Sandhill Crane Family 2022
We have had a pair of sandhill cranes roaming our neighborhood for several years. They always bring their new chicks by to show them off. Back in January they sent last years chick on his or her way to starting his or her own family. Mamma and papa crane have been coming by together without any chicks. Several weeks ago they started coming by individually. Mamma would come by in the morning and papa would come by in the evening. We assumed this meant that they had eggs in the nest. Then about 5 days ago they stopped coming all together. We assumed this meant the eggs had hatched. Finally they brought their two beautiful new babies by, proudly showing them off.
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Frog and Reptile Macro Workshop with Mike Matthews Photography
The organizers of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival expanded the photography offerings for the 2016 festival. One of the photographers that joined the festival this year was Mike Matthews. (click here to see Mikes web site.) Mike conducted an amazing macro workshop with an interesting cast of characters.
Mike brought with him 10 to 15 species of exotic reptiles and amphibians like this very cool three horned chameleon.
He not only brought along some very cool subjects to photograph, he also brought the sets to photograph them in. There was a whole room full of small props and backdrops. Mike would expertly place one of the reptiles in the set then you instantly have a great photograph. Mike enjoys teaching photographers the tricks of the trade. He was very helpful with camera exposure settings as well as lens and flash selections. A well placed drop of water on a lizard’s mouth would create a fantastic image as the lizard licked the drop with its tongue. This was a great workshop! Not only were you able to learn all about the wonderful world of macro photography, but you came away with some world class images. Another one of the many reasons why you need to get your butt to the 2017 SCBWF!
I want to thank Mike for allowing me to follow him around and photograph his workshop. He helped me get some good photos as well as helping his workshop attendees get good photos. I only wish I would have had more time to see some of his other cute little friends.
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The Little-Big Econ State Forest
Another amazing Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival field trip: The Little-Big Econ State Forest. I was anxious to photograph this field trip; I have not been to this area before. I know Little-Big sounds a bit contradicting, but this is where the Little Econlockhatchee and the Big Econlockhatchee rivers come together, hence Little-Big Econ.
The field trip was led by biologist Lorne Malo from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, wildlife biologist Selena Kiser, Angel and Mariel Abreu with Nature is Awesome Tours. This was my first trip with Loren, he knows this area and its history very well. I have been on other trips with Selena, Angel and Mariel, they are all excellent birders! This is another reason why you need to attend the SCBWF. You could visit this area on your own no problem, but you would not have four expert birders with you. They know the area, they know the birds, they are great at sharing their knowledge with you. SCBWF field trips are a wonderful learning experience. I learn something new on every trip. For instance, on this trip I learned about mistletoe. In Florida not many trees lose their leaves. The ones that do sometimes have several balls of green leaves among their bare branches. I always figured they were some sort of parasitic plant. I learned from Lorne that it is mistletoe and that cedar waxwings like to eat the mistletoe berries.
The Little-Big Econ was beautiful. It was almost like walking through a prehistoric jungle. The mist was rising off of the river. The eerie call of the pileated woodpecker. I was expecting to see a dinosaur at any moment. There were no dinosaurs, but Lorne expertly lead us through the many trails to where we were able to get a good view of an eagles nest. There was an eagle in the nest to boot! We could not see into the nest but the eagle seemed to be tending eggs or maybe very young eaglets. The female eagles are very noticeably larger than the males. This is quite evident when you see them together. This was a large eagle, my guess is that it was the female. I travel light and didn’t have enough lens to get a decent photo of the eagle. Besides the eagle, we saw many types of birds on this trip. The Little-Big Econ is a great place to go birding. Fun was had by all.
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2016 SCBWF Opening Day
The 2016 Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival got off to a beautiful start. I enjoy taking photos for the SCBWF each year. On the first day of the festival there were several field trips planned at the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. My plan was to meet up with a few of the field trips and photograph them. The sunrise was stacking up to be a good one, so I found a good spot to photograph it. This particular area is a berm road with water on both sides. I was facing the sunrise; to my back there was a row of mangroves and the other body of water. Just on the other side of the mangroves there was a huge flock of American coots, but I didn’t know that at the time. Shortly after the sun rose above the horizon something spooked the coots. Possibly an eagle looking for a coot breakfast. The huge flock of coots made a frantic dash for the sunrise side of the berm road. They were crashing through the mangroves and stumbling onto the road. Several of them flew into my car! (no one was hurt.) The water dripping off of them as they flew over me made it feel like it was raining. It was quite the sight, coots everywhere with the beautiful sunrise for a backdrop.
