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Great Blue Heron up close and not so close

By |August 26th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Great Blue Herons, Pinellas County|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

One December morning in 2008 I was sitting in the sand at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach in Florida when a Great Blue Heron came up and perched on a driftwood stump that had washed up onto the shore.

Great Blue Heron Portraits from Florida and Utah

By |July 18th, 2013|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Great Blue Herons, Pinellas County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

In Florida I found it easy to get close up images of Great Blue Herons because quite often they are used to the presence of humans but here in Utah that isn't the case and Great Blue Herons are sort of skittish.

Laughing Gulls in breeding and nonbreeding plumage

By |June 29th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Laughing Gulls|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Both of these Laughing Gull images were taken at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach in Florida, the image above shows a Laughing gull in nonbreeding plumage that was taken in September of 2008.

Eastern Willet in flight at Fort De Soto

By |May 28th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Willets|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

There are two subspecies of Willets which Western and Eastern, here in Utah I only see the Western subspecies but in Florida I could see both during the course of a year.

Spot the Sandpiper on the Seawall

By |May 5th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Spotted Sandpipers|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

It really isn't too hard to spot this Spotted Sandpiper on the seawall, I just thought it was a catchy title. I saw my FOY (first of year) Spotted Sandpiper this past week and that got me excited.

Ruddy Turnstone and a Laughing Gull

By |April 18th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Laughing Gulls, Pinellas County, Ruddy Turnstones|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Five years ago today I was laying in the warm wet sands of Fort De Soto County Park's north beach as the salty water from the Gulf of Mexico soaked my skin while photographing a Ruddy Turnstone doing what they do best, turning things.

Brown Pelicans on the Gulf of Mexico

By |February 20th, 2013|Categories: Birds, Brown Pelicans, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

The forecast is calling for snow today and there is already a heavy cloud cover so looked back through my files and found some Brown Pelican images taken on a warm February morning in Florida to post today.

Reddish Egret Morphs

By |December 27th, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Reddish Egrets|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

These two Reddish Egrets; a dark and a white morph, were photographed on the same day at Fort De Soto's north beach in May of 2009 and both of them were showing signs of being in breeding plumage.

Ruddy Turnstone on Driftwood

By |December 5th, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Ruddy Turnstones|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

I was tickled one morning when I came across this Turnstone in nonbreeding plumage perched on a piece of weathered driftwood just after the sun came over the horizon with the waters of the Gulf of Mexico behind it.

I’ve got the Blues – Great Blue Herons that is!

By |October 15th, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Great Blue Herons, Pinellas County|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

It seems I have always had a fondness for Great Blue Herons although I don't recall the first time I ever saw one. Great Blues are large wading birds that have a prehistoric look to them and even their calls; more like a croak, sound like something from the long distant past.

Resting Black Skimmer Juvenile – My Banner Image

By |September 11th, 2012|Categories: Birds, Black Skimmers, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Wildlife Ethics & Etiquette|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Several people have remarked on how much they like the resting Black Skimmer juvenile image that was in my rotating banner at the top of this blog so I thought I would post it to show the whole bird.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron or Orange-eyed Day Heron?

By |September 4th, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Yellow-crowned Night Herons|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Despite having "Night Heron" in their name Yellow-crowned Night Herons (Nyctanassa violacea) are not strictly denizens of the dark, they can and do stalk their prey during the daylight hours too.

Bathing Laughing Gull in breeding plumage

By |September 2nd, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Laughing Gulls, Pinellas County|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I photographed this adult Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla) in breeding plumage while it bathed in the shallow waters of a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto's north beach a few years ago.

What I could have done to improve this image

By |August 19th, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Pinellas County, Snowy Egrets|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

This image could have been better. I have no doubt about that. I did get the exposure right and I like the action. But there are far too many things about this photo that just don't work.

Ruddy Turnstones in breeding and nonbreeding plumage

By |August 17th, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Ruddy Turnstones|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Ruddy Turnstones in breeding and nonbreeding plumage can appear to be two different species to novice birders and bird photographers as can several other bird species.

Dunlins in breeding and nonbreeding plumage

By |August 16th, 2012|Categories: Dunlins, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Dunlins exhibit a vast difference between nonbreeding and breeding plumage, so different that a novice birder might mistakenly believe that they were two different species.

Laughing Gull – Small in the Frame

By |August 5th, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Laughing Gulls, Small in the frame|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

On the day that I photographed this Laughing Gull either Hurricane Ike or Gustav was out near the center of the Gulf of Mexico that was churning up the water

Great Blue Heron Portrait

By |August 2nd, 2012|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Great Blue Herons, Pinellas County|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

This Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) got up close and personal with me a few years ago in Florida, it largely ignored my presence altogether as it stalked prey on shore of the Gulf of Mexico.

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