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.

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.

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.

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.