3 hours on Merritt Island

pathfinder

I was in Orlando, last week, visiting my son, who is working at Disney MGM Studios, and took an afternon off to explore the Wildlife Sanctuary on the north end of Merritt Island.

I only had about three hours of light in the late afternoon on a grey overcast day, but I wanted to see if I could find any of the wildlife. These are a few of the frames I shot.

A snowy egret I believe


A wood stork in flight


Some roseate spoonbills


And I believe, this is a sandpiper, perhaps Correction - Harry tells me this is a Greater Yellowlegs!!


I also saw night herons and Great Blue Herons as well. Quite an amazing experience. I'm looking forward to February, Harry!

Osprey Whisperer

Some nice shots, Path. I like that woody. The lighting around here has been really poor lately. Guess it's winter. Look at the bright side (punny)...you didn't have to shovel a path to get to the birds or wear ski gloves. That shoot in February should be fun. I've put in a request to Harry for eagles and single women. :

Thusie

Ohoo nice, love the egret, the reflection, very pretty.

Rohirrim

Great series. Love the reflection with the Snowy.

DoctorIt

the snowy and the piper - holy reflections! gorgeous!

bfjr

Very nice series PF
but yes the snowy reflection take the prize !!

pathfinder

Thanks guys and gals, I'm glad you liked the reflections and the snowy egret in particular.
Here is another of the snowy - not sure it is as good, but the background is less distracting

[imgl]http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/49170785-L.jpg[/imgl]



















































And another spoonbill spoonbilling:):
[imgr]http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/49170559-L.jpg[/imgr]

Harryb

Good shots PF, especially when you consider the rotten weather you had, Today was the first time I've seen the sun in close to a week.

Merritt is still a bit slow but should be in full swing come February. The one shoot looks more like a Greater Yellowlegs than a sandpiper to me.

pathfinder

Thanks for the kind words Harry. :

I wondered about a Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), but I had never seen one, just a picture on page 456 of Reader's Digest Book of North American Birds. But it listed its territory as upper Canada and Alaska, so I was confused and uncertain, and used a more generic name. Thank you for correcting my error.

If things were slow the week of Dec 14, I am really looking forward to February. I saw more species in just a few hours, than I could have believed. WOW!! I was surprised to see numerous spoonbills as well as egrets, herons, shorebirds and other species. Amazing!

You'll enjoy gluwater - he was fun to shoot with in Mackinaw City last fall.

tmlphoto

Nice work Path. I am looking forward to Feb. We see some Herons and Egrets up here, but its very rare to see a wood stork. Looks like a great variety of birds down there.

pathfinder

Thanks Thomas. I was so amazed at what I was able to see in just three hours - and Harry called it SLOW! There were several wood storks around. Here is another

Harryb

pathfinder wrote:

Thanks Thomas. I was so amazed at what I was able to see in just three hours - and Harry called it SLOW! There were several wood storks around. Here is another

Yeah, its a bit slow yet. Here's a couple of shots from last year's shoot.

ginger_55

Really nice shots, Pathfinder. For some reason I am really drawn to the "lesser" colors on the Spoonbills (that is a bird I don't have).

That is a great perspective you got on the snowy!

We had a pretty clear morning once some high clouds burned off, but our snowys, and other birds, they were bundled in the lee side of some marsh grass with their feathers all blown up.

This afternoon was warmer, but I didn't do birds this afternoon.

Really good shots. Especially good as I think Snowys can be difficult to expose for unless you are prepared. I always have to move my EV down from egrets, even.

ginger

dallas

My vote is for the snowy egret..........