ST. AUGUSTINE SATURDAY

SWAMPSNIPER PRESS ^ | October 31, 2009 | swampsniper

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I met another photographer on a forum, turns out he lives not far from the swamp. He rode over today and we went shooting. The tide wasn't really right, had to improvise and go looking for models.

There is always something just waiting to be a picture!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Pinglist

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Lovely!
Just what I needed on a cold, overcast day back East!
Thank you!
P.S.
Have you ever published your photos or entered them in contests?

[mommyq]

Very nice. I’m impressed. I’m also jealous of your beautiful blue sky.

[mojo114]

WOW!

[Quick Shot]

What camera did you use, settings?? Nice work

[livius]

Beautiful! Those two at the bottom are spectacular.

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Hello there..
It was Swampsniper who took the pics..
I’m jealous of the blue sky, too!
;0)

[trollcrusher]

SWAMPSNIPER ...

Just south of you in the Palm Coast area. Gotta say that you take a nice pic. I’m orginally from the midwest and upon moving to Florida, I have been blown away at the vast assortment of bird species down here. Also, I like the pic of the Mission Nombre De Dios Cross on your personal blogspot. :-)

Take care,

trollcrusher

[trollcrusher]

SWAMPSNIPER ...

Just south of you in the Palm Coast area. Gotta say that you take a nice pic. I’m orginally from the midwest and upon moving to Florida, I have been blown away at the vast assortment of bird species down here. Also, I like the pic of the Mission Nombre De Dios Cross on your personal blogspot. :-)

Take care,

trollcrusher

[gardengirl]

Awesome, Swampy!

One of the coolest things I’ve ever seen—when I was about 8ish, I noticed one of the huge oak trees in our yard—southern Ohio—looked funny. Upon closer inspection, the whole tree was literally covered by monarchs. They were gone the next day, on their way to Mexico I guess.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Thanks folks!

Most digital cameras embed a data file known as EXIF in the image. If you download a free reader from OPANDA or other sources you can see all the data regarding settings.

Some photographers delete the data, I prefer to leave it intact when possible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchangeable_image_file_format

[skr]

Great color balance (and subject matter, too!)

[siamesecats]

thank you so much for your wonderful pictures

I really look forward to these

thanks again

[Grammy]

Wonderful

[MonicaG]

Wow!

[fanfan]

The third one is my favourite.

Thanks SS.

[pandoraou812]

Very beautiful!

[Just A Reader]

BREATHTAKING!!!!!!! Thanks for posting them here.

I had an Olympus c2100uzi that I just loved. I took great pictures with it. 3 years ago the strap snagged a chair on the porch and fell on the concrete and broke. I have'nt taken a picture since then. Life has changed so much for me in 2 years and I am glad to have several years captured in pictures.

Keep the pictures coming and add me to your ping list please.

[poobear]

Oh, my gosh swamp, these are just fabulous. So glad I am able to enjoy your art. Thank you kind Sir.

Please have a wonderfull weekend!!

[JoeProBono]

WONDERFUL!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Thanks, folks, the light on Saturday was glorius, the camera loved it! If the light isn’t right the colors aren’t there.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

My UZ1 is still going strong, I guard it like a baby.

[GSP.FAN]

The pics of the bird in motion are excellent.

[rustbucket]

You inspired me. I spotted this monarch out in my flower bed this afternoon.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Fine catch! They had a bad year, some kind of disease wiped out a bunch of them in their early stages.

[rustbucket]

Here is a cropped photo showing a pair of Gulf Fritillaries on a piece of animal droppings, which they were quite attracted to. No sweet flower nectar for them, I guess.

I took this picture a few weeks ago on a trail in Houston. I had only my big lens with me, so I couldn't get closer than about 25 feet with it. It wouldn't focus any closer than that.

[wideminded]

Here is a cropped photo showing a pair of Gulf Fritillaries on a piece of animal droppings,

They're standing on it. My 5 year old son just told me this morning that butterflies taste with their feet.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

That’s the problem with DSLRs, you’re often caught with the wrong lens. My 75-300 will focus from just under 6 feet so it’s not too bad. I carry the FZ30 to handle emergency situations, at low ISO it is a winner. I can also put a TCON-17 on the FZ30 and reach way out, it is a good combo.

[rustbucket]

I’d lose the “Are You Smarter Than a 5-Year Old?” contest. Here’s confirmation of what he said.

http://www.foremostbutterflies.com/learn_about_butterflies/butterfly_senses.htm

[Just A Reader]

Beautiful!! Your picture reminded me that I had a blue salvia years ago, I can’t remember the name. It was in full bloom all winter and then died when we had a really late triple freeze end of March/beginning of April.

I love these photo threads!

[rustbucket]

Swampsniper, you got any moccasins around your pond?

This one was about a foot of the trail I was on. He was about 30 inches long. I could have easily stepped on it. I had only my big lens, so I backed off and took his picture from afar. He totally ignored me until I walked over and extended one of the tripod legs to within 3 or 4 inches of him. He then moved his head back a couple of inches and opened his mouth at me like his species does to threaten. I moved the tripod away, and he went back to ignoring me. King of his realm.

Most of the moccasins I've seen before were darker colored than this one.

[rustbucket]

There is more than one kind of blue salvia. What I have is is called an Indigo Spire. My plant is about five feet tall. The web says they are a butterfly magnet (http://www.floridata.com/ref/s/salv_indigo.cfm). Mostly what I get