Just once, part 16


Initially, I find it no surprise that this species has only been featured here once, since I don’t recall seeing them often at all – perhaps only at this very location, which is Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in (wait for it) Merritt Island, Florida. This is a glossy ibis read more

Tripod holes 45


N 28°39’27.03″ W 80°45’16.04″ Google Earth location

This particular one was easy to pin down, since it was taken right at the entrance to Black Point Wildlife Drive within Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in (ready for this astounding coincidence?) Merritt Island, Florida. This read more

Resting on my laurels

Well, it’s safe to say that I’m not reporting from a National Wildlife Refuge right now, despite the anniversary – it’s cold and not worth a special trip at all. I’ll make up for it some time this summer.

But for the sake of it, we’ll have a couple of photos from wildlife refuges, or actually just one refuge, which is read more

Visibly different, part 45


We open today with a fairly common yet distinctive bird around Florida, the American white ibis (Eudocimus albus.) A smallish bird for a wader, perhaps a hair larger than a crow in body size, but smaller than a duck, with the telltale curved red-orange bill and blue eyes – there are also black patches on the wings visible in flight, yet almost entirely hidden when read more

Visibly different, part 16


This one I can remember fairly well, despite having no context or surroundings. This was in Florida, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to be exact, taken while my brother was visiting. It was a grab shot as I spotted the brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) cruising overhead, and including the sun was intentional. This was with the Sony F717 loaner camera in late read more

Who’s counting?

Anyone visiting this blog anew (and, the crucial bit, reading more than half of a single post,) might conclude that I seem to be fond of numbered posts, which isn’t exactly true even when there are, honestly, quite a damn lot of them. And it hasn’t stopped yet – I mean, aside from the weekly Profiles posts and the occasional repeating topic like On Composition, I still have at read more

Per the ancient lore, part 32


This week, we’re doing Birds, and have what is probably the most birds that I have captured in any single photo. Granted, it’s not a murmuration of starlings, which can number several thousand in a huge cloudlike flock, but it’s still an appreciable number, you have to admit. This is in Merritt read more

Per the ancient lore, part 13


This week, the folder selection for our archive digital shots is ‘Space.’ If you’re viewing this image and thinking it doesn’t look very spacey, well, how you could be so ignorant? Look again, you oblivious savage. Those structures are launch pads 39-A and 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, the very places where every space shuttle read more

Sunday slide 38


I think the reeds give a pretty good indication of scale, but just in case, the first thing I’ll point out is that you’re looking at the head of an American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis,) and a small one at that – much less than a half-meter in length, probably closer to 35cm. Most of the gator is submerged, and you’re seeing just the top read more