Day One: Up On A Wire

The sun just came up over the horizon, and we awoke to our Red-shouldered Hawk alarm clock, so we knew we had to get moving if we were to get on the road to make our trip down to the Florida Everglades. I did manage to get a few shots of our backyard hawk, as she was on the hunt looking for earthworms. When she got her fill of breakfast, we packed up the car to make the journey down to the Everglades.

When we got outside of Naples, we caught up with the Tamiami Trail to take us across the Everglades, and that is when the fun began. It wasn't long before we were in the Everglades, we started to notice a large amount of birds, from numerous Red-shouldered Hawks, Bald Eagles, American Kestrels and the ever elusive Belted Kingfishers. We must of stopped every mile or so to try to get a good look at them up in the trees, and all over the electrical wires. We must of chased about a hundred birds down the Tamiami Trail as they sat up on the wires.

We finally made our way to Collier-Seminole State Park for some lunch, and we found even more Red-shouldered Hawks, Turkey Vultures and Great Herons. We took a hike out into a Sawgrass Field to get real close to a very friendly Red-Shoulderd Hawk who didn't seem to mind that we were taking his photograph. We took off down another trail for a little while, and came upon a Alligator skeleton that was picked clean by the Vultures.

After lunch, we headed on back down the road in hopes to at least get to Shark Valley for the evening, and all along the way we stopped in fields, swamps and plains, and the amount of wildlife was staggering. The grass plains were still filled with water from the summer rains, and since we are now coming into the dry winter months, the birds are gathering to pair up also for breeding season.

We came up upon a large Sawgrass plains, and while I was photographing a lone Great Heron, a Brown Ibis came in low, and to our surprise, he flushed out what seemed to be around 50 or 60 Wood Storks that we didn't even see hiding in the grasses, and they filled the sky with one of the most unbelievable and beautiful sight as we stood and watched them fly over the Sawgrass plains.

The weather was real tough to shoot in, for we got really overcast skies that were gray and drab, and robbed the precious light and contrast for some of our stops. We made a quick stop at Oasis in Big Cypress and got to see the large, and I do mean large Alligators that swim in the canals around the visitor center, as well as a nice assortment of Herons, Anhingas, Tri-colored Herons, Ibis', Cormorants and others.

Finally though, we made it to Shark Valley, just as the sun was finally setting over the Everglades, and we came up a scene that only happens about a week or so in a year, the large roosting community, so large, it was almost deafening from all the noise. They were in the tree tops by the hundreds, and flying in by the hundreds. White and Brown Ibis', Little Green Herons, Little Blue Herons, Tri-colored Herons, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Wood Storks, Yellow-corwned Night Herons and others all in this one concentrated area behind the visitor center. It was amazing, as they just kept coming and coming.

The light was now long gone, so we made the final portion of our journey down to Homestead, Florida to get a good night sleep, for tomorrow was really going to be along one, for we planned to start at Anhinga Trail and make our way all the way down to Flamingo, the furthest south one can go on the mainland of Florida. It was about to get real interesting...

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Thanksgiving In The Everglades

A few hours ago we got back from a very exciting and outstanding three days in the Florida Everglades, and I was able to get some of my best photos to date while we were down there.

As with all our trips, I got to go through about 1,200 photos and over the next dew days, will post them up as well as the stories behind them. I got one shot that when I saw it on the computer, even blew me away, so stay tuned!

Alarm Clock

It really isn't hard to get up early in the morning just as the sun peeks over the horizon, especially when you have a natural alarm clock to get one up.

Every morning, the Red Shouldered Hawks sits out in our backyard, proudly proclaiming that this area is taken to all that are around, including us. She is loud, but still kinda cool at the same time!

Book Project: Birds Of Florida

Over the past year or so, I have been traveling around Florida photographing the numerous birds that call Florida home. I have traveled many miles around the Tampa Bay area, from Honeymoon Island, Fort De Soto, Brooker Creek Preserve, Boyd Hill, down to the Florida Everglades and Florida Keys, and even right outside our backyard to capture some of their beauty, and wow, is there ever a lot of it.

