Well kept secret

I've driven by Largo Central Park for years and didn't even know it was there! I decided to venture in this morning to see what I could find and I was pleasantly surprised at the variety of wildlife available.

A nature trail meanders through several different kinds of habitat. Starting with a walk around a lake, then through a woodland area, followed up with a marshy creek area. Among other things, I managed to see Osprey, Moorhen, Alligators, Limpkins, Anoles, Snakes, Blue Heron. I spoke to a nice lady on the boardwalk surrounding the lake and she tipped me off to where to find some otter. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to spot any, but I did stumble across a Limpkin that was more than willing to let me take several shots.

It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning and I fully expect to make it back sometime soon.

(Click on photo to see full size image on Flick)

My first sighting of the baby owl!

After a hot tip from my mother, I met my friend Robert at Honeymoon Island after work this evening to see if we could spot the Great Horned Owl family - more specifically, the baby. We weren't disappointed.

Upon arrival, I found the baby owl perched proudly in his nest. He's gotten quite big so at first, I mistook him for one of the parents. After I focused in with my 300mm I was able to tell that this was no parent!

The baby made a willing subject for about 45 minutes before returning to his nest to catch a nap before the sun went down. Both parents were close to the nest as well, though they were fairly protected high in the pines and it was difficult to get a clean shot of them. Regardless, the trip to Honeymoon Island was well worth it as I got to see my first baby Great Horned Owl!

(Click on photo to see full sized image on Flickr)

It's Post Time!

This afternoon my family and I decided to go to Tampa Bay Downs to see if we could catch any good action shots. We met up with my friend Robert and we were treated with excellent conditions for the shoot.

It took a few races to get the hang of the best way to approach these impressive animals. Once we did, the memory cards started filling up - I managed to snap off over 640 shots in about four hours. Here are some of the better ones, more of the photo's can be viewed on Flickr.

(Click on photo to see full size image on Flickr)

Bust!

I had an ambitious schedule this evening - I wanted to get pictures from several different locations. Central Ave in St Petersburg, The Pier, the Sunshine Skyway, and finish the evening off with pictures from Derby Lane. Unfortunately, I didn't have much luck.

For starters, the sky wasn't cooperating. It was far too hazy to get any decent 'landscape' type shots so The Pier and Sunshine skyway were out. I did manage to get some pretty nice Pelican shots while shooting on the North Fishing Pier of the old Sunshine Skyway bridge, but that was about it for the St Pete photos.

I still had high hopes for getting some really nice shots as I was meeting my wife at Derby Lane - a local greyhound track. I had my camera and extra memory cards in my pocket ready to go. We got to the gate and were informed that no cameras are allowed in the track! Wow, what a bummer. Tara and I went in and placed some bets anyways. We both won the first race so maybe it would turn into a profitable evening after all. Unfortunately, we both did very poorly on our next six races. After each contributing about $50 to the local economy, we called it a night.

(Click on photo so see full size image on Flickr)

Surf's up!

We had a nice little storm roll through this morning and there were high winds in the afternoon. I thought I should head down to the beach and see if I could find any surfers. My original intention was to go to Honeymoon Island but I thought I would check out Sand Key first - I'm glad I did!

The water was thick with surfers adorned in black wetsuits - it almost looked like a herd of seals! The waves were breaking between 6 and 8 feet. Those aren't Hawaii size waves but for Florida, those are big! The wind was gusting up to 30 MPH and the skies had cleared giving me a great opportunity to get some awesome action shots.

(Click on photo to see full size image on Flickr)

Let's play ball!

This evening my wife and I decided to head over to the Clearwater Threshers game against the Lakeland Flying Tigers. The Threshers are a minor league farm team for the Philadelphia Phillies. We walked up to the ticket window about 10 minutes before the first pitch and were able to score $6 tickets in the first row right behind third base. Wow!

This is the first time I've ever try to photograph sports so it was a new challenge for me. Suprisingly, The results are much better than I had expected. I also quickly found out that my 300mm lense was too big to handle some of the plays in the field, and not quite big enough to get some of the players facial expressions. Perhaps a catalyst to get the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lense? (I ace dream right?).

(Click on photo to see larger version on Flickr)

Take that mom!

For years, mothers everywhere have told their children "Stop playing with your food!". I'm 39 years old now so if I want to play with my food, my mom isn't going to stop me!

I had planned to spend the day shooting photo's but the weather wasn't exactly cooperating this morning so I took the opportunity to go to the local produce store and get some props for some things I've been wanting to try for awhile.

I have to admit, I saw a similar pineapple face a couple of weeks ago so I decided to try my hand at it. I was able to get some pretty decent shots for $11 and a few hours on a Saturday afteroon.

(Click on photo to see full size image on Flickr)

Backyard Lilly

My wife was doing some yardwork and she really wanted me to take some pictures of this lilly. It was in the shade and it was fairly breezy out so it was definitely a challenge to try to get some of it in focus - especially with my extension tube.

(Click on photo to see full size image on Flickr)