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After the coot fly-in I went in search of the field trips. I met up with Shiv Verma on one of his daily photo walks. Shiv’s photo walks are sponsored by Panasonic. This is cool because Panasonic provides Shiv with lots of new equipment. As part of the photo walk, you not only were able to get some expert photography advice from Shiv, you could also take the new Panasonic equipment for a spin. Grab the new Lumix mirrorless camera and plop it on a new 4800mm scope, wow! One of the many perks of attending the SCBWF. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to play with the toys.
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Next, I met up with Kevin Karlson on his Birding by Impression field trip. He has recently co-authored a book of the same name. As well as writing books, Kevin is an excellent photographer and also did photography classes and workshops at the festival. I have gotten to know Kevin over the years and his field trips are always among the best at the festival. Birding by impression is a technique of bird identification that he has been perfecting over the years. By observing the birds size and shape, as well as the behavior of the bird, you are able to ID the bird when traditional field marks are not clearly seen. It is an interesting concept and Kevin is fantastic at explaining it. The 2016 SCBWF was off to a great start.
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Fishing Together
I think this grackle has been hanging out with his friend the osprey way too much.
If you want to see birds like this doing the things birds do, come to the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival.
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Breakfast by the pool
I was having a quiet breakfast by the pool. The sun was making it’s way higher in the sky. As the sun moved higher, it started to create some interesting light and shadows in the pool. As I said before, “I can’t let interesting light and shadows go unphotographed.” So I went into the house, grabbed my camera, and took a few photos. The water was totally calm and flat, so I did make a few ripples in the water. I thought the image looked better with the ripples, than without the ripples. I like the way they make the light dance on the bottom of the pool. Boggie was looking at me funny, wondering what the heck I was doing.
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Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival 2015
Here are some of the highlights from the 18th annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival.
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Birders from all over the United States and several other countries gathered in Titusville, Florida for the SCBWF the last week in January. Although January is typically Florida’s coldest month, and it was one of our coldest weeks. I’m sure visitors from the northeast, who were in the middle of a deep freeze, were happy to be here. Birders both young and old had a great time and saw lots of birds. The youngest birders rivaled even the guides. They didn’t miss a bird and were able to name every one!
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The early bird catches the worm! Birders tend to take that phrase pretty seriously. No worries though, it’s my favorite time of the day!
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Back at the exhibit hall you can do some shopping. There is everything from great arts and crafts to that new kayak you have always wanted. Pick out a new pair of binoculars, or plan your next birding trip to some exotic place. Visit the art show and pick out your favorite piece of art. Don’t forget to look at the birding checklist board to see who is seeing what birds where.
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The entertainment is fantastic! After a long day of birding in the field, save some energy to enjoy one of the evening keynote speakers. You will be glad that you did!
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Take a class to learn how to be a better birder. Then go out in the field with the best birders in the country, and put what you have learned to use. Don’t be afraid to ask a question. All of the field trip leaders are happy to answer any question you may have. No matter how trivial you may think it is, there is probably another person thinking the same thing, and will be happy you asked the question. These people love to share information, and are happy to help you out. Take advantage of it!
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Titusville has a large variety of birds. One of the reasons this area is a great place to go birding is the diversity in habitats. There are several types of habitats in very close proximity. This makes it very easy to see many different birds in a short period of time.
If you hang out here too long, don’t be surprised if you start acting like a bird!
A great time was had by all! If you have never been to the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, I hope you will plan on being here next year! If you have been to the festival, I hope to see you again next year!
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The Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, Where the action is!
The Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, Where the action is!
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2014 Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. A field trip to St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park.
The 17th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival (SCBWF) in Titusville Florida, has grown to be the largest birding festival in the country. The festival is attended by people from all over the country as well as from several other countries. Once again this year, I was asked to photograph events at the festival. I always have fun photographing people taking part in festival activities. The SCBWF has something for everybody. Whether you are a beginning birder, someone who just loves getting outdoors, or a seasoned birder, you will find several festival activities to enjoy.
