Well, I said there would be second post on the Florida Opportunities subject. I’m keeping my promise. So let me start.
In the prior post I stated that I searched for a couple hours for the wildlife in the parks. There are more then a few in Florida. Some you have to pay and others you do not. You can guess that ones you have to pay to get in would have plenty of wildlife to photograph. That’s not always the case. I have payed plenty to photograph the animals in Sea World and have come out with very little quality shots. That’s not to say that you can’t get some good shots, but you don’t get the type of shots that say wildlife. You get the shots that say wildlife in captivity.I prefer to photograph animals in there natural environment. When money is tight and you can’t afford the safari to Africa or what have you, then parks are the next best thing. I personaly like to visit local parks that wildlife tend to hang out in. Wildlife refuges are a good place to check out as well.
My visits to local parks in Florida entailed Sea World, community parks and one camping park. The Camping park I had to pay to get in. It didn’t cost much, but hey I thought there would be few possibilities. So I went ahead and payed the money. It included a large lake which usually invites the wild birds and a few alligators if your lucky.
I once tried to photograph an alligator up close. He was pretty small, but when I tried to approach he split in about two seconds. With his small size of 3 1/2 feet long, he was probably more scared of me then I was of him.
I parked my car and grabbed my bag and strap my lucky camera around my neck and made way to the water front. At first glance I wasn’t very impressed. I couldn’t see much in the way of wildlife. The only wildlife I saw was a fish on the end of a little boys fishing pole. Right away, I new what the problem was. The family with the little boy! Most waterfowl are going to keep there distance from people. So I decide I would see if there were any opportunities around the dock area. Sometimes the bigger birds will see if they can snatch a snack or two from people fishing and such. There was no such luck. I looked off into the distance an took a few shots of the area for reference and to capture something pleasing. Often when the wildlife are not around I will see what possibilities lye with scenery. It was big lake, and I thought surely there would be wildlife somewhere around the area. I continued my hunt walking the shoreline of the lake. I finally came across some White Ibis foraging for food in shallows of the lake. About seven in all. My plan was simple get within range and snap off a few shots while they were foraging. Hoping to catch one with something in his beak with water dripping at the end. Those crazy birds had there beaks underneath water more then anything. I guess they couldn’t find much in the way to nibble on because they searched for sometime finding very little except for a little moss here and there. I managed to only capture one shot of one with something in his mouth. The lightning was all wrong so it was a loss. I however did manage to capture a nice liking of one. Normally I try not to disturb the wildlife, but this time. I had to make them a little nervous so they would bring there heads up out of the water to get a nice portrait of one. There a crazy looking bird, long curved and pink beaks. A Full body of white feathers and blue eyes. I spent the better of two hours just watching them along the shoreline. Sometimes you just have to be patient. Often the lightning would be just terrible and I would have to wait until they went to a new area. After catching a hundred shots or more I decided that it was time to go.
I stopped off at another park to see if there was anything of interest. That park was limited, very limited in fact. Don’t ask me what the name of the park was because often I just come upon them going to one location or another. Just driving around or exploring is the best way to see wildlife. You never know what you will see. It was late in the day and it was wearing on me. Not seeing much. I headed out of the small park when I looked up to see an Osprey nest on the wooden electrical pole with an Osprey perched just to the left of the nest. He was pretty high up and it wasn’t the best place to photograph this majestic looking avian. A small pool of water was near by. The possibilities of it having much in the way of fish was pretty slim. If there were any, I’m sure this bird and already picked it clean. My decision to leave was based on that assumption alone. Catching a nice shot of him there was pretty unlikely. My day was pretty uneventful. If there was a good shot in the bunch, it lied with the White Ibis birds. I headed back to base for the remainder of the day.
Here are couple shots from that day of shooting. One you may have seen on the front page of the site already.
The next post will be on the pursuit of the natinal bird, the Bald Eagle in Washington state.
The lake
Copyright © 2009 Chad Davis
White Ibis of Florida
Copyright © 2009 Chad Davis
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