistling duck had the same attitude, finding me to be no threat worth moving for: An Egyptian goose wandering along the levee: Also barely visible right at the edge of the levee, a row of black-bellied whistling ducklings were walking in a row behind their parents: A juvenile black-necked stilt, only recently free from its parents, was out exploring the wetlands on its own - wandering past this large and gaudy roseate spoonbill: A cattle egret mom, raising her plume after having a near-wrestling match with her two chicks - both grabbed and pecked at her hoping she had some food to deliver when she came back to the nest, and she finally got away for a break:

I can't say my early photography days influenced how I shoot now, settings-wise...back then, I was shooting mostly full manual, setting shutter & aperture and choosing film speed for the situation (77 Pentax ME Super). I occasionally used Pentax's 'auto' mode when I first got it and was trying to learn (I was 9 when I got the camera at Christmas!). I went through a few more automated SLRs into the late 80s/early 90s, including a Canon EOS-IX, which was an APS format SLR...I'd still often shoot them manual, but take advantage of autofocus. As I got into digital in 1997, I considered it an entirely different beast - almost more like using a video camera in those early days (A Sony Mavica 1MP floppy disk 14x zoom)...so I really started learning to use the EVF's display to see my setting effects and start to use more of the digital features that weren't around with film cameras...it was freeing to know I could shoot all I wanted to and only keep or print what I really liked...so I started shooting a whole lot more (cruises with my film camera might mean coming back with 3 rolls of 36 shot...coming back with digital meant 300-500 shots in those early days...and as digital got higher-resolution, more capable, and much better, into the thousands per trip. As I transitioned through P&S ultrazooms, to larger sensor P&S to DSLR, and into mirrorless, I still enjoy taking advantage of building my shot in the camera, using all of the camera's digital abilities and features, often switching between P mode (lazy days, A&S mode (for specific types of shooting like wildlife and long-exposure), and full Manual (long exposure, macro, experimental...or just when I'm feeling retro). The one thing that kind of stuck with me from film days, since I never did my own developing, was the desire to get my final result, or as close to it as possible, out of the camera - so I still remain a big fan of doing all my processing/manipulation while shooting, and shooting in JPG, with no (or very little) post processing on the computer...and not as a statement or position on 'right' or 'wrong' with photography, but purely because that's where I get my pleasure from - the shooting and working the camera...I've never been a big computer geek so I don't really enjoy spending all that much time on one - the idea of hours and hours of editing and tweaking photos just doesn't interest me, so I avoid as much of it as I can.

Yep - back to the wetlands Saturday! Heat index was 118 degrees F, so it was a bit cooler this time. ;). Here are some of the critter highlights: Grasshopper singing noisily away with those wings: Killdeer, stretching out his wing and leg: A very tiny bird, very far away, shot with a very long focal length and a very big crop...but since I hadn't seen a least sandpiper in a few years, I was willing to take what I could get: One more shot of the killdeer, with that lovely orange eye ring: A red-bellied woodpecker, hanging out at the entrance to its new home, which it was carving out last week: A Florida softshell turtle cruising by secretly underwater...except the water was shallow enough that I could clearly see him: A juvenile glossy ibis, waiting for a parent to return and give it some food: A black-necked stilt standing in the shallow water, keeping an eye out for any threats: And the reason for that vigilance is that the juvenile stilt was standing nearby: Also being very vigilant was this momma alligator, sitting up on the bank in the shade, and hiding behind some palm trees, watching me very closely as I wandered past its nest:

Headed out to the wetlands again this past weekend...it's really weighing the ups vs downs - the heat and humidity are oppressive and disgusting, but at the same time, there are so few people there that I almost have the entire wetland to myself...and the critters. I normally walk right past the nature center at the entrance to the wetlands trails and boardwalks, but this time I stopped in to cool off and grab some water before heading out - and while in there, decided to take a shot at the cute baby alligators in the tank: A lovely juvenile pied-billed grebe looking quite fluffy: And speaking of juveniles...this freshly hatched moorhen chick was straying out on its own - at least for such a small chick - mom was about 8 feet away keeping an eye out: I heard lots of small birds in the trees calling out in alarm, and when I looked up, I saw why - a Cooper's hawk was circling high overhead, looking for any birds not paying enough attention to become lunch: A black-necked stilt mom (background) was taking one of her chicks out for a flight - the chicks had only just started flying in the past week or so: This gaudy and bold fellow is one of Florida's favorite birds - the roseate spoonbill: Closeup with a green iguana: One of the juvenile black-necked stilts feeding in the mud flats: Very close up with a double-crested cormorant:

Hot and humid again, the wetlands were at heat index around 118 Saturday...not very many people out there in the summer - and even though there are less birds and wildlife than winter, I find sometimes being the only person out there means I often come upon some species not normally seen, and they don't seem threatened at all with my presence, letting me get reasonably close. So here are Saturday's selections... Black-bellied whistling duck having a rest: And nearby, the ducklings were enjoying swimming and feeding: As with last week, the killdeer were still hanging around the flats: The pied-billed grebe chick was all by itself - I think it was finally old enough to start to learn to be on its own: This red-bellied woodpecker was working on carving out a home in a cypress tree: This young male wood duck was in eclipse plumage...they get much more ornate and colorful when they enter breeding phase: The female wood duck was close by, sitting on a log in the shade with her duckling sitting safely beside her: And a closeup of the adorable wood duckling:

The weekend visit to the wetlands on Saturday...some good sightings, including a first, and a very-long-time-since... Black-bellied whistling duck family: This fella was my long-time-since bird - I had spotted one far away about 5 years ago and couldn't get much of a shot...one flew by 3 years ago too high to get any detail...the last time I got a good shot of one was about 12 years ago - it's called a killdeer: Had to snap a few shots of the killdeer because you never know the next time you'll see one: A yellow-crowned night heron hanging out in the wetlands: And nearby, a juvenile yellow-crowned night heron was taking a deep soak to cool off on a very hot day: A pied-billed grebe was swimming along as the chick with the white and black stripes on his head follows hoping for some food: The never before bird surprise - I will throw in an asterisk on that because technically I've seen 1/2 of one about 12 years ago - was this lovely fulvous whistling duck couple: The previous sighting was a half-breed hybrid between a fulvous whistling duck and a black-bellied whistling duck - as close as I had come to a fulvous until now. One more look at the surprising find - first time I've ever seen or heard of them in these wetlands, and even stranger to find them in the summer: When it's really hot, and you're panting from the heat, the best thing to do is to sit down and have a rest in the shade. This great blue heron had the right idea:

By the way...the one strange Covid effect I got other than the cold stuff was - even before I was feeling any symptoms, my taste buds went wacko. Drinking a sweet tea, I thought I got a bad batch as it tasted like someone put in vinegar instead of sugar. A Coke tasted the same. That night, the cold like symptoms hit. The taste thing lasted 3 days, fading a bit on day 3 - basically anything that was supposed to be sweet tasted like vinegar...even things you don't think of as 'sweet' like tomato sauce or cheeses. I spent 3 days eating mostly bread and water because everything else tasted horrible! Thank you on the sympathies for the heat and humidity - I'm sure many would agree with you and I can't disagree myself! As a former Californian, I miss the concept of dry heat. And that you can have a day that hits 110 degrees, go outside and not sweat...and that night, you can open the windows because it drops into the 60s. Here, we hit 98 in the day, and 82 at night...we don't really ever cool down! (and thanks on the photos comments too!)

