{"id":104290,"date":"2024-09-11T19:25:43","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T23:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/?p=104290"},"modified":"2026-05-28T14:27:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:27:34","slug":"summer-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/11\/summer-update\/florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Summer in Florida is the time of year when photography gets slow. While there are several species of birds that migrate here for the summer months, we start getting anxious for the fall and winter migrations. It\u2019s a good time of the year for butterflies. Unfortunately, it\u2019s also our rainy season and mosquitoes love the water. Venturing out in the early mornings before the heat kicks in is often prime time for bugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Summer is also the time to pull out all the camera equipment, get everything cleaned and refreshed, and decide what needs to be updated and what is no longer needed. In my case, I sold some items and upgraded one of my camera bodies. It turned out to be a good move because the focusing system on the new Canon R6 Mark II is really something, especially for anything that is flying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, summer is a great time to go back through old photos and clean up the hard drives. It\u2019s a project that needs to be done from time to time because the photos keep piling up. Also, with software updates being introduced, some older photos can be brought back to life. There\u2019s plenty to do to stay busy without being in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recently we went out to practice with the new gear. One trip took us to the farming area near Sebring where we saw many more birds than expected. Our best encounter was with a pair of barred owls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/240827-4-barred-owl-perched-on-dead-palm-stump.jpg\" alt=\"Barred Owl Perched On Dead Palm Stump\" class=\"wp-image-104220\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Barred Owl Perched on a Palm Stump<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/240827-4-barred-owl-takes-flight.jpg\" alt=\"Barred Owl Takes Flight\" class=\"wp-image-104222\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Barred Owl Takes Flight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few days later we traveled over to Lake Wales to visit Bok Tower Gardens hoping that all the flowers would bring in some hummingbirds. We saw two, but the stars of the day were the butterflies. They were everywhere and made for an enjoyable opportunity to play with the new features on the cameras. We will likely head back to Bok Tower Gardens later this year when the hummingbirds return for the winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/240829-4-zebra-longwing-about-to-land-on-firebush.jpg\" alt=\"Zebra Longwing About To Land On Firebush\" class=\"wp-image-104197\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Zebra Longwing Butterfly About to Land on a Firebush<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/240829-4-gulf-fritillary-resting-on-firebush.jpg\" alt=\"Gulf Fritillary Resting On Firebush\" class=\"wp-image-104202\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gulf Fritillary Butterfly Resting on a Firebush<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/240829-4-cloudless-sulphur-butterfly-approaching-firebush.jpg\" alt=\"Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly Approaching Firebush\" class=\"wp-image-104209\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly Approaching a Firebush<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/240829-4-polydamus-swallowtail-feeding-on-red-jatropha-flower.jpg\" alt=\"Polydamus Swallowtail Feeding On Red Jatropha Flower\" class=\"wp-image-104193\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Polydamus Swallowtail Butterfly Feeding on a Red Jatropha Flower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/240829-4-monarch-feeding-on-yellow-coreopsis.jpg\" alt=\"Monarch Feeding On Yellow Coreopsis\" class=\"wp-image-104203\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Monarch Butterfly Feeding on a Yellow Coreopsis Flower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More photos have been uploaded to the <a href=\"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/gary-walker-photography\/galleries\/nature\/insects\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"21561\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Insects<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/gary-walker-photography\/galleries\/nature\/birds\/owls\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"21702\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Owls<\/strong><\/a> galleries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summer in Florida is the time of year when photography gets slow. While there are several species of birds that migrate here for the summer months, we start getting anxious for the fall and winter migrations. It\u2019s a good time of the year for butterflies. Unfortunately, it\u2019s also our rainy season and mosquitoes love the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2743],"tags":[2774],"class_list":["post-104290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-florida","tag-nature"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/240827-4-female-bobwhite-quail-sitting-on-fence-rail.jpg?ver","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104290"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110030,"href":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104290\/revisions\/110030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flgcc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}