Stormy Afternoon at Lake Apopka North Shore

Storms all around

Even though some stormy weather was imminent, there were still some photo ops at the new Lake Apopka North Shore wildlife drive. Heading out there around 5 PM I wasn't sure if I would see much, but reports of many alligators was enough incentive to go. We didn't see as many as others but there were still plenty. Other than the usual birds and gators we spotted a bob cat ahead on the road but too far away for a clear photo.

Gators hiding in the duck weed

 

Horse Farms and sunrise

There are miles of fence line surrounding the beautiful horse farms that Ocala is famous for. The fog added some mood to the photo and it just seemed to want to be in black and white.

In search of Sunrises

I am always looking for new photo spots to shoot the sunrise or sunset. A recent scouting trip revealed a small park on Little Lake Harris in Howey-in-the-hills. It only to about 45 minutes from my friends house to get there. The park has a small dock, some smaller docks and shoreline vegetation. The sunrise on a scale of 1 to 10 was about a five. Several boats were launched but I could not get either one in focus due to their movement and low light. After shooting the sunrise we headed towards Tavares to see the updates to the park there. Wooton Park is known for the seaplanes that fly in there. There were also some boat docks, a splash park and a new event space on the water. This might be an option for shooting sunsets in the future. The breakfast spot was the Sunshine Grill in Tavares in a small strip mall on SR 441. It was busy which is always a good sign. Good breakfast and very reasonable pricing. The biscuits were very light and tasty!

 

Little Lake Harris Sunrise



Near Lake Sylvan Park

Closer to Home . . .

My new favorite (closer to home) place for birding is Lake Apopka North Shore.Before late May, this was a walking and biking trail only. Biking was more doable but walking was difficult due to the expanse of property. You pretty much had to just walk so far and then turn around and go back. Of course, the walk back was always farther! In late May a section was opened up to vehicles from Friday through Sunday. This may not be the ideal time of year for birding, but the birds were plentiful even though the variety was limited. Green herons, great white egrets, great blue herons and osprey were seen in numbers. Most of my "shooting" was done from the car. It was extremely hot and getting out of the car usually scared them off. A new sighting was the stilt families. One had only one youngster but the other had two. Next year, I hope to catch them a little earlier.

Bucket List - Burrowing Owls, Check!

I never thought I would see burrowing owls without having to drive to the West coast of Florida. When I heard that there was a burrowing owl family on Joe Overstreet  I just had to check it out. Even though it seems to be late in the season for birding and not to mention how hot it was, I thought it was worth driving out there. The first trip out was on Saturday morning arriving around 8:30 a.m. That is late for photographers since the light is a little harsh. Unlike other owls, burrowing owls are active during daylight hours. When they have young they are hunting to feed their family. The owls build their nests on the ground using a wide range of materials including mammal dung. It is believed that the dung helps to control the microclimate and attract insects which they can eat. They are known to sit on fence posts along the pastures so that is where my friend spotted the first burrowing owl. From there watching it fly out into the field we saw the rest of the family. They have three babies currently. It was very exciting to watch the owls and take photos of course.

Along the drive, we also spotted numerous meadowlarks, loggerhead shrikes, red shouldered hawk, doves, mocking birds, turkeys, and a bob white. The road ends at Lake Kissimmee where we also spotted sand hill cranes, limpkins, white egrets, cattle egrets, stilt, and moorhens. The second day out there there was a bald eagle near the lake and a juvenile eagle about 15 feet away from him. A kildeer was sitting on a nest in the gravel near the building protected by some carefully placed clay pots.

I am still struggling with getting a proper exposure when I have a dark bird against the bright sky background. This is something I will have to work on and not depend on software to open up the shadows. On the second trip out I had to stand on the edge of the car to get up high enough to get the blurred out green grass background. It was more successful than having the sky in the background.

After the second trip out to Joe Overstreet, we stopped for breakfast at a local favorite, the Koffee Kup, in St. Cloud. It's a great little breakfast spot, one that I will stop at again.

Bob White at Joe Overstreet

More Equestrian Events

First time shooting horse jumping. The first challenge is understanding the course and which way they will jump. Next is timing to get the horse and rider in mid air as they clear the barricades. The third challenge is finding a spot with no distractions in the background.

Fog at the Track

Southern Oaks Training Center was socked in with fog this morning. It always makes for some interesting, moody photography. The downside is that the light is lower and for action, the ISO must be bumped up making for grainier photos. I am sure it was easier for us to take these foggy photos, than for the horsemen driving their horses.