Central Florida & Tampa Area Update
This weekend was one of my best in years.
Of course it helps going out with James out in Hillsborough Bay.. spoons galore and the reddish egrets and white morph reds were in amazing spring colors; oystercatchers; miscellaneous shorebirds; brown pelicans in breeding colors; night herons, etc.
Now on land, DeSoto in the PM was slow but fun. Had the 2 reddish egrets to myself for over 30 minutes (including the white morph), their breeding colors were stunning. really a good catch if you're out there.
I missed the curlew out there, but there were the regular birds you'd expect to see; terns; godwits; plovers; etc. However, they tend to clump together so it's hard to get a clean shot of them. Did get a pair of oystercatchers there in the late pm for about 15-20 mins too.
Spoke with some birders there who reported migrants by the mulberry bush, however, the berries are not quite ripe yet so activity there should improve in a few weeks.
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Had some great action at Dinner Island Wildlife Mgmt Area in Hendry County. on the way in the morning, saw a couple of STK's flying by and in the park, a bunch of photo ops of Eastern meadowlarks; red shoulder hawks (never seen so many and they'll pose for you too at eye level). You have to shoot from car primarily.
Pileated woodys, and a pair of barred owls who are reliable. also saw different types of sparrows and ground pigeons there which are fun to shoot; and migrants that are impossible to shoot as they are too **** skittish.
The STK's are not in Dinner Island but are visible on 533 on drive in from Snake bite road.
Also, lots of deer in the area which are fun to photograph.
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The areas along canoe creek road from Cypress Lake all the way to Yehaw Junction was cooking in the afternoon yesterday. Saw 3-4 barred owls at Cypress lake and several RSH and the action when they see each other is quite a sight, though hard to shoot.
Lots of sandhill cranes there as well and mockingbirds and cardinals.
Joe Overstreet had several meadowlarks, but the nice thing was having cara cara perched at eye level for you; again, lots of hawks; and a pair of horned owls and several pairs of pileateds closer to the lake.
On the drive from Overstreet to Yehaw, I had to get out of the car ever so often as I spotted 2 pairs of bald eagles; 1 immature eagle; 4 STK's, several sandhills, just to name a few. Only managed a few flight shots as the lighting was harsh/backlit from where the eagles were perched and feeding.
The action was good and getting some keepers was even better. What sucked was while I was focused on a horned owl atop a phone pole, all of a sudden a RSH came at him and he lashed out at the hawk. I only got the owl as even at 400, too much lens to get the owl and the hawk.
Oh well, it was fun to watch.
