Juvenile Brown Pelican portrait
I like Brown Pelicans and even though I don't see them here in Utah I have plenty of images on file that I took during the period of time that I lived in Florida.
Black Skimmers in flight
I photographed these Black Skimmers in flight at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park in Florida one cool January morning.
Snowy Egret in the mangroves
Snowy Egret in the mangroves below the footbridge so I ducked down and hid behind the mangroves at the base of the bridge to photograph the egret
Great Blue Heron’s reaction to a Great Egret’s intrusion
Back in March of 2009 while I was photographing a Great Blue Heron on the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park in Florida a Great Egret flew in and walked close to the Great Blue Heron and me.
Male Red-winged Blackbird singing on a Mangrove
I don't if this male was successful with the female Red-winged Blackbirds but he sure had me mesmerized with his sleek black feathers and his flashing red, orange and yellow epaulets.
Black-bellied Plover on a tidal mudflat
I love the light and the mudflat setting I photographed this Black-bellied Plover in on a warm April morning in Florida several years ago.
Adult and juvenile American Oystercatchers feeding side by side
In 2008 I spent several months during the summer watching an American Oystercatcher family from the time the chicks were tiny until one of the chicks became independent.
Great Egret In Breeding Plumage
Great Egrets develop fancy plumes when they are in breeding plumage and seem to be quite famous for that but their lores also change color from yellow to a lime green
Snowy Egret in a hurry
Snowy Egret in a hurry that I photographed almost exactly 5 years ago while sitting low in a Florida lagoon.
Greater Yellowlegs and Copyright Watermarks
Which copyright watermark should I use? The small one that doesn't detract from the Greater Yellowlegs or the larger one that would make it harder for image thieves to use?
Snowy Plover on a late September morning
I photographed this Snowy Plover one September morning in Florida and it was actually cool that day... for Florida.
Red-shouldered Hawk from Sawgrass Lake Park, Florida
There are five recognized subspecies of Red-shouldered Hawks with the Florida Red-shouldered Hawks having the palest heads and plumage. I believe this Red-shouldered Hawk adult is from the Florida race, Buteo lineatus extimus.
Landing Black Skimmer
Black Skimmers are known by several nicknames which include scissorbills, knifebill and cut-water for how their bills slice through the water when they are hunting and how their bills snap shut on prey.
Waves and a Forster’s Tern
The nonbreeding Forster's Tern in these two images is the same bird and the images were taken ten frames and a few seconds apart as the tern stood on the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico in Florida.
Reddish Egret Up Close And Not So Close
Today I wanted to share another example of close up and full body images of another one of my favorite birds; the Reddish Egret.
Great Blue Heron up close and not so close
One December morning in 2008 I was sitting in the sand at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach in Florida when a Great Blue Heron came up and perched on a driftwood stump that had washed up onto the shore.
Green Heron reacts to a Broad-winged Hawk
One morning in 2008 I photographed this Green Heron at Sawgrass Lake Park in Pinellas County, Florida as it perched and preened on broken branch that was laying in the water.
Nonbreeding Black Skimmer
When I did my post the other day on "Missing Fort De Soto" I found this Black Skimmer image in my archives while looking for photos to put in that post and wanted to share it.
Snowy Plovers – North America’s Smallest Plover
A while back I did a post on the Least Sandpiper which is the world's smallest sandpiper so I thought I would do a post about North America's smallest plover, the Snowy Plover.
Missing Fort De Soto
Some days I find myself missing Fort De Soto so much it hurts, the birds I found there and the entire experience of just being there. It is just such an amazing place, how could I not miss it?
Spots before my eyes – Spotted Sandpipers that is
So I finally have images of the breeding plumage of this small shorebird that show the spots that gave this bird the name Spotted Sandpiper!
Great Blue Heron Portraits from Florida and Utah
In Florida I found it easy to get close up images of Great Blue Herons because quite often they are used to the presence of humans but here in Utah that isn't the case and Great Blue Herons are sort of skittish.
Five years ago today at Fort De Soto
Five years ago today I headed to the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park despite knowing that there were looming storms off of the coast hanging just off shore over the Gulf of Mexico and I am glad that I did because the light that day on the beach was exquisite.
Piping Plovers
Piping Plovers are small, sparrow sized shorebirds that are endangered and threatened in most of their range primarily due to human disturbance on their nesting grounds.
And We Have Lift Off!
I wanted to share some bird lift off images today so I rounded up a few that showed different styles of lift offs.
Bubble, Bubble, Oil is Trouble
Summertime is upon us now and with it comes loads of people participating in outdoor activities like hiking, sports, camping and activities on the water. Everyone looks forward to warmer weather after winter but some of those activities can impact birds and wildlife.
Eastern Willet in flight at Fort De Soto
There are two subspecies of Willets which Western and Eastern, here in Utah I only see the Western subspecies but in Florida I could see both during the course of a year.
Adult and juvenile White Ibis
White Ibis can be strange looking birds to people who have never seen them before, they have soft, sky blue eyes, skinny legs, long necks and a bill that could be compared to Jimmy Durante's nose.
Semipalmated Plover Image and a Critique
Besides, to have gotten any lower than the Semipalmated Plover I would have had to have crawled down the burrow of one of those crabs
Snowy Egret on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico
This Snowy Egret was photographed as it stood in the shallow water of the Gulf of Mexico at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach one early August morning in 2007.