Wildlife Photography across the Water: turkey vulture.brown headed nuthatch.downy woodpecker.muscovy duck

Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Florida diaries 5

Since we have moved inland the challenge has been the weather, The last couple of days have seen a lot of rain along with some lightening especially in the afternoon and evenings, I have been doing the Disney thing and have wanted to get the firework displays at night but so far its been rained off, Today (Tuesday) i got up early and looked out of the window to see fog, Not good or expected, I decided to get my gear together and head to Gatorland where news was that the rookery is the place to be, I only had a max of a couple of hours and having not been there for 20 years it was more of a recce, Well 2 hours and 8 gigs later there were a few nice images in the bag, I decided to concentrate on the Egrets with chicks but i always keep my eyes open for birds in flight of which there were many, Gatorland in Orlando is very different to Gatorland in St Augustine, Here the big lens came into its own whereas in St Augustine i never used it, The good news for me was that i also managed a couple of new species to my portfolio, The Black Vulture and Ahinga, I also improved my Cattle Egret images, I purchased a photographers pass for today which allows me entry early and late so i will do both sessions and hope the weather is kind which looking at the forecast it will be
Since being in Orlando i dont seem to have a minute to spare so here are a few images that caught my eye
ALL FULL FRAME

Dave

Tuesday, 9 February 2010

A Fun Day

Yesterday we had some very nice spring like weather, I was on my way back from the shops when for some reason unknown to myself i took the long route home, I drove past a dead opossum in the road with a turkey vulture on it, The vulture flew on top of a post as i past it so when i got home i grabbed my D3 and 600 with a 1.4x and went back, When i arrived there were 4 vultures and another couple circling above, I find Vultures can be quite shy but these stayed around a while mainly showing off to each other rather than eating, I got some shots but a few people drove slowly by and in the end they flew off, I decided as the weather was nice to pop down to the local lake and take some duck shots etc as i knew that the light would be in my favour at that time of day, I set up but could hear a commotion in the nearby trees and found a wood downy woodpecker poking its head out of a hole and some brown headed nuthatches dive bombing it, I guess he had taken their hole, I watched for a while and then set up to see if i could catch the action on camera,It was a tall order and i never got the shot i wanted, I really could have done with a flash to help freeze the action but instead i had to set the camera at max aperture and the ISO to 1600, That would mean i would need to get the nuthatch and woodpecker in the same field of view which unless the nuthatch fluttered in front of the hole would be impossible, Anyway i have put a few images that were the best of 200, The weather isn't so good again today but i hope to try again tomorrow if the woody is still there, Its a good time of year to start checking out tree holes as birds are starting to get ready for spring, The Muscovy ducks were very inquisitive sitting on the board walk hand rails watching people go by so i grabbed some images of them as well, The tight head shots being a good test for focus accuracy

Dave

Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.