Hey Everyone,
Well, I’m back from the west coast. Actually I have been back for sometime, I just haven’t been able to get around to writing anything in the blog. I truly apologize for that. Even know I have been back for sometime I have been working pretty hard catching up with business, editing and analyzing all the pictures that I took from Florida and Washington. I have plenty of new photos up on the website. More on that a little later.
I wanted to talk a little about the places I visited in Florida and Washington. My trip to Florida involved more then taking nature pictures. My visit to the warm southern state of Florida was actually for a wedding. Since I would be down that way I would make the best of my off time while there. When I was done working I would be able to photograph the wildlife, my true passion. So with the little time I had left on this trip, I visited a couple local parks and because of the time of year. I would visit a well known place called “Gatorland”. If you have never been there and you might plan a trip to Orlando, look them up. You can find out more information about them here. www.gatorland.com . It’s a pretty neat place and the opportunities for photographing wildlife are abundant during certain times of the year. You can buy special package to be allowed in Gatorland early and late in the day when the lighting is at it’s best. Of course your always assured of photographing the abundant reptiles on exhibit. I spent more time photographing the wildlife flying above or roosting on nest then the Crocodiles and Alligators in the area, which is what the topic of this post will be.
When I first arrived, within an hour I had spotted an Osprey hovering above the palm trees. He was a good distance from my long telephoto lens. I never bothered with him except to keep an eye on what he was up to every fifteen minutes or so. So, my main concentration was the Osprey from the start, but I also would not throw away any opportunity if it came along. Often that would happen, but I would still have that beautiful Osprey in the back of my head wondering what he was up to. Every time I was distracted I would find him again hoping he was still in the area. Sure enough he would be. There was a fellow photographer there from Austria. The gentlemen and I would spend more time walking along the rookery waiting and photographing the area talking shop. Late in the evening we watched the Osprey I had been watching earlier perched in a tree. The day was growing long so we decided to watch this beautiful bird for awhile. Waiting for the right moment we positioned ourselves in an open area along the walk way for him to take off from his perch. After a couple hours he finally flew off. We managed to get a few shots of him, but nothing really to brag about. Thinking the opportunity was a bust, we photographed a few White egrets flying about. At that time I was still interested in the Osprey, wondering where flew off too. He was more impressive to me and I had been watching him all day. I didn’t want to be defeated. I invested a lot time in this bird. I walked a little way from the spot I had chosen earlier when all the sudden out of the corner of my eye. I spotted him flying toward us with something grasped in his claws. I couldn’t make it out, but I was almost positive it was a fish. I just had to capture him with that fish. The question was, “Where was he going with his meal”. We didn’t know, but I wanted to be ready if he got in range of my camera. Sure enough he flew around these two trees planning a landing. At least that is what I was hoping for. I was ready and managed to capture a series of shots of him with the fish grasped in his claws and wings wide open en between those two trees. Only one of these shots was the one. So you see, I really waited all day to get the one shot that made the hole day worth while. The result of that long wait was beautiful. You might have seen it already on the front page of the site.
Osprey with Fish
Copyright © 2009 Chad Davis
Also If you wish to purchase this image click this link below.
http://www.crphotocare.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewImage=3865
The Gatorland visit was one day only, but I would have loved to come back a second day and maybe a third. To get some of these great shots, I spent most of the time at the rookery of Gatorland. This time of the year the birds are building nest and mating. I happen to be a little early when I visited. The time to be there would be late January and February and into March. The birds would be many, that catching a great shot would be guaranteed if you have the patients.
My visits to the local parks. I spent hours just searching for the wildlife to photograph. In deed I found them but getting something beautiful was all together a different story. On the next blog posting I will talk about the visit to the local parks. With that I leave you with a shot of an alligator coming in for a closer look and a link to the newest photos on the website. http://www.crphotocare.com/photocart/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=1005
Copyright © 2009 Chad Davis
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