Tag Archives: Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival

Space Coast Festival and Florida Birds Workshop – January 2014

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Some Upcoming Events

High Plains Snow Goose Festival Feb 20, 2014 Lamar, CO
Beckham Bird Club Annual Dinner Mar 11, 2014 Louisville, KY
Big O Birding Festival Mar 13, 2014 LaBelle, FL
Nature Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival Mar 20-23, 2014 Spring Hill, FL
Verde Valley Birding and Wildlife Festival Apr 24-27, 2014 Cottonwood, AZ
Biggest Week in American Birding May 6-15, 2014 Oregon, OH
Ecuador: Northern Andes and Amazon with Greg Miller Aug 8-23, 2014 Quito, Ecuador

I've finally waded through 8,000+ photos. My amateur strategy for good photos=volume. When shooting, it's easy to say “It's digital” and shoot away. What is harder is going through the results of that “digital” logic. Volume takes a lot of time. But I have to say that I like taking photos. And lots of them. In the end, I ended up with a number of decent photos that were very satisfying to me.

I have to say that I enjoy photography enough that I actually am willing to put some work into becoming better. Why? Well. Because I want to. Here are few of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them, too.

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Great Blue Heron Eating Fish

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Yes.  It has been forever since my last post.  I just returned from a 10-day trip to Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival and a Florida Birds Photo Workshop with Wildside Nature Tours.  I am going through my 8,000+ photos while occasionally glancing up at possibly the most boring of Super Bowl games ever.  Even the commercial are mediocre.  Well.  Here is something new.  I will try inserting an animated picture here.  It is not a video.  And I am sure it will not work in the email form of this blog (sorry).  I will have plenty to post in the coming days.

Great Blue Heron eating large fish - Viera Wetlands FL - 2014-01-28

Great Blue Heron eating large fish – Viera Wetlands FL – 2014-01-28 photos by Greg Miller

Florida Space Coast 2013 – Part 4

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On 1/28/2013 I was on a pelagic trip out of New Smyrna Beach, FL as part of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival.  Unfortunately, I do not have any photos from that day since the forecast was for choppy waters and I figured my opportunities would be few.  As it turned out, the waters were not all that bad.  So I did miss what would have been a good shot at a bridled tern on a little buoy and numerous shot of northern gannets in flight.  But the distant fly-by razorbill and several red phalaropes were tough enough to get on just with binoculars, let alone a big camera lens.

On the 29th, I had to turn in my rental car and had a little over half a day from Titusville, FL.  Solution?  Short visits to both Merritt Island NWR and Viera Wetlands again.  At Merritt Island NWR on this day I happened across a pool that was a wading bird feeding frenzy.  And I shot freely with my camera.  What a great opportunity!

wading birds feeding frenzy - Merritt Island NWR - near Titusville FL - 2013-01-29

wading birds feeding frenzy – Merritt Island NWR – near Titusville FL – 2013-01-29 photo by Greg Miller

 

egrets spoonbills and storks - Merritt Island NWR - near Titusville FL - 2013-01-29

egrets spoonbills and storks – Merritt Island NWR – near Titusville FL – 2013-01-29 photo by Greg Miller

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Florida Space Coast 2013 – Part 3

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On Friday, 1/25/2013, I visited Lake Woodruff NWR before joining Michael Brother, Bob Wallace, and Cameron Cox for the fantastic gull fly-in at Daytona Beach Shores where as many as 50,000 gulls stage before going back out beyond the breakers to spend the night on the water.  We had distant views of a razorbill and looks at both parasitic and pomarine jaegers from shore.  A number of lesser black-backed gulls were among the most numerous gull species–Laughing, Ring-billed, Herring, and Great Black-backed.  Earlier in the day I explored Lake Woodruff NWR near DeLeon Springs, FL.  It was my first ever visit.

Cloudless Sulphur - Lake Woodruff NWR - near DeLeon Springs FL - 2013-01-25

Cloudless Sulphur – Lake Woodruff NWR – near DeLeon Springs FL – 2013-01-25 photo by Greg Miller

 

Eastern Pond Hawk - Lake Woodruff NWR - near DeLeon Springs FL - 2013-01-25

Eastern Pond Hawk – Lake Woodruff NWR – near DeLeon Springs FL – 2013-01-25 photo by Greg Miller

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Florida Space Coast 2013 – part 1

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Anyone who keeps bird lists and wants to get the best bang for the buck has to go to several geographic locations at different seasons.  For Big Year folks, this means (in addition to chasing rarities) visits to what refer to as “The Big 5”.  These are the 5 states where you can pick up a huge number of regular species and also be in proximity to potential rarities showing up while you are there.  These states are Alaska, California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida.  All of these states have unique specialty birds–birds that occur more commonly there than many other places (and a few are completely unique to those areas).  What’s it like to visit a birding festival in one of these locations?  Read on.  I will tell you about my trip to Brevard County, Florida for the an old and well-recognized festival, the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival.  The epicenter of the birding action here is the very birdy Merritt Island NWR near Titusville, FL.

I arrived in Florida late Sunday afternoon, 1/20/2013, with 3 hours of daylight to burn.  Spending that time at Merritt Island NWR seemed like a good plan.  And 70 species later I would say,  “Yes.  That was a good choice.”

Merritt Island NWR is a big wildlife refuge near Cape Canaveral where the space shuttle launches occurred.  Here are a few pics from the Black Point Wildlife Drive.

Northern Pintail male in alternate plumage - Merritt Island NWR - near Titusville FL - 2013-01-20

Northern Pintail male in alternate plumage – Merritt Island NWR – near Titusville FL – 2013-01-20 photo by Greg Miller

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