Change is Coming
It’s happening again. A change in jobs means a change in location. By the end of the month I will be leaving the beautiful Commonwealth of Kentucky and returning to Tampa, Florida. While I have really enjoyed birding in Kentucky, I am really looking forward to returning to Florida.
With all this happening, I did take a short break from birding over the past few weeks. Not that I wanted to really, it was just that I was super busy. I’m still busy, but with the long Thanksgiving weekend I made two visits to Jacobson Park. Saturday I found an American Kestrel perched on the top of a sapling in the center lawn of the park. It occasionally flew off its perch, hovered in the air while scanning the ground below, then flew off to another perch. I chased it around for about an hour and got some nice shots. All images of the Kestrel were taken with the Nikon Z8 with monopod mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens.
After Saturday night’s snow I wasn’t too keen on going out. But about mid-morning I finally got it together and returned to Jacobson. Of course, once in the field I regretted not leaving the house sooner, but that’s always the case. There was snow in the bushes and on the tree limbs, which provided some nice compositional elements. The American Robins seemed to be invigorated by all the snow as they were really flying all around. Here is one that landed on one of those snow-covered branches.
American Robin. Nikon Z8 with monopod mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 1100.
American Robin. Nikon Z8 with monopod mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2000 sec, ISO 2500.
While photographing the Robins I saw a flicker of movement up in the trees. At first I thought it was a falling leaf, but then I realized it was a bird. My first thought was a nuthatch, but when I got a close look I could easily tell it was a Brown Creeper. This is the first time (I think) I have photographed a Brown Creeper, so although I had to aim my camera straight up, I was happy to get this photo.
Brown Creeper. Nikon Z8 with monopod mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 640.
Once I move to Florida later this month, I will officially change the website. People enjoy coming to Florida to photograph birds and they asking about:
Location. “I will be visiting [area]. Where is the best place to go birding in that area?”
Species. “Where should I go to photograph [species]?”
Time. “When should I plan my visit to Florida to see as many birds as possible?”
So the focus of this website will shift. While I will still continue to blog about my outings and share my own photography, but the primary focus of this website will be to become a resource for bird photographers to find the best information for understanding when and where to go to photograph birds in Florida.
Photographers, especially from out of state, are also interested in hiring local guides to show them around so they can more efficiently find their target species. I did this prior to moving to Kentucky and I’ll restart that in 2025. It’s always fun to help another bird photographer out.
More to come on all of this, and until then, happy birding!