A few weeks ago I got the idea to put together a book that showcases just some of the thousands (and that is no lie) of photographs I have taken, so I set out to put together and organize my library and publish a book that has some of my best photographs that I have taken over past year.

Numerous weeks later, I have completed the book, and is now at the publisher for it's first run of copies. The book is 250 pages, and contains over 300 full-color photographs, all captioned as to what species of bird they are, along with where the photographs were taken. It is a hardcover edition, complete with a full-color dust jacket, just perfect for the coffee table, so I am really excited to get my hands on the first edition. Maybe I'll do a follow-up book next year!

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To view a low resolution Adobe PDF sample of the book, click here.
(16 Pages - Adobe PDF Format - 900KB)

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of "Birds of Florida", you can order at Blurb.com, or if you would like more information, send me an email at robert@robertlafollette.com.

Black-hooded Parakeets

With the approach of winter, many of the birds in Florida are pairing up to ready for the upcoming nesting and breeding season. Also, the Oak trees are now bearing their fruit, and along with them come the Black-hooded Parakeets, swarming by the hundreds. They flock into the Oaks, and within a few hours, strip the entire tree of their seeds.

The Black-hooded Parakeet is also known as the Nanday Parakeet. The bird is native to South America from southeast Bolivia to southwest Brazil, central Paraguay and northern Argentina. Caged birds have been released in some areas and the birds have established self sustaining populations in Southern California and South and Central Florida areas of the United States.

They are all over Pinellas County right now, especially along the coastline of Clearwater and Clearwater Beach, along with huge flocks of Starlings and Blackbirds, and they can be seen and heard as they are in a feeding frenzy.

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Backyard Exploring

We decided to stay close to home, so what a better place to explore then our own backyard. Our target was to hike to the swamps just outside of Brooker Creek Preserve and see just what we could find. As we made our way around the lake towards the swamps, we were followed by our Red Shouldered Hawk, whom seemed to be curious where we were going, and we had the opportunity to witness her as she dove onto the ground in search of food, something you rarely see.

As we made our way around the lake, we found a Turkey Vulture soaring overhead, as well as Osprey, Anhinga and Herons. We also came up to thick tree brush that was loaded with Palm Warblers, and I was able to get a couple for the first time. These things are tiny, only about five inches, and move lighting fast, so it was trying at best to even be able to get a shot of one.

We finally made it to the swamps, and wow, what a place. It looked like pre-historic Florida, and was so beautiful and peaceful to explore around. We didn't go too far in, for Water Moccasins are know to frequent these waters, and was the last thing we wanted to run up on.

We circled back around and worked our way back to home, and along the way we stopped at the other pond and checked on our little Pied-billed Grebe who is still there, but we only saw one this time. I also came within feet of a small Alligator as she laid on the shore warming in the afternoon sun. Just as we made it back, our Red Shouldered Hawk was sitting again up on the pole in the backyard, and she is now getting so comfortable with me, I got within feet of her. All in all, a great day just looking around the backyard.

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Canadiens de Montreal

The Tampa Bay Lightning had a one-day sale a few weeks ago for half-priced tickets, so we jumped on the opportunity to grab a pair for the Montreal vs. Tampa Bay game at the St. Pete Times Forum. As luck would have it, we got seats right behind the glass of the Montreal Canadiens bench.

Since we have been to numerous games and sat behind the players bench when we used to travel to a bunch of Pittsburgh Penguins games, and got real close to the likes of Mario Lemieux, Alexei Kovalev, Steve Yzerman, Jaromir Jagr, Brett Hull, Mark Messier and many others, it was going to be awesome to watch one of our favorite teams and players.

