Rains

Water, water, everywhere! This part of Florida has had a little over a foot of rain this month. I've sort of hibernated through it, can't drag the cameras around in a downpour.
The roadside ditches are brimming, millions of little frogs, snakes and crawfish are on the move, and the wading birds know it. Some stretches of our country roads are lined with hunting egrets, herons, storks and ibis.
I thought I had a good series of shots, then discovered that while messing around with the camera I'd set the ISO to 3200. The only shots worth keeping were a few I took on the cameras auto setting. I'll go ditch cruising again this weekend, the birds should still be there.

SPRINGTIME IN THE SWAMP

I made another visit to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, got a late start, and the Sun was too high for best exposure. The Wood Stork and Great Egret chicks are big, and loud, constantly demanding to be fed. I still haven't seen all I want to see this year, it will take another visit.

ST. AUGUSTINE ALLIGATOR FARM ROOKERY

I spent several hours on Wednesday at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery. It is a paradise for bird watchers and bird photographers.
Breeding and nesting season is at it's peak, and the rookery offers a chance to see and photograph Florida wading birds from up close.
I can't praise the gator farm enough, it is a fine zoological park.
The birds aren't captive, they're wild and free. The rookery provides an ideal place for nesting, and significantly increases our bird population.

NEW CAMERA

I've made the jump to a DSLR, a SONY A-200. I love my Panasonic FZ30 and old Olympus C2100UZ, but I'm ready to expand the limits. There will still be times when one of the older cameras will be just what I want to use, they are both fine tools.
I've neglected this blog lately, I'm trying to adjust to prescribed meds I have to take, and one of the side effects is that you feel sleepy. I sure can't have that, it's no kind of life at all! I need to get outside and move!
We've had some wonderful rains, the ponds are brimming, everything is greening up, flowers appearing everywhere, and the birds building nests or already raising chicks.
Pictures will be anywhere you look, just be there with a camera, springtime will provide the rest!

WELCOME, AND THANK YOU FOR VISITING

To all the new visitors coming in from Stumbleon, thanks for visiting. Stay for a while, and put in a word or two.
I'm always glad to talk about St.Augustine, and St.John's County wildlife watching, and can tell you of the best places to have a camera handy.

Too many things eating up my time!

I really know I just can't run around with my camera sll the time, but I don't have to like it!
I went to the little freshwater pond near the saltmarsh yesterday. Not a creature in sight, but I sat there and waited. A few Ring Billed gulls and Laughing gulls sailed in and started to bathe. Then came a flock, about 15 birds, of White Ibis, and some Boat tailed Grackles and 4 Fish Crows. They were all busy splashing, and then along came a Little Blue Heron, in full breeding plumage, and it landed right in the middle. I took 235 shots without moving a foot. I can't show them all here, but the ones I've processed are in my Pbase and Photobucket galleries.
I'm ready to go to the Alligator Farm to check out the rookery. The Great Egrets and wood Storks are nesting, the other birds will come along later. It is an experience you have to see to believe, a bird lovers fantasy.
On the way home from the pond, I looked up, the little male Red shouldered hawk that lives around here was posing on an old power pole. Usually he sits on a wire, he must know I don't like wires in my pictures, LOL

BLUE SKIES ARE BACK!

Pretty day! Plenty of Ospreys around, I found one that would pose. The cross is on the grounds of Mission Nombre De Dios, next to Hospital Creek. At 208 feet it stands over all of St. Augustine.

CLOUDY DAY BLUES!

Today started out sunny, but that didn't last. I managed a few shots coming home from grocery shopping, but the light was failing fast. I won't complain too much, I could be up to my ears in a snow bank!

In The Slow Lane

I'm sure not getting much done around here, but the photo gear is ready to go for bird nesting season. I need oxygen from time to time, if I push too hard, and figuring out how to carry a small tank on my motorscooter is challenging. It needs to be safe and secure.
I had to choose between maintaining a car or truck, or being able to do some of the things I really enjoy, the retirement check only goes so far. The motorscooter solves that problem.
I'm currently using a Panasonic FZ30, often with an Olympus TCON-17 lens. The combo gives me about 900mm of reach, with decent results if I do my part. I also still use an old Olympus C2100UZ, the classic that started the ultrazoom concept. It's only 2MP but capable of excellent results. You need good pictures, not big pictures, and the MP race doesn't impress me much. Most folks will never print at greater than 8X10, the 2MP Oly handles that very well. High MPs in a DSLR, with a sizeable sensor, are an asset, with the small sensors in "bridge" cameras and point and shoots high MPs usually mean overworked sensors, oversoftened pictures, or noisy pictures.

Always Something

Tuesday evening I started smelling hot electrical insulation. I couldn't locate a source, figured it was coming from somewhere else. Later that night the AC unit died. I installed a new AC, soon as I turned it on, I turned it off, it wasn't sounding right. FPL checked out their end, all OK there. This place is old, time to rewire the AC circuit. I dug a new breaker out of the junk pile I cherish so much, pulled a length of new 12/2, put in a new receptacle, I'm good to go! The fumes from the well water are rough on copper and brass wires and contacts.
I spent most of my life with no AC, got to have it now, with my bad lungs.
I did manage some pics on Wednesday, on the way to SAHS.

HAWK STRIKE

The Red shouldered hawk made a kill in the yard today, it happened so fast I don't know what she got. The yard birds and squirrels scattered, a puff of feathers exploded way up near the top of the Live Oak tree, and I heard the beat of wings as she pulled out of the dive. No noise at all coming in. Fast doesn't really describe it! It took a while for everything to calm down, and didn't take much to send the whole crew running for cover, but they soon forget, and go on as normal.
One of the Brown Thrashers came in to the yard today, they usually stay in the thickets. When they show up you've got to be ready, they don't strike a pose and sit there. A female Ruby Throated Hummingbird was sipping from the few flowers on the Milkweed and Lantana. I got the feeder cleaned out and set up for them, and more flowers are coming later.

Pretty Weather

I made another slow trip to the high school yesterday, spent some time along Hospital Creek.
The Snowy Egrets use a hunting tactic that involves running around like crazy, it panics the prey out of hiding. I've never seen a collision, but it must happen. The Great Blue didn't hang around long, I tried to catch it as the feet cleared the water, just fired the camera off a little fast. The Merganser was alone, but still doing some of it's display ritual, as were the Laughing Gulls. There were several Boat Tailed Grackle pairs at the boat ramp pond, but so much trash was in the water and around the pond that it was disgusting. I used to pick stuff up, just can't physically do it now.

Bird Blind

Closer is always better than all the lenses you can hang on a camera, image quality degrades with every foot you are from your subject. I've had a screen house in the yard for several years, one of the portable models, but it takes time to set up and take down, and the weather took it's toll on things. It worked OK, the screen was hard enough to see through from outside that the birds didn't notice me so much, but you had to sit very still for the shy ones.
I found a small hunters blind on sale at Gander Mountain, 60 second set up and take down, rainproof, 6 pounds, and fits on the motorscooter. There is room for a lawn chair or stool, and a tripod, just right! It needs some screens added to keep skeeters from coming through the viewports, but that's a simple job.
New pics in the galleries, I just haven't had time to create slideshows.

The Yard Crew

This isn't all of them, I didn't include the bugs, spiders and furry guys, or any snakes, turtles, lizards or gators, or fish. I'll cover them later. It's never lonely out here, the hammock vibrates with life, just sit and watch.

Alligator Farm Report

Word from the gator farm is that the Great Egrets are getting down to business building nests. The other birds will be right behind them. This Saturday the season photo pass will begin to allow early admittance to the park. If you plan on several visits this is a great way to save some money.

STEP SITTING

Won't be long now, things will start happening at the Gator Farm Rookery. I try to get there 3 or 4 times a year, when the birds are nesting.
It is something to see, the birds nest over the gator ponds, no smart furry critter is going to risk it's hide trying to climb trees there, to steal eggs or chicks. The birds need the gators, and the gators get any chicks that fall or get shoved out of a nest. It is the birds who benefit most from the relationship. Not many calories in a heron chick. By mid April the place is a bird watchers dream, normally shy birds will nest within just a few feet of the boardwalks, and pay no attention to you.

I had planned to get out and chase some critters today, didn't get far, just sat on the steps and watched birds. The light under my oak tree isn't good this time of year, and that is where the birds wanted to be. No pictures!
Tomorrow is another day, the weather should be good, no excuses, got to go catch some pictures.