After all these years, Florida remains one of my favorite destinations for bird photography worldwide. That is a brash statement, but I believe it is very true, and the success of the travelers on this season’s photo safaris speaks volumes to that belief. Being lucky enough to be here during the height of the spring breeding season really shows off the amazing diversity of birdlife Florida’s wetlands have to offer.
For most photographers, the birds of Florida are plentiful and exotic. That is one thing that has not changed over the years. The locations we visited on our trips have always provided great opportunities to photograph wonderful bird portraits and, for the patient photographer, a chance to capture excellent bird behavior in action. As usual, wading birds were numerous and very active during our photo safaris. With the nesting season underway, we had our fill of birds, including many egrets and herons, courting and nest-building, birds incubating, and parents feeding early-hatched young. Osprey in plentiful numbers wheeled by with nesting material and fresh catch, headed to numerous nests along our boat days.
Some iconic birds we work to locate for photography, and often do, are the rare snail kites and the much more numerous limpkins found along Florida’s healthy waterways. We attempted to locate and photograph colorful painted buntings on each tour but were unsuccessful. I would say the bright pink breeding plumage of the roseate spoonbills made up for the lack of the color the buntings would have brought to the table.
Some smaller birds that caught our cameras’ attention were the usual eastern meadowlarks, loggerhead shrikes, and pileated woodpeckers, making for excellent subjects. A special addition to this year’s target species was a pair of burrowing owls that decided to set up camp along one of our usual photographic routes. Each group had excellent opportunities to photograph these charming birds at close range.
Birds alone help make Florida an excellent nature experience, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the abundant alligators photographed throughout the tour. Mammals photographed included charming marsh rabbits and eastern gray squirrels.
If foggy morning sunrises are appealing, I should mention that some of our early mornings offered excellent landscape photo opportunities, especially while slow-cruising over a bald-cypress rimmed, dark-water lake on our way to photograph osprey and barred owls.
Anytime I finish up a series of successful photo safaris, I find myself reluctant to call an end to the season and ready to start back again. I find Florida to be a great place to revisit my early photographic stomping grounds and, more importantly, a place to share a passion for both nature and photography. I am already looking forward to returning during next year’s breeding season to introduce new groups of eager nature photographers to Florida’s abundance of birdlife.