	1	2	3	T
MONTREAL CANADIENS	1	1	1	3
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING	0	1	0	1

The game was great, the seats were great, and another great time was had watching hockey in Tampa Bay, and it is really hard to root for two teams we like, so it was a win-win for us.

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Coachman Park

I took a break this afternoon and went down to Coachman Park to try out my new Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens, and wow, this is one sharp lens. After some short time getting used to not have Image Stabilization on the lens, I quickly found out just how good this lens really is. I made sure everything I shot was hand-held, and had hoped to get some contrasting subjects to judge its quality.

I wasn't disappointed, for I found the typical suspects of Laughing Gulls, whom are now in their winter plumage, as well as a Dunlin out in the shallows fishing for lunch. I also got a Great Egret and Pelican as they flew by overhead, a Cormorant as he took flight, and a very friendly Blue Heron as he too waded out in the surf looking for a tasty snack.

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Pied-billed Grebe

A few weeks ago, we noticed a small duck had appeared in our pond behind our house, and it was the only one we saw. We figured it was a migrant, just stopping for the day to rest and feed, or it was a juvenile duck of some kind, for we have never seen one like this before, and it was real hard to identify. However, it never left, and we see it everyday now.

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to go out in good light to get a close-up photo so we can try to identify him, but this time he had a girlfriend with him. I snapped numerous photos of each of them, both solo and together as they swam around the lake, and later identified them as Pied-billed Grebes.

On ponds and marshes where it breeds, the Pied-billed Grebe advertises its presence with loud, barking calls. It eats small fish, crustaceans, and aquatic insects but is especially fond of crayfish, which it crushes easily with its stout bill. When alarmed, this grebe often sinks slowly into the water, resurfacing out of sight among the reeds. But it can also dive with amazing speed, a habit that has earned it the nickname "Hell-diver." Hopefully they have made this pond their home, and we will have the opportunity to see baby Grebes.

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Seven Hundred Acres

I had the opportunity to drive out to Highland City, Florida on Saturday at the crack of dawn for another On Location Workshop on a 700 acre farm to meet Steve Rogers, the owner of this farm to give him a personal workshop on photography. He contacted me several weeks ago about a project he is undertaking on his farm, which he wrote me the following:

"My family, the Rogers, in Highland City, FL, moved to area in the early 1900's to escape the cotton boll weevil attacking their cotton crops in Georgia. Since that time, we are an agricultural family, working mostly in citrus and cattle. We have had some farmland in the family here for nearly 80 years. One of these areas is on the western shore of Lake Hancock, south of Lakeland.

The area around Lake Hancock is rapidly developing and we are trying to preserve the natural and agricultural ecology for now. Nevertheless, we understand and appreciate the market forces that will eventually drive our property into development as it is part of the county's Highway 98 Select Area Plan that urges developers to use more environmentally-friendly techniques in engineering and construction.

We would like to make a good photographic record of our Lake Hancock farm as it contains historical citrus and cattle land along with a rich natural environment of cypress, water birds, alligators and vegetative subtropical overgrowth. Our photography would be focused on the natural areas, but we might include a little citrus, cattle and horses. The Audubon Society considers this area to be included in the 'Important Bird Areas of Florida'.

We would like to document this area for reasons of family history, community service and to have a visual record of what the property looks like in its prime." - Steve Rogers

Since this was right up my alley, I jumped at the opportunity to not only teach Steve a workshop on his farm, but to also have the opportunity to see Florida from a whole new perspective, and show Steve a whole new perspective in photography as well. It was a great workshop, and I know Steve learned a lot on our day together, as well as I learned a lot too.

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Best Of Show

A few weeks ago, I entered a Nature Photography Contest at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in St. Petersburg, Florida. I was allowed to enter up to four entries, so I spent one night going through my photos and try to select my favorite four. It was a most difficult task to say the least, for I have many favorites, but after numerous hours of debating, I finalized my selections and had them printed and mounted for the photo contest.

