Small sample of some Florida wildlife-fixed images

[Dbl]

Spent about an hour shooting some wildlife when down in Florida this past week. My schedule was fairly busy I just didn't get much of an opportunity to find things that fly and crawl! Here are a few shots I did manage.

#1 Ran across a family of Otter's that were fun to watch for a few minutes. They were very shy! All of these shots were with the 300/2.8 and 1.4TC.

#2 You can see the nose of another Otter just to the left side of the photo.

#3 Last one of the Otters.

#4 This dude was shot under the high noon sun. (Edited and re-uploaded after properly re-processed the shot)

#5 Gecko showing his stuff. (Toned down the catchlight)

#6 Butterfly a Zebra Longwing.

#7 Some kind of red plant .

#8 All the way to Florida to get a shot of a Grey Squirrel!

#9 Spider web

[DeeDee]

wow those look familiar, nice shots. That was on the west coast right? Did you get to see any of our banana spiders? Love the squirrel.

[Dbl]

Thanks DeeDee, yes they were. No banana spiders this trip but I've seen them in the past, I am not a fan of ANY spider!

[DeeDee]

I dont like spiders either but the banana spider is kinda special.

[Dbl]

 Originally Posted By: DeeDee

I dont like spiders either but the banana spider is kinda special.

Only from a looooooong distance

[mcary]

Nice shots Dan! Looks like your enjoying your time in Florida. Between the sports and wildlife, I'm a little envious being stuck up here in Minnesota. All the shots are very nice (as usual). Thanks for sharing.

[finnbay]

Lotta good shots from an hour of shooting! Well done!

[Steve Foss]

Great stuff, Dan. All good, but I especially like the comp on the gecko and the high key background on that image.

[Dbl]

Thanks all for the comments. mcary unfortunately I came home today, just in time for a Winter storm. Is there no end to this weather?

Ken all we had time for was a quick walk to snap a few shots, there are a lot of wildlife opportunities down there!

Steve, that was a bit of an unexpected image on the Gecko. I knew I had a light background but I needed a bit of fill to throw back at the gecko. I had a white piece of paper that I used to throw a bit of light back at him. That gave me just enough to get some light on him and a small catch light in the eye. It all happened fast and was more than a bit lucky!

I think I am going to find a small pocket reflector that I can easily carry around just for fill situations. I didn't carry any flashes or tripods with me this trip I already had way to much camera gear as it was.

[Steve Foss]

Dan, I've a couple light discs that open to about a foot across but collapse into flat round zipper pouches. One's a diffuser, the other a reflector with gold on one side for warm light and silver on the other for cool light. Can't remember the brand name but they were under $20 each, and I use them all the time.

[explorer]

These are great images! Dan I am with you on the spider thing.

[Dbl]

 Originally Posted By: stfcatfish

Dan, I've a couple light discs that open to about a foot across but collapse into flat round zipper pouches. One's a diffuser, the other a reflector with gold on one side for warm light and silver on the other for cool light. Can't remember the brand name but they were under $20 each, and I use them all the time.

Yep thats what I'm thinking of, I'll do some looking around. All I have are the 45" and larger reflectors for portrait work.

[finnbay]

Dan, I have one that is labeled "Impact", but don't remember where I got it - probably B&H.

[Dbl]

Thanks Ken I will do a search.

[mmeyer]

Dan, those are gorgeous. I really like the bird in the high noon sun. I'm guessing it's a heron of some sort.

Thanks for sharing

[Steve Foss]

Dan, they are 12" Litedisc from Photoflex. Collapse into a zipper pouch just larger than your average drink coaster. Weigh almost nothing. Less than $15 each. A search will find plenty of outlets.

[Dbl]

Thanks Steve, perfect! I did find the Impact ones Ken mentioned as well in 12" size. Both are quality manufacturers but I am a bit more partial to Photoflex.

[DeeDee]

My guess would be an Egret. But the blue really looks like a Heron

[Dbl]

I have been looking through everything I can find on Herons and I can't find anything that looks like this. The red eye and yellow legs are throwing me off. Anyone got any ideas what the heck that bird is?

[Steve Foss]

Dan, looks to me like you've probably got an adult little blue heron here. It matches the Sibley guide's field marks quite closely, with a couple small exceptions that could simply be individual plumage variation. The legs on my monitor show more green than yellow. And there's some variation among different LBHs in the color of the lores (area around and between eye/bill).

Got any shots that show the front of the bird? If the front is the solid blue/purple as the rest, you've for sure got an LBH. If the belly is white, then you've got some color morph of a tricolored heron.

[Dbl]

The opinion of another forum is a Tri-colored Heron, and after looking at some photos at various sites I would also come to that conclusion. Unfortunately I have no front shots, he just stood there plus the Otters were distracting me just 50 feet from where he was standing.

The leg color, eye color, color variation along the back and coloring around the bill look like tricolor heron. I had never heard of one before today!

[MN Shutterbug]

Those otters are pretty critters.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, Dan. I'll be happy to stand corrected. I'm not a wading bird expert at all, and was going off Sibley and what images I could find online.

I haven't seen an image of a tri-colored heron with so little color variation in the neck as yours, and your bird's neck doesn't look anything like the renderings in Sibley.

I did notice some of the feathers this bird is working with its bill appear white, which is what made me wonder a bit whether it could be a tri-colored or was just a trick of the light. Those potential white feathers and the red eye were the field marks that gave me a bit of pause about calling it a LBH.

For final reference, an image e-mailed to the folks at Birder's World (easy to find online) has always given me a positive ID. I've used them often to solve sticky ID issues, including IDs counter to what I've seen on non-birding Web sites.

But hey, I DO know what a robin looks like. I think.

[MN Shutterbug]

 Originally Posted By: stfcatfish

But hey, I DO know what a robin looks like. I think.

Sure, now you do, after I posted my shots.

[Steve Foss]

Hey, I looked up the robin in Sibley just to make sure. It sure worked on the heron ID, didn't it?