To top off a great first day of birding - this great blue heron stood nicely in the sunset. This chance find apperently has also inspired more famous photographers than myself - see e.g. at this link http://www.birdsasart.com/ABPII.htm of Art Morris - quite sure this is the same spot and who knows, it might actually be the same heron ;-) - Bart Vannieuwenhuyse's Photos- powered by SmugMug

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we recently (Dec 2007) traveled to Florida, a trip that took us to some of the birding highlights of the state...

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Bart Vannieuwenhuyse > Today, December 12th was the first day of real "birding" and took us to Boyd Hill Park near Tampa. Really nice birding spot but as this little "gator" attest, also interesting other wildlife can be observed here

Bart Vannieuwenhuyse > Boyd Hill Park is a really good spot for woodstorks - what a nice relief to be taking bird pics in the USA again, not sure why, but birds in the USA are much less shy than in Europe.

Bart Vannieuwenhuyse > While we were watching the woodstorks above, this little green heron was creeping through the branches at the foot of our observation deck

Bart Vannieuwenhuyse > This afternoon (12/12) we went to de Soto Park and besides some sunbathers, there was a nice flock of skimmers on the beach

Bart Vannieuwenhuyse > Skimming is what skimmers do ;-)

Bart Vannieuwenhuyse > To top off a great first day of birding - this great blue heron stood nicely in the sunset. This chance find apperently has also inspired more famous photographers than myself - see e.g. at this link http://www.birdsasart.com/ABPII.htm of Art Morris - quite sure this is the same spot and who knows, it might actually be the same heron ;-)

Bart Vannieuwenhuyse > For the second day (13/12) of birding in Florida, I got up early to take advantage of the warm morning light - on the mudflats (low tide) near De Soto Park, I came across a couple of yellow-crowned night herons on the look out for crabs

Bart Vannieuwenhuyse > De Soto park is famous for its herons - since I was all alone at the lagoon I took my time and very gradually walked into the water after a while, the herons must have looked at me as a fellow heron...a weird and big one for sure... but nevertheless, they were absolutely oblivious of my presence so that I could approach them to within a couple of meters, resulting in some very exciting photo opportunities, eg of this little blue heron

Bart Vannieuwenhuyse > ...this louisiana or tricolored heron went about doing its business, allowing me to approach to about 5 meters

To top off a great first day of birding - this great blue heron stood nicely in the sunset. This chance find apperently has also inspired more famous photographers than myself - see e.g. at this link http://www.birdsasart.com/ABPII.htm of Art Morris - quite sure this is the same spot and who knows, it might actually be the same heron ;-)