Gatorland - A Great Place for Bird Photography!

This weekend I made my first visit to Gatorland in the Orlando, FL area for this year.  Every year during bird nesting season this is a wonderful place to get great images of a number of wading birds.  In the Rookery area of the attraction, back behind the more touristy areas, there are hundreds of birds, feeding, nesting and taking care of their young.  There is a spacious boardwalk that goes the full length of the marsh and pond that they have for their breeding alligators.  The bushes and trees that grow along this pond are a perfect place for nesting as many of the predators that go for nests are not an issue here due to the presence of the alligators below.  In many spots you are within a few feet of active nests.   Gatorland has several special access deals for photographers that allow you to come in early and stay late so you can take advantage of the better light.  These times are also when the greatest numbers of birds are in the Rookery.

 Things are running a bit late this year due to the unusually cold weather we have had in FL but there were several Great Egret nests with chicks.  The Tri-Colored Herons are displaying and a few have started nests.  The Snowy Egrets, Wood Storks and Anhingas are in various stages of the process.  Only a few Cattle Egrets were around and one or two Great Blue Herons.  There also several Roseate Spoonbills.

Breeding and chick rearing will be going on into June so if you are in the area, Gatorland is one place you should checkout for birds!

There are more bird images on my website, so check them out.  I will be making more trips to Gatorland as the season progresses so check back for even more images.

That's all for now.

Turn that camera on!

Lynn W.

More Spring Flowers!

I made another trip to Kerby's Nursery this weekend and here are a few more flower images that I made! 

Enjoy!  Even more images on my website.

That's all for now.

Turn that camera on!

Lynn W. 

Spring has Finally Arrived in Florida!

I felt somewhat like a bear coming out of hibernation this weekend, finally, Florida like temperatures and weather!  I decided to make a trip to my favorite local plant nursery to see how they fared through the very cold temperatures we've had and to see if they had any spring flowers to shoot.   

Kerby's Nursery in Seffner, FL is turning 30 years old next week!  It is a family owned nursery.  The kids are running it now and they have gone all out.  If you are in the Tampa area I suggest you check it out.  They are very nice to photographers, especially if you buy a few plants now & then.

Each year they have been bringing in more plant species that are not that common in Florida. Icelandic Poppies are not really a flower you would expect in Florida but they have found a grower that is producing them!  So I get to shoot one of my favorite flowers I remember from my childhood days up north, at least for a few weeks before it gets too hot.

They also try to have unusual varieties of common flowers.  See the strange Pansy below.

They have a large number of other colorful flowering plants.

 Check out your local plant nursery for those spring flowers!

I have added a bunch more images to my Flower Gallery so check it out! 

That's all for now!

Turn that camera on!

Lynn W.

My First Snow in Many Years!!

I made a business trip to Ohio last week and as luck would have it (not according to the Ohioans) there was still a couple of feet of snow on the ground!  Even though we lived in upper state NY when I was a kid I have not been back up north or anywhere when there was more than a dusting of snow since my family moved to Florida.  So our 2 day trip to the Cleveland area was a chance for me to try my hand at shooting snow images!  I had to use the exposure compensation and do a bit of post processing work.  In the short amount of time I had I was able to get a few shots of Westfield Center, OH.  I small company town about 30 miles from Cleveland.  

 

It was fairly cold for as Floridian but I ran around and captured some of the quaint buildings and the "SNOW".   

 

There are a few more images on my website.  

Enjoy!

That's all for now.

Turn that camera on!

Lynn W.