Welcome back to Wetlands Wildlife!

[zackiedawg]

It's about time. Today, for the first time since mid-May, south Florida had a day that was NOT in the 90s! We had our first verifiable cold front come through, dropping our temps Saturday night to around 57 degrees, and remaining that way through about noon, after which we gradually warmed up to a top temp of around 70 and windy. Alas, it will all be gone after tonight - we reach around 62 tonight, and tomorrow, the high is right back up to 80s, and rising thereafter.

So what better to do with a lovely cool day than to charge up the camera which has been sitting in its bag since Disney, and head out to the swamps where I hadn't been since early June. It was a good day for it - lovely temps made the birds more active, and cooler temps brought the gators out of the water to suck up some sun to regulate their body temperature.

A sampling of the day at my two favorite wildlife reserves...all in all a good day, considering we don't have our usual compliment of winter migrators yet. All taken with my DSLR-A300 & Tamron SP 200-500mm F5-6.3 DI II:

Here, a very close-up of a young purple gallinule:

Here's a wind-blown great egret, fishing for lunch:

Standing practically on top of this tricolor heron:

Lucky to catch this osprey coming in for a landing on a branch:

Not too long after, he decided to fly off again:

Here's a sunbathing gator...when the temps drop, these cold-blooded reptiles have to absorb as much sun as they can to warm up...they open and close their mouth as needed to dissipate extra heat if they get too warm. Good thing for bipeds with cameras...gators are more lethargic in cooler weather!:

This tricolor heron gave me a nice fly-by opportunity:

Here's one of my favorite ducks, the black-bellied whistling duck, with her awfully cute spotted ducklings:

Some people pay good money at spas for this type of treatment!:

Some more happy ducks...these were the mottled variety:

Hope you enjoyed a tour through the wetlands on a cooler Florida day. Now, if only I can get another cold front to get down here soon!

 

[AndrewWG]

Very nice pics! I can't wait to visit my parents in Sarasota this winter andmake my yearly trip down to the everglades. So much fun photographing all the wildlife.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Very nice pictures Justin - thanks for sharing.

The picture of the cute ducklings surrounded by the pics of the gators did make me think of something. Lunch!

 

[jann1033]

nice photos.... although in my area we think of a "cold front" as more around "30" and a heat wave at "70" for this time of yr
wonder if you mind sharing which preserves these are from. just in case we happen to get any place near Fl this winter.

 

[zackiedawg]

Thanks all. The birds and wildlife are year-round down here, but really start to pick up in the 'winter'. Yeah, we don't have much of a winter, which is why all the birds from YOUR part of the country come down here for the winter...along with quite a few of the people too!

These shots were all taken from my favorite local wildlife refuges...Wakodahatchee Wetlands and Green Cay Wetlands, both on the Delray Beach/Boynton Beach border. Though I also like to frequent the huge Arthur Marshall State Wildlife Refuge and bordering Everglades National Park...these two local wetlands projects are MUCH better for photographers, and for those who really want to see the bird and wildlife. In the Everglades, you have a vast tract of land for hundreds of square miles, and though filled with wildlife, you have to look for it or be patient...when you do see some, it's a few here, a few there. In Wakodahatchee and Green Cay, you've got just a few square miles packed full of literally millions of birds, along with gators, raccoons, otters, rabbits, snakes, turtles, and more. You can hardly walk a few feet without a sighting, and sometimes there are literally hundreds of animals in a single clearing. Plus, they are used to people walking through, and have no fear to sit within 5-10 feet of you. Both are free to enter...Wakodahatchee is just a boardwalk and levee trail network, while Green Cay also has a visitor center with some and interactive shows/displays.

 

[jann1033]

thanks i bookmarked them so hopefully i won't have to ask again

 

[AndrewWG]

Alot of my travels into the wilds of Florida tend to be on the west coast as that is where I usually am staying. I tend to go to Myakka State Park, Ding Darling on Sanibel, and south to Naples and Shark Valley in the Everglades. I have had great luck in all of these places as far as finding wildlife! Never an issue. Here are some of the photos from our last trip there 2 years ago.

 

[zackiedawg]

Myakka and Ding Darling are much smaller, the way I like them - more concentrated with wildlife. West coast has some great spots for sure. Shark Valley is a bit more like Arthur Marshall is for us - bigger...but you can certainly still see lots of wildlife there. it has more of the natural, wide-open Everglades feel though, where long lenses and patience pay off. At Ding Darling, like Wakodahatchee and Green Cay, you can shoot wildlife even with a compact pocket cam...it's everywhere and it's close!

Nice shots Andy...I like the roseate spoonbill and night heron. The roseates haven't come over our way yet...they tend to be more visible starting December on our coast.

 

[jann1033]

i remember Andy's shots of the spoonbills from a few yrs back cause i was jealous...last time we went to sebastian inlet and i got some bird shots i liked but not spoonbills...i remembered ding darling but forgot the other one. Husband just told me if he gets the couple jobs he just bid on there might be some Fl fun days ahead...here's hoping

Andy what is the first bird? i don't remember seeing one with a mask like that?

and even though they aren't tropical, i did just learn cuyahoga valley national park ( like maybe 20-30 mins from me)is big for birds( on that Audubon bird trail or whatever it's called) especially bald eagles in Nov. so might have to go take a look. i did see an eagle there a week ago( sitting on a bare branch, maybe 30 ft away) would have been a great photo but was on a moving train and for some reason i couldn't get a fast enough shutter speed to not get blurs( even at 2.8). maybe due to the tinted windows???????

 

[AndrewWG]

i remember Andy's shots of the spoonbills from a few yrs back cause i was jealous...last time we went to sebastian inlet and i got some bird shots i liked but not spoonbills...i remembered ding darling but forgot the other one. Husband just told me if he gets the couple jobs he just bid on there might be some Fl fun days ahead...here's hoping

Andy what is the first bird? i don't remember seeing one with a mask like that?

and even though they aren't tropical, i did just learn cuyahoga valley national park ( like maybe 20-30 mins from me)is big for birds( on that Audubon bird trail or whatever it's called) especially bald eagles in Nov. so might have to go take a look. i did see an eagle there a week ago( sitting on a bare branch, maybe 30 ft away) would have been a great photo but was on a moving train and for some reason i couldn't get a fast enough shutter speed to not get blurs( even at 2.8). maybe due to the tinted windows???????

Jan,

The first bird is a yellow crowned night heron. He (or she) was a showoff at Ding Darling. I was real close to him on one side of the road and he went across the road and let me just follow him with no fear of me at all. That was such a fun trip! I can't wait to go again. We have no WDW plans this year so this may be the year for wildlife again!

 

[Evad]

Great pics Justin and Andy!! Thanks for sharing. Makes me think how boring it is here as we have nothing like that in southern Ontario.

 

[zackiedawg]

You do have the big geese though, yes? Don't know when they leave and head down south, but I wouldn't mind shooting some of those great herds of birds!

 

[Evad]

You do have the big geese though, yes? Don't know when they leave and head down south, but I wouldn't mind shooting some of those great herds of birds!

Shoot away as we have waaaaaay tooooo many of them up here. In fact they should be heading your way right about now!! Have fun!!