Month: April 2022

Moose said, “we’re not going to stop to photograph alligators.” That was fine with us. We had a sensational three days with our target species, the Snail Kite. Gator hunting is a big deal in Florida and apparently Lake Kissimmee has some prized big ones. Luckily it wasn’t gator season when we were out on the lake — at least we didn’t encounter any hunters. We saw a few small gators as we buzzed around and we didn’t slow down, let alone stop, for any of them. But this one, lurking in the lilies and the floating pennywort, was by far the largest we saw. Our captain thought it was a ten foot gator. Then, on our second pass around the floating island, Captain Mark announced that it was probably twelve feet, a monster. We didn’t stop specifically to photograph it. I can’t recall why we stopped briefly but we got pretty close to this big gator in our airboat and I thought I’d get a shot. And, with a 700mm reach on my camera, I could barely fit its entire head into the frame let alone any of its body. So, whether it was ten feet or twelve feet, it was big enough. Although a few of its teeth are barely visible, I was happy that we never saw its gaping maw.

As much as I travel on photography specific trips, I still practice my photography when I’m home. First, I love to take photographs. Second I love my new Nikon Z9 and jump at every chance I get to try out a new techique with it. Third, I’m always looking for something new for my blog although I have thousands of photographs in my archives. And fourth, my next adventure is a challenging place to photograph birds so I need to practice my technique. At the end of April, I’m going to Magee Marsh near Lake Erie in Ohio. Dozens of species, mostly tiny warblers, are migrating north now and Magee Marsh is a necessary resting place for them before they continue their journey and fly over the expanse of Lake Erie. I’ve been there twice in the past. I know that Magee Marsh is a challenging place to photograph small birds because of the narrow boardwalk crowded with other birders and photographers. Even more challenging is that these tiny birds are often hidden in the leafy branches of trees and shrubs and spotting them, let alone focusing a camera on them, can be very difficult. As I think about it, the scenario at Magee Marsh is much like the shrubs in my backyard. The small Lesser Goldfinches and sparrows as well as the Anna’s Hummingbirds hide among the leafy branches. Spotting them is difficult. Photographing them once spotted is even more so. Hence, my practice. I’m grateful for the auto focus system on the magnificent Z9 and coupled with the NikkorZ100-400mm lens that at 400mm focuses at slightly more than 3 feet, they make a dynamite combo. My practice yesterday was my first for this trip and although I managed to get some in focus shots of White-crowned Sparrows and Lesser Goldfinches amongst the leafy branches, I preferred the images I captured of the female Anna’s Hummingbirds after they emerged from the shelter of the leaves. I was just about 4 feet away so I was able to fill the frame with the tiny bird at 400mm and without using in camera cropping with DX mode. More practice today!

A Boat-tailed Grackle squawks behind a Florida Snail Kite that is trying to eat its Apple Snail in peace. Fortunately, the primary food of the grackle is seed so there was no competition. But, when the grackle flew into the Kite’s personal space seconds before I took this shot, the Kite opened its beak threateningly as if to say, “stay away!” Apparently the Snail Kite wasn’t quite sure and he still looks pretty grumpy.

When Captain Nate whizzed through the middle of a large field of water lilies I didn’t expect to find a nesting Sandhill Crane on a nest built on a floating clump of lilies. But there she was. The crane immediately stood up, stretched her long legs over the nest and stepped into the shallow water revealing a single egg in the nest. She immediately began to forage and root through the lily pads extracting pieces of reed and sludge from the water seeking something to eat and completely ignoring us. Florida Sandhill Cranes do not migrate and they live there year-round home. Still, it was an unexpected surprise to encounter this large bird nesting among the water lilies.