Fast-forward to today, where we got up early, for we received in the mail our invitation to the Nature Photography Contest awards, so we made our way down to Boyd Hill, not having any idea if I had won, but I wanted to see all of the other entries as well.

When we arrived at the Nature Center, we walked in, and right in the front of the building was my Butterfly photo, and on it was a huge purple ribbon. I walked up to it and on it was "Best Of Show". I nearly fell over, and was in shock to be selected as the winner of this years contest. So I walked around to the other displays, and there was another photo, the Lubber Grasshopper, winning "Second Place", and then my Great Blue Heron winning "Honorable Mention", and lastly, my Lorikeet also winning "Honorable Mention".

I just stood there, kinda shaking, kinda shocked, kinda everything. I was floored to have won with all four of my entries, but more importantly to be chosen for the "Best Of Show" was numbing. The Preserve gave out the awards, and I was rewarded with a nice cash gift for my photos, and was really proud to have won. It was rewarding to be recognized for my hard work and of a subject I truly have come to love. I was speechless for the rest of the day...

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Click Here To View Winning Photographs
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We spent the afternoon walking around the Art Festival at Boyd Hill, and enjoyed several "Birds of Prey" exhibitions, and we able to get some real nice portraits of a Red Shouldered Hawk, as well as some other shots throughout the afternoon. Later in the evening, we made our way over to Fort De Soto at North Beach, and even though it was really windy and not a lot of action, we still enjoyed a few of the shore birds who were hanging on, trying not to be blown away.

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Southern Toad

Now that daylight savings is over, it gets dark a lot earlier then we would like, but it now gives us time to go out in the evening to look for the little creatures that come out under the cover of darkness.

Right outside our front door, we have large ferns planted down the front walkway, and not only do Anoles call them home, but a little frog does too, the Southern Toad. They are the most familiar toad found in Florida, and can be found just about anywhere. They are more likely to be seen hopping around at night, looking for a meal under insect-attracting lights. On rainy nights, their call is a continuous high-pitched trill that can be deafening.

Right on the sidewalk was a tiny Southern Toad just sitting there, so I gently scooped him up and took him into my studio and took some portraits with my macro lens. He was a very willing subject, only hopping around a few times and was tricky to catch, for they can move pretty fast for a little toad.

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You Know You Live In Florida When...

Having now lived in sunny Florida for over year, the below is actually pretty funny (and true):

• "Down South" means Key West
• "Panhandling" means going to Pensacola
• Flip-flops are everyday wear
• Shoes are for business meetings and church
• Socks are only for bowling
• Orange juice from concentrate makes you vomit
• Sweet tea can be served at any meal
• An alligator once walked through your neighborhood
• You smirk when a game show's "Grand Prize" is a trip to Florida
• You measure distance in minutes
• You have a drawer full of bathing suits, and one sweatshirt
• You get annoyed at the tourists who feed seagulls
• You never use an umbrella because you know the rain will be over in five minutes
• All the local festivals are named after a fruit
• A mountain is any hill 100 feet above sea level
• A good parking place has nothing to do with distance from the store, but everything to do with shade
• Your winter coat is made of denim
• You can tell the difference between fire ant bites and mosquito bites
• You're younger than thirty but some of your friends are over 65
• You know the four seasons really are: almost summer, summer, not summer but really hot, and Christmas
• It's not "pop", it's "soda"
• Anything under 70 is cold
• You've hosted a hurricane party
• You go to a theme park for an afternoon, and know when to get on the best rides
• You understand the futility of exterminating cockroaches
• You can pronounce Okeechobee, Kissimmee, Withlacoochee, Okahumpka and Loxahatchee
• You understand why it's better to have a friend with a boat than have a boat yourself
• You've driven through Yeehaw Junction
• Bumper stickers on the pickup in front of you include various fish, the NRA and a confederate flag
• You've worn shorts and used the A/C on Christmas
• You have to drive north to get to The South