Highlands County
There is a great park located near Sebring, FL called Highlands Hammock State Park. The topography of the park is like a lot of areas across Florida with a very diversified landscape. At the far back of the park is a flooded swamp with a large tree canopy. It has a jungle feel. In the […]
Central Florida Kites
Summertime in Florida is generally a quiet time for bird photos. Many of our winter visitors have gone north and won’t return until fall. But there are some species that migrate here for the summer to nest and raise their young. One of those is the beautiful swallow-tailed kite. They travel all the way from […]
Highlands Hammock State Park
Now that the summer is upon us and the weather is getting hot, a favorite location for us to visit is Highlands Hammock State Park just outside Sebring. Like many other parks in Florida, it has a diversified habitat. The park transitions from a dry, primitive area with scrub oaks and pine trees to a […]
Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park
Just outside of Gainesville in the town of Micanopy, FL lies Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. It is one of the largest parks in the state with almost 23,000 acres. It is designated as a National Natural Landmark. The preserve is known for snail kites, which is why we traveled there. There are also herds […]
The Notorious Deep Hole
Florida is known for alligators. Many people think of the Everglades as the foremost destination for seeing alligators. But if you live in or are visiting the southwest part of the state, there is no need to travel any further than Sarasota County to see lots of large gators. One amazing place is in a […]
Myakka River Wildlife Destination
Myakka River State Park is a wildlife and nature gem. Located in eastern Sarasota County, it is one of the largest parks in Florida with over 37,000 acres. The Myakka River flows through the park and creates a variety of lakes, ponds, and flooded marshlands. Because of the diverse terrain, the park is home to […]
Go Green
One of the most striking birds that we see around here is the nanday parakeet. Their colors are absolutely amazing. On the neon green bodies is an entire palette of blue and purple accents. They also look like they’re wearing orange and yellow socks. Unfortunately, despite their beauty, nandays are annoying because of their constant […]
Wintering Waterfowl
It started off being a rather quiet year for waterfowl. No matter where we went in December and early January, the numbers seemed down from years past. But the last couple of weeks have changed everything. Not only have the number of ducks improved, but we found a couple of species that we hadn’t seen […]
Reddish Egret
One bird that has become a favorite of photographers is a reddish egret. They are acrobatic feeders. There is one that people search for at Fort DeSoto Park in St. Petersburg. If you find a group of people in the tidal flats, you can generally figure that a reddish egret is the focus of their […]
Diving Ducks
Tis the season for our northern visitors. I’m not talking about the mass migration of “snowbirds”. I’m talking about waterfowl. We have huge numbers of ducks just about everywhere. One small lake behind Costco has become the winter home for ring-necked ducks and lesser scaup. They look very similar. The main differentiating feature is the […]
Green-winged Teal
I mentioned in my previous post that we found a very large flock of green-winged teal ducks on Thursday. Finding the green-wings completes the “teal trifecta” for me for 2021. There are 3 species of teal in North America – blue-winged, green-winged and cinnamon. Two weeks ago we found a cinnamon teal which is a […]
Myakka River State Park
One of my favorite places for nature photography in this area is Myakka River State Park in eastern Sarasota county. It is a huge park consisting of 37,000 acres with the Myakka River cutting through the center. Along the way, the river is dammed creating a large lake and vast wetlands. There is a wide […]