Yep - been there, done that. The Covid thing was more of an annoyance for me than anything else - never got any really bad symptoms - just nose and throat...but those positive tests just blast all plans! Fortunately for me, no travel or Covid issues getting in the way this past weekend - just had to march around with the temperature at 98 and humidity exceeding 80% - for heat indexes soaring past 120...then flee before the thunderstorms arrived and hit me with lightning. Here's some of the wetlands activity from this past Saturday: Black-necked stilt flying past me: Green heron standing on the rail, looking annoyed at me approaching - since so few people are in the wetlands, the birds think they can take over the boardwalk: Double-crested cormorant closeup with its beautiful eyes: Cute black-bellied whistling duckling: Smooth looking pied-billed grebe, wet from a dive, yet managing to sit on the mirrored water without a ripple: A cloudless sulphur butterfly: The beautiful male least bittern on a branch over the ewater: And he's on those branches over the water because he can use his secret jack-in-the-box neck to stab down at fish below, for a nice meal:

After missing out on the wetlands for the past two weeks - first because of Covid and second because I was away at Disney, yesterday I was finally able to get back out there to see what I've been missing. There's not as much action in the summer, but that's relative - Florida's most dead season for wildlife is still probably ten times what some places get. Of course, you have to be willing to walk around in 97 degrees with 85% humidity, heat indexes exceeding 115 degrees and constant threat of pop-up thunderstorms. But I just had to get back out there: Double-crested cormorant closeup - love their amazing eye color, and also the blue lining inside their mouths: The beautiful pink birds of Florida are always hanging around in the summer...the roseate spoonbill: The pretty black-bellied whistling ducks have hatched their adorable bumble-bee-colored ducklings, and were closely watching over them: A sneaky male least bittern hiding in the reeds and hunting for fish - I had a sliver between the leaves to get a shot: Closeup of one of the adorable little whistling ducklings: Male red-winged blackbird calling out to its mate: A very surprise visitor to our wetlands...aside from being the first time I've ever seen one at this wetland location, they're also typically winter visitors to Florida, so it was particularly strange to find it in the heart of the summer...the giant American White Pelican: A great blue heron flying past:

OK. So I've been away from the boards for a while - it's been a hectic few weeks, one of which involved no photography, and one which involved some phone shots. On June 2nd I caught Covid from a co-worker...despite the vaccine and booster, it still got through - admittedly my symptoms weren't really too different from a bad cold, with the strange addition of my taste buds converting anything sweet to tasting like vinegar. I managed to get through it by 6/7, and scored 4 consecutive negative tests in time to feel good to go to Disney World on 6/10 for a 5 day trip. That's where the phone came in. The night before I left for Disney, my living room big screen TV decided to die. I didn't have the time to deal with it, but it had me discombobulated and thinking about it as I packed that night. The next morning, I packed my car and headed up to Disney, only to arrive and discover I had left my camera bag with all my equipment sitting back home on my desk in my office. So I had to get by with a phone (and not even a great one - iPhone 8 ) as my sole photographic device. I can say for absolute sure I will never be happy with a phone as my camera...I hated everything about using it - no viewfinder, no dials, no spot focus, just the whole interaction was unpleasant for me. And then just to throw a bonus cherry on top, when I got back from Disney, bought a new TV, got it all hooked up, all while trying to unpack, do laundry, and get back to the office the next day...my AC started blowing warm air. Motor died! So had to get that fixed while getting caught up at work. Phew! So now, looking back, I can add a few shots to this weekly thread - though not much - just some of the Disney snaps with my phone from the 10th - 12th... The Riviera Resort as seen from the Caribbean Beach resort: Cinderella's Castle in Magic Kingdom, with storm clouds threatening: Epcot was having the Flower & Garden festival...here's one of the topiaries of Pooh: A Bambi topiary and display garden: And here's the real Pooh, out with his net: And the Seven Dwarves in foliage version:

More wetlands critters from this past weekend's visit... Black-bellied whistling ducks grooming in stereo: A juvenile little blue heron fishing in the shallows: Egyptian goose: Wood stork mom with two growing chicks in the nest: The cute black-necked stilt chicks are starting to roam around more, with the parents keeping a close eye: Purple martin parents are busy flying all around gathering up bugs for their hungry chicks...when they return to the martin houses, they've got mouthfuls of flying ants: Closeup with a green iguana up in a tree: A purple gallinule chick trying to keep pace with mom crossing an open patch of shallow mud and water: One of the black-necked stilt parents watching her chicks as they wander around and feed: