When my parent’s invited us over for dinner on Memorial Day, I knew it was time to bring the camera for some bird shots. I got a funny one of a male cardinal all kinda puffed up, and we were treated to some baby bunnies that were’nt that shy at all. My outdoor bird and wildlife photography can be seen in my outdoor gallery on flickr. Here’s a few shots from Memorial Day here.
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This fall Tracy and I traveled to Orlando Florida for vacation with Craig and Heather. We had a really good time. Monday we went to Discovery Cove, nd all inclusive resort where we swam in a huge artificial reef complete with rays and a variety of fish, we visited the bird aviary and fed many friendly tropical birds, we floated around the lazy river, and swam with the dolphins in the cove. It was a lot of fun, and included admission to Sea World, which we visited on Thursday. There are, of course, a bunch of photos in my flickr gallery.
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Went to my parents house for dinner this memorial day weekend which also meant I got to do a little bird photography while I was there. I was very happy to see the pileated woodpecker show up and saw three orioles, although they all decided to show up when we were inside eating. Also caught a glimpse of a humming bird as well as several other birds.
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There are more birds and outdoor photos in my flickr gallery.
A trip to my parent’s house on Mother’s Day gave me a chance to take some shots of their birds. They’ve got a good number of feeders and usually attract a good variety of birds. Got some good shots of a white crowned sparrow and some gold finches on the feeder. I hope to get some woodpecker and oriole shots this summer.
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There are more birds and outdoor photos in my flickr gallery.
The day after our first snowfall here in Rochester, I snapped this photo of what I think is an Eastern Bluebird in the tree near our house. The bluebird is actually the state bird of New York and Missouri. This is the first bluebird that I can remember seeing in New York State. I saw one last summer in Pennsylvania. There were a couple at the house, but I never saw them get any seed from our feeder. I hope they came back and were fed.
Wow, three updates in one day? I must have a lot of free time, or just catching up over Memorial Day Weekend. Tracy and I went to my parents house for dinner today, and they have a lot of birds that like to show up at their many feeders. I always say I will bring my camera with some time to see what I can photograph, and this time I did. A couple of Baltimore Orioles showed up and I was really impressed with the shots I got. All photos taken with a Canon 70-200mm lens. Click to enlarge. Bird photos can be found in my flickr gallery.
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This last photo is of the second Oriole that shows up. He has much brighter plumage.
I have a few more photos you can view them in my flickr gallery.
Tuesday 11/17/2009 Day 5: Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge
After visiting the awesome Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum in Titusville, we headed up US-1 towards the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is closed 3 days before a shuttle launch to prevent people from hiding out to see the launch from up close. The refuge borders NASA Kennedy Space Center, and we were sure to drive down to the beach to get close to the pads, although we had already seen the launch the day before. The majority of the pictures from our trip to Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge are available in much larger sizes in my Flickr photo gallery.
After briefly stopping at the visitor center for a map and directions we headed out to take a few wildlife drives, and race out to the manatee viewing platform. Unfortunately there were no manatees at the viewing area, so we returned down the road and took the Blackpoint Wildlife drive. It was an awesome drive and we saw tons of birds and wildlife.
On the way to the wildlife drive we saw many vultures, some Great Egret’s and some Snowy Egrets.
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Once we started on the drive we saw several alligators, and some more birds, as well as an Osprey on one of the Bald Eagle platforms.
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We toured the wetland area and saw lots of birds including lousiana herons.
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We saw a Bald Eagle land on a far away platform. On the way out we shooed a snake off the road so it wouldn’t get run over.
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After doing the wildlife drive, we headed down towards the seashore on a winding road through the marshes. There we got some super close up views of a great blue heron.
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Then after rounding a corner we had to stop the car after another alligator was blocking the road. He was huge! There was no way around, so form a safe distance we got out of the car to see him and take some photos before he slid back into the water. A definite highlight of the whole trip.
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We then made it down to the seashore where we could see the launch pads at sunset and the beach. It was a great end to the day and to the whole trip.
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As always, larger pictures of our full trip to Florida are available from my Flickr photo gallery.
Sunday 11/15/2009 Day 3: Florida Institute of Technology and Cocoa Beach
On Sunday we took a break from our traveling to relax before the shuttle launch. We did go south to Melbourne and the Florida Institute of Technology to walk through their botanical gardens which was nice. There were lots of varieties of palms, bamboo, and lizards too. A lot of the trees had giant pathos plants growing all over them, but the leaves were huge compared to how large they get indoors in Rochester.
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For me, it was fun to see lizards everywhere, but I have a hunch they are like squirrels down there to Floridians. I took the opportunity to take some infrared photos while we walked through the gardens, as the palm plants make really stunning pictures.
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After we walked through the gardens, we went back to the hotel to spend the day at the beach. There were strong rip tides because of the remnants of Hurricane Ida that went up the coast, but we still did some wading. It was a very rough surf, and you really got pushed around by the waves and currents. But you gotta go in the ocean when you go on vacation, so we did.
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As always, larger pictures of our full trip to Florida are available from my Flickr photo gallery. Day 4 includes our photos of the shuttle launch.