Looking to add that elusive bird to your life list? Sign up for one of the many field trips offered at the festival. The Red-cockaded Woodpecker and the Florida Scrub-Jay are two birds that many birders would like to add to their life list. A great place to see both of those birds is at the St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park. If you want to take advantage of this field trip, you will need to wake up early! The bus boards at 4:30 am!
The first stop was the park visitor center to meet our guides and resident experts, Samantha McGee from the St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park (SSRPSP) and David Simpson of Birding with David Simpson. Samantha gave us an overview of the park and some information about the birds we would be seeing. The great thing about the SCBWF field trips is not only the very knowledgeable guides that take you right to the birds, but the festival makes special arrangements with the locations to give you VIP access. The SSRPSP doesn’t normally open until 8:00 am. We were there much earlier! Also, we were transported in State Park vehicles to locations in the park that you would otherwise need to see on foot. That saved us a several mile hike.
This field trip leaves so early in the morning, because the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers leave their nest cavities so early in the morning. Samantha is pointing out several tree cavities as we wait for the birds to emerge. It’s worth the wait, as the woodpeckers emerge, they perch on an adjacent tree and showoff for us.
Watching the woodpeckers chasing each other from tree to tree as the sun rises above the horizon. They put on quite a show for us.
Taking time out to photograph a nice Florida landscape.
David Simpson, in the plaid shirt,of Birding with David Simpson helping out with bird identification.
The Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (RCW) are a highly managed bird. Park biologists keep an eye on all of the RCW’s in the park. Here, Samantha McGee is explaining how they manage the RCW population. The RCW use live, long leaf pines to build their nest cavities. Most other woodpeckers will use any dead tree to make a nest cavity. This makes the RCW a very habitat specific bird. This is why preserving habitats like the SSRPSP is so important! Park biologists have been helping by making nest cavities for the RCWs. It can take over a year for a pair to create their own nest cavity, so they are very happy to move into the man made nest cavities. All of the long leaf pines with nest cavities are marked with a white band around the tree trunk. There are several young birds in the park that have nest cavities ready and waiting. They just need to find their mate, move in, and start their own families. Thanks to Samantha and her colleges, the RCWs here are doing well for now. It is a very fragile situation and could go one way or another at any time.
Peeking through the scrub oaks watching a family of Florida Scrub-Jays. The Red-cockaded Woodpeckers are not the only habitat specific bird that the SSRPSP manages. The Florida Scrub-Jay is another bird that needs a very specific habitat to survive. They will only survive in a scrub oak habitat. The scrub oaks need to be of a certain height and density. If the scrub is too short the birds will not move into the area. If the scrub grows too tall the birds will move out. The health of the scrub habitat is managed by fire. The scrub habitat is burned periodically to maintain the height and density. Scrub-Jays are interesting birds. They work together as a family group to protect each other from predators. The one predator they can’t protect each other from is the loss of their habitat.
Sometimes when you are out in the field birding, you never know what rare or unusual bird you’re going to encounter.
There is no better way to cap off a great day in the field than lunch at the Marsh Landing Restaurant. It was nice listening to everyone’s birding stories. The food was great too! Once you finally make a decision between all of the great things on the menu.
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I needed some exercise!
For the past few months I’ve been in somewhat of a creative slump. Sort of a photographer’s block. I didn’t feel creative enough to take photos. The photos I did take didn’t end up looking the way I wanted them to. When I take a photo I get a vision in my mind of how I want it to look. My vision and my camera somehow become one. Lately though, my vision and my camera have been disconnected.
Creativity is like a muscle. You need to exercise it or it will get weak. My creative muscle was getting weak. This is the time of year when we get some nice fog in the mornings. I like taking photos on those foggy mornings. There were a couple foggy mornings that snuck up on me and I missed them all together. There was one I was ready for; I woke up early, and it was nice and foggy. I decided to go across the river to the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. Big mistake, there was no fog on that side of the river. I took a few photos, but nothing I was real happy with. My creativity and my camera were disconnected still.
I kept my eye on the weather for more fog. The other day there was a chance of fog. I woke up early and looked outside, I didn’t see any fog. I went back to bed, and when I woke again there was fog. I guess I checked too early and the fog hadn’t formed yet. It was too late to get to where I wanted to photograph; I was very discouraged. I expected the next day to be foggy too. I decided to get out early and take some photos, fog or no fog. I needed to exercise my muscle. There was some fog, but it was very spotty. I drove over to the wildlife refuge. The first thing I came across were some black skimmers. They were skimming over the mirror smooth water. The sun was still below the horizon, but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity. I took a few good images, and LOTS of bad ones. As the skimmers moved on I was treated to a beautiful sunrise. I moved back across the river to the marina. I found a few nice images on the way to the marina. Once at the marina I found another one of my favorite subjects: reflections.
All in all, I think I was able to give my creative muscle a decent workout. My creativity is feeling stronger and I hope that my creative slump is waning!
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I don’t always get the photo!
I needed to get a good photo of a red shoulder hawk. I was at the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management area a few weeks ago and I saw a nice one. The hawk was hunting in a location that would make it easy to get a good photo. So when I needed to get a red shoulder, I thought I would return to the TWMA. Hopefully my friend, the red shoulder hawk, would still be there. I knew it was a long shot; things rarely work out the way we want them to. I arrived at the Tosohatchee in the morning to take advantage of the morning light. I drove to the place where the he had been hunting on my previous trip. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen. I drove deeper into the TWMA to maybe find another hawk. I did see a kestrel, but he was too far away to get a good photo. I thought this may be a good time to go back and check on my red shoulder friend. I drove back to his hunting grounds and still no hawk. I still had lots of time, so I thought I would drive around and see what else I might find. I only got a few yards and I saw a pretty swallowtail butterfly on a thistle. I got out of the car and started to photograph the butterfly.
I took quite a few photos when I finally looked around me. There was not just the one butterfly; there were 15 – 20 of them on thistles all around me.
I was having fun with the butterflies when I heard my hawk calling close by. For the longest time I could only hear it calling to its mate. Then I saw it flying over the trees. The hawk was heading toward the area that I had seen him in before. I followed his flight through the trees. I was looking through the trees and I saw him. He landed in a dead tree. The tree that he landed on, although it was in plain sight, it was way too far away to get a good photo. We sat and watched each other for the longest time.
He looked at me and I looked at him. He must not have been totally looking at me. He jumped off of his tree and down to the ground, as if he found something to pounce on. I watched for the longest time, but I never saw him again that day. I failed on this trip to get my hawk photo, but just because you fail at your main objective, that doesn’t mean the whole trip needs to be a failure. Even though I wasn’t able to take any great photos, I still saw lots of cool things and had a great time in the field!
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- I ended up seeing over a dozen hawks that day.
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- I saw this eagle sitting on a power line tower. The eagle stared at me through the steel bars of the tower for a long time before it flew.
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- I saw some pretty purple flowers.
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- I saw some pretty yellow flowers.
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- I saw some cute and fuzzy critters.
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- I saw some not so cute and fuzzy critters. But don’t tell the armadillo that it isn’t cute.
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- I saw some mean and nasy critters.
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- I saw a space alien.
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- I saw some cute and not so fuzzy critters.
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- The one that flew away. Why do birds wait until you set your exposure, focus, and then fly before you get the photo?
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- THE END!
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The Wetlands
The Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera is a great local birding site. It’s known locally as the Viera wetlands. The wetlands are part of the water treatment plant for the area. You’re probably thinking why would I want to go birding at a water treatment plant? It’s dirty, smelly and yucky! Well it’s not. It’s actually a very nice place to visit. The treatment plant has created several ponds of water to help them filter the treated water. Over the years, plants and vegetation have grown in and around the ponds, helping to filter the water. When the vegetation showed up, so did the birds. There are several pairs of breeding birds at the wetlands. This makes for great viewing during nesting season. If you only have a short time and want to see lots of birds, the Viera wetlands are the place to go! But plan on spending some time at the wetlands. You never know what’s around the next corner and you won’t want to miss it. During the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife festival I photographed two fieldtrips at the wetlands. The first fieldtrip to arrive was pretty much a straight up birding group. The fieldtrip was led by Michael O’Brien and Louise Zemaitis, two excellent birders. Michael and Louise are very knowledgeable on all things birding. They are fantastic at explaining all about any birds or habitat that you are seeing. This is a great fieldtrip for all levels of birders; you will defiantly learn something new.
Don’t drop your lens hood off of the observation deck. I will photograph you in an awkward position trying to fish it out of the water!
The second fieldtrip to arrive at the wetlands was a photography workshop led by Kevin Karlson. Kevin is a fantastic bird photographer as well as knowing a great deal about birds. Kevin Karlson and Mikael O’Brien along with Richard Crossley co-authored a field guide titled “The Shore Bird Guide.” This is a must have guide for identifying shorebirds. However on this trip Kevin Instructed the group on how to photograph birds in flight. The day before Kevin gave a class on photographing BIF and today is a hands on extension of that class. I for one have a hard time photographing birds in flight. It doesn’t seem like it would be that hard. The bird flies by and you take his photo, easy, right? Not really, usually the bird is out of focus, or not exposed correctly, or both. Kevin is a great teacher and he works with everyone until they get it right. He uses this amazing technique where he changes his exposure as he is photographing the bird. You need to be keenly aware of what direction the bird is flying as well as what direction the light is coming from. Depending on the situation you may need to add or subtract exposure as the bird flies past. You also need to be very familiar with your camera and how its settings work. This technique takes a huge amount of practice. Once mastered, the results are excellent bird in flight photographs. Kevin also explained all of the other BIF issues like focusing, lenses, tracking the bird, and many other things that come up when photographing BIF. This was an excellent workshop and I’m sure the participants (me included) learned a few things.
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The Big Year!
Each day of the festival is capped off with a speaker from the birding world. Most are usually well-known naturalists and biologists who work at different conservancies around the country, but there are also photographers and other ornithologists featured. These lectures are presented in an intimate auditorium on campus that allows easy Q&A and audience participation. I’ve been to many and they are always very entertaining.
The first night’s keynote featured Greg Miller. Back in 1998, Greg did what the birding world calls a “big year.” This is when a birder crisscrosses the country to see as many bird species as possible in a calendar year. Quite the achievement if you can pull it off. Especially since Greg was holding down a full time job at the time. Greg was one of three birders to each get over 700 birds that year! Phew, that’s a lot of birds! It turned out to be a heated competition between the three birders. It made a very interesting story. So interesting in fact, Pulitzer Prize winning author Mark Obmascik wrote a book about it called The Big Year. The book caught the eye of the people at Twentieth Century Fox. They made it into a movie, also called The Big Year. The movie stars Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson as the three birders doing a big year. The Jack Black character was based on Greg Miller and his escapades during his big year. Greg told the festival attendees his amazing and humorous story about doing his big year, having a book written about it, and being involved in the movie. Greg was asked to be a bird consultant for the movie. He was not sure if his consulting duties would entail meeting any of the stars or not. As it turns out, Jack Black had never portrayed an actual person before. So Jack wanted to get to know Greg and they actually did some birding together. Wow, can you imagine birding with Jack Black! Greg tells a very funny story about getting to know Jack. He eventually got to meet Steve Martin and Owen Wilson as well. Greg is a fantastic story teller. He had the audience in stitches as he told them of his big year, well years, as it turned out. I have been attending keynotes at the festival for years and Greg’s story has to be one of the best! If you have not seen the movie The Big Year, I suggest that you run right out now and rent it! It’s a great story and an entertaining movie.
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The Birding Festival Exhibits
After spending the morning photographing the Turkey Creek Tract field trip, I headed back to the festival. The festival was held at the Titusville Fl. Campus of Brevard Community College. This was the nerve center for all festival activity. I spent each afternoon photographing festival activities around the campus.
The festival hosted many classroom presentations. They covered a wide range of subjects including birding, bird species, bats, butterflies, conservation, reptiles, optics, photography, and travel.
The exhibit area was set up in the large gymnasium on campus and spilled out into the hall way areas. This is where attendees register and pick up their festival badges, where the silent auction was held, and where the evening socials were held. This is also the meeting and departure place for many of the field trips. There are a wide range of vendors that set up their booths in the exhibit area. If you’ve never been to the festival, and want to get a taste of it, and live nearby, this is the place to start! You don’t have to be registered or signed up for anything to stop in and take a look. You may find a location for your next travel or find a craft to take home. You may even start birding!
The Raptor Project puts on several raptor shows each day. There is limited seating on the stage for the show, so you need to arrive early and get a $5.00 ticket for the show at the festival registration desk. Between shows you can go onstage and look at the birds and take some photos.
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Turkey Creek Tract Field Trip
My first day as a Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival photographer started early. I needed to meet the birding group at 6:45am and it’s about an hour’s drive from Titusville. I needed to photograph a field trip in the Turkey Creek Tract of the Charles H. Bronson (not the actor) State Forest. I had never been to this site before, so I was eager to see what’s there. The Turkey Creek tract is smack dab in the middle of nowhere! The roads were narrow, winding and dark. I’m glad I left the house a bit early. I was the first to arrive at the meeting place. That’s good, because I have equipment to get ready and I like to have a bit of time to unwind before getting started. It was still pitch black. The stars were sparkling in the sky. The buzz of the power lines overhead was the only sound. As I got my gear ready I was listening for owls. This seemed like the perfect spot for a barred owl, but none were hooting this morning. The Turkey Creek Tract is normally closed to vehicles. You can hike the roads of the tract on foot, bicycle, or horseback. We will not need to do any of those. The festival has arranged for transportation in forest service vehicles. It pays to know people. The birders and our forest service vehicles arrived just as the sky began to show the first light of the day. Our festival field trip leader, Dave Goodwin, of the Florida Ornithological society, instructed the group on the day’s events. Everyone climbed aboard our forest service vehicles and we were off for a day of birding!
The Turkey Creek Tract has several different types of bird habitat. This is one of the reasons that it makes a great place to go birding. We stopped at each of these types of habitat to see what birds were going to say hello to us. The first and probably the best stop is in a pine forest. This particular pine forest is the home of a pair of eagles. The eagles have built their nest in a large pine tree just off of the road. We all got out of the vehicles to look at the nest. The female sat on a branch just beside the nest. The male was flying from tree to tree to get a better look at all of us getting a look at them.
We couldn’t see inside of the nest, but at this time of the year they should have a few eaglets. The eagles were talking to each other as the male flew from tree to tree. No doubt he was making fun of us silly humans watching them. Before I got too caught up in watching and listening to the eagles, I remembered I’m here to take photos of the birders birding. The sun was not quite up yet so this proves a bit of a challenge.
I needed to increase my ISO and even then it was hard to get a fast enough shutter speed. The birders were moving around and looking through their binoculars to get a good view of the eagles. I didn’t think it would be proper to ask them to stop moving around. I managed to get a few “OK” photos before we decided not to wear out our welcome and move along. It was so early I didn’t think that any of the other birds were out of bed yet.
A good part of the Turkey Creek Tract is pasture for grazing cattle. The cattle were not the only animals grazing in the pastures. There were several small herds of deer as well. Probably the most deer I have seen in one place in Florida. Sandhill cranes were also grazing in the pastures. I see them all the time, but to out-of-town birders it’s quite the sight. We stopped alongside of a grassy meadow to get a look at some sparrows and meadowlark.
The St. Johns River marks the eastern most border of the Turkey Creek Tract. We made two stops along the river. The St. Johns River is a great habitat for lots of shore birds, ducks, gulls, and herons, not to mention alligators. Fortunately, we didn’t run across any gators on this trip.
The highlight of the St. Johns River stops, for me anyway, were the large flocks of white pelicans. The white pelicans are one of my favorite winter visitors to our area. Unfortunately, they were out of camera range, so I was unable to get any photos of them. There were also several varieties of warblers and a kingfisher entertaining us as they were fluttering from shrub to shrub.
A special thanks to Dave and Stephen, (in the green jackets) our Forest Service drivers. Not only for driving us around, but they told us all kinds of interesting things about the area.
The last habitat on our tour of the Turkey Creek Tract is a hardwood hammock. The hammock is a great habitat for warblers, vireos, and many other birds. We got to see some white eyed vireos and blue-headed vireos.
A red-shoulder hawk stopped by to see what we were up to. A few eagles circled overhead to keep an eye on us to make sure we were staying within the guidelines of the American Birding Association. I guess we were doing OK because they moved on. We had a great day birding at the Turkey Creek Tract. We got to see many more birds than the ones I have mentioned. The one bird that you would expect to see at the Turkey Creek Tract was a turkey. They must have heard that a group of birders was heading their way and decided they better hide.
Check your list!
I had a great day photographing and watching the birdwatchers. I had fun bird watching too. Hmmmm, the photographer might be becoming more of birder. My day however is just getting started. I still have lots of festival to photograph.
To be continued….
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A week in the life of a SCBWF photographer
It was once again time for the 2013 Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. My wife and I have attended some of the field trips, classes and keynotes at the festival for several years now. We always have a lot of fun and learn some things about birding. We are not your typical birders, yet anyway. We just like birds and watching birds from time to time, nothing too serious. I will always take any opportunity to get out and enjoy nature and hopefully find a few nice photos along the way. You may not be familiar with the intricacies of birding as a hobby. We weren’t either. Birding as it turns out is like a sport and birders take their sport very seriously. You need a proper birding uniform and proper birding equipment. There is also a birding etiquette that needs to be followed as well. As my wife and I soon found out, birding is way more than just looking at birds.
The serious birder looks a bit intimidating at first. They look very impressive dressed in khaki. Wearing their birding vest to keep all birding essentials close at hand. A big floppy hat and binoculars strapped to their chest like a bandoleer. A huge spotting scope attached to a tripod, slung over their shoulder. The birder is like a warrior headed into battle, ready for anything the elements may throw at them. A very impressive sight indeed. Come to think of it, that’s how I look in the field as a photographer! Hmmmmmm, a birder is not necessarily a photographer and a photographer is not necessarily a birder. In many ways though, I think they are similar, but yet very different.
There is no need to fear the serious birder. One just needs to say hello and ask them, “What did you get?” Suddenly the birder transforms from warrior, to a friendly fountain of information. Spelling out in detail the bird or birds they have seen, where the bird was, what the bird was doing, the bird that got away and any thing else you may need to know. So if you happen upon one of these warriors of the wilderness say hello and you will make a new friend for sure.
Last year I was given the opportunity to be one of the festival photographers. I had a wonderful time! I met some great people and took some nice photos. So this year I was once again eager to take on the task of a SCBWF photographer. The festival is jam-packed full of things to do for the birder and non-birder as well. A typical day at the festival for the birder starts with an early morning field trip to one of many local birding sites. After the field trip the birder may want to take in a classroom seminar or two. Then maybe a stroll through the exhibit area with lots of artists, vendors, and tour guides. There is an evening social to get a bite to eat, mingle with fellow birders, and exchange stories of the day’s adventures. The highlight of the day is the nightly keynote speaker. The festival invites leaders of the birding world from all over the country to share their experiences with festival attendees. I, of course, want to photograph them all. It’s not possible, but I try. The festival organizers and I work together to come up with things they would like photographed and things that I would like to photograph. So with my list of things to photograph in hand I set out to photograph the 2013 SCBWF. To be continued…
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Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival 2013
A week in the life a SCBWF photographer
I have spent the past week as a photographer for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. It was a great week for birding! The weather was fantastic! I got the chance to speak with many of the festival attendees. Many of them were from northern parts of the country, caught in the grip of a frigid cold snap, seeing temperatures well below zero! They all agreed it was way better to be birding in Florida. The birds were great as well, I will need to check the festival stats to see how many species were counted at this years festival. I was able to add a few new birds to my short, but growing life list. I’m more of a photographer than a birder, but I’m learning. It was a long and grueling week. My days started well before dawn and ended well past sunset. It took me a whole day of rest to recover! It was well worth the effort, I met lots of great people and took lots of photographs (over 2,600). It’s going to take me a while to get all of the photos ready, but as I do I’m going to share some of them, as well as my experiences here. This years SCBWF was awesome! This is my second year as a festival photographer, I have spent many years prior to that as a festival attendee. I always have a great time at the festival. I hope you will enjoy my thoughts and photos as much as I have enjoyed creating them.
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The Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival
I will once again be photographing the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. Birders from all over the United States attend the 6 day festival. Activities include workshops, field trips, class room presentations, keynote speakers and a large vendor area where birders can get up to date on all of the latest birding gear. The Raptor Project will be presenting their birds of prey show. There are workshops and field trips for photographers as well as birders. From novice to expert there is something for everyone. I will be following along with some of the field trips and taking photos of birders, birding and having fun. Check out the festival web site here. If you download the 2013 festival program PDF you will see some of my photographs. I had a lot of fun last year and I’m looking forward to this years festival. Here are a few of my photos from last years festival.
roy thoman photography 