Everglades: Day 2

We woke up this morning and headed back to the Anhinga Trail to get a couple of hours in before heading back home. The Anhinga's were photogenic as always and I ended up getting several nice shots. After we got our fill of the half-mile boardwalk, we started back home.

First stop, Shark Valley. We got there a little later than we should have and it was quite warm. We didn't see a lot of wildlife to photograph but I did happen across a butterfly that was floating among the rag weeds and got several nice shots.

Last stop - the 26 mile long Loop Road. Loop Road is a single lane gravel road that goes through the Big Cypress National Preserve. We really weren't sure what to expect. We didn't see as much wildlife as expected, but the landscape opportunities were spectacular. All-in-all it was a fun trip and I have lots of photos to process!

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

Everglades: Day 1

My mom and I made the five plus hour trek to the Everglades this weekend in an attempt to get some good bird action. We awoke early this morning and headed over to the Anhinga Trail. There was a plethora of Anhingas, Cormorants, Great Blue Herrons and Alligators to shoot and we spent several hours walking the 1/2 mile boardwalk.

We also headed down to Flamingo, Mahogoney Hammock, and several other stopping points on the 41 mile road that winds through the Everglades. The weather was better than expected - thunderstorms were predicted and I was kind of looking forward to that thinking I could get some good black and white landscapes. The weather held and we had blue skies all day long. I still managed to get some nice landscape shots however. After 10 hours of traipsing around the park, we called it a day and will rise early tomorrow for one last shot before making the trip home.

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

What to do at 4AM

My wife had to get up really early this morning for a flight to Atlanta for her company's annual convention. Lucky me! I got to wake up at 3:45 to take her to the airport!

Not one to miss an opportunity, I took my camera with me and after dropping the little woman off at Tampa International, I drove over the Tampa General and tried to get a couple of shots of the Tampa skyline when it was all lit up. I've been there several times before and have always tried to get a panorama of the scene and have never gotten one that I liked - until this morning!

(Click image to see full size photo on Flickr)

Saturday morning at the park

It was a beautiful morning Saturday so I decided to head up to Honeymoon Island and renew my annual pass for I hadn't been there in several months. I thoroughly enjoy walking the nature trail and taking photo's of the abundant wildlife so it was a perfect recipe for me to forget about the cold that I'm starting to come down with.

Since I hadn't taken a photo of a bird in months, I had to remember some of my old tricks to get the good picture. It's nice to get a photo of a majestic osprey sitting on a branch, but it's truly rewarding to catch the same osprey in flight (as you will notice, there are no "in-flight" photo's posted so I didn't remember my old tricks fast enough!)

After walking the trail for about two hours, I decided to try out a new trick with the Bogen superclamp I had received as a Christmas present (thanks mom!). I attached the clamp to my left fender, put my D80 and 10-20mm wide angle lens on (w/polarizer of course) and drove around Honeymoon Island with my remote shutter release taking pictures. Upon hearing of this, my wife promptly called me a moron but it is a different perspective to take a photo from and I'm sure I'll be doing more of this in the future.

Now, time to settle in and watch the umpteen hours of pre-game shows leading up to the Super Bowl. My prediction? Giants 24, Patriots 21.

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