What Next Photography & Graphic Arts

Springtime Blues Among the many birds that we saw on my most recent trip to Payne’s Prairie, was this male belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon). He was actively alternating between fishing dives into the creek and rounds of preening when he returned to his perch. No female was in sight, but he did disappear back into the woods several times after dives, so I suspect that his mate was back there…

Buckeye A colorful spring butterfly floats in on a breeze.  Eyes appear to be watching everywhere. A soft landing on a spread of greenery.  The eye-covered wings flap a few times, Then silence.  A moment of quiet rest in the morning sun Before moving on again to do what butterflies do. Another Buck Name(required) Email(required) Message Contact Us Δ

Sliding Through the Water On my most recent trip to Payne’s Prairie, we were able to see quite a few American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis). Some, like this one, were swimming in the spring fed creek, but most were enjoying the sun and were basking on the shore or on small islands in the stream. The water seemed to be quite full of fish if the fishing success of the wading birds was…

Springtime Soaring The weather around here has been perfect lately for large birds, especially birds of prey, to soar. Soaring basically involves birds finding and using thermal updrafts (known as thermals for short) to stay up in the air with minimal effort. Thermals happen as warmer air moves upwards through the atmosphere, usually in columns. When birds find them, they can ride thermals up to…

Ready for a Bath While watching the snowy egrets fishing, there was another, much more stoic bird nearby taking a bath in the same creek. When we first arrived at the creek, this great blue heron (Ardea herodias) was fishing in an area upstream from the snowy egrets. At that point, the water just came up to his knees. When I glanced back a few minutes later, the water was up to his chest. He had…

Unblemished A blushing, roseate flower with intricately folded petals, Bathed in the afterglow of a fresh spring rain. Shades of pink, red, and yellow, a testament to nature’s wonder. Draws the gaze and excites the mind. ✓ Subscribed Name(required) Email(required) Message Contact Us Δ

Going Down We have so many interesting types of wildlife, and especially birds here in Florida. But when you live here, it’s easy to start taking them for granted. I find myself sometimes looking at other people’s work and thinking I wished I lived somewhere cool like that. Then I realize that I actually do. How many people get to live right next to a state park with species like gopher…

American Bison One of the most unusual animals you can see here in Central Florida are a wild herd of American bison (Bison bison). They live out on the prairie area on Payne’s Prairie and roam wild along with a herd of Mexican wild horses. Last week, after a long day of birding, I took one more hike out on the prairie and came across this small group of bison as they grazed. Bison are not…

Bright Bristles Every spring we are blessed to have purple thistles (Cirsium horridulum) blooming all along the roads and in many other sunny places as well. They’re very interesting flowers for several reasons. First, of course, is their incredible variety of textures. Not only are the flowers full of textures, but the plants are as well. If some shape can be prickly, it occurs on these plants!…

Silhouette of a Blackbird Last week my brother, his girlfriend, and I went hiking in three different wetland areas, and the red winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) were everywhere. Most of the females were busy sitting on nests, but one would occasionally pop up out of the brush for a few minutes before going back to their motherly duties. The males, on the other hand, were very busy…

Chickadee Ballad It’s the time of the year when birdsong is in the air everywhere. Every time I walk outside, no matter where I am, I hear birds singing up in the trees and off in the distance. It’s lovely just to step outside and take a listen. Often you can’t see who is singing, but when the bird is just above you, it’s usually pretty easy. Things have been very busy in my life lately, so it’s…

Crescent Last night I went out to Cedar Key after work in hopes of a pretty sunset. We’ve had several lately that look really nice through the woods, and I wished I’d been some place to see it more clearly. Unfortunately, yesterday evening the scattered clouds up in the sky were all off in the east, so the sunset was nothing spectacular. After the sun had completely set, but the sky still had a…

My What Big Ears You Have Yesterday my brother and his girlfriend and I went hiking in Payne’s Prairie and the nearby Sweetwater Wetland Park. Needless to say, we had a great time. I don’t get to see them often since they live in Anchorage, Alaska. Both of them work in outdoor conservation jobs and are avid birders as well, so they made me look like the amateur that I am. I really learned a lot…

Prickly Pollen Prickly poppies (Argemone albiflora) are so much fun to photograph. They have so many cool textures between the spiky leaves and stems, the corrugated white petals, and the multicolored, multi-textured centers. When you catch these flowers shortly after they have opened, they also tend to be covered in small specks of yellow pollen, which just adds to their appeal. These white…

: Tubular I always have a lot of fun creating these abstracts from some of my photographs. I have no desire to do them all the time, and not all photos lend themselves well to it, but I do love the freedom that abstracts provide. Unlike most other types of photography, there aren’t a lot of rules to follow (or artistically decide to break) to determine what is “good”. With abstracts, though, the…

On Top of the World Breeding season for most of our birds in Florida is underway. That means that birds, especially the males, are all decked out in their finest brilliant attire. For some of them that includes long, fluffy plumes, more colorful skin around their eyes or on their legs, or most commonly brighter, more colorful patterns. For the red bellied woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus) the…

Perched and Protected Even though I do my best to put food in an accessible but safe place when I feed the wild birds, they never completely let their guard down (nor would I want them to). That’s part of the reason I always cringe a little when I see pictures of people feeding them by hand. One important aspect of staying alive for wildlife is to retain a sense of caution at all times. As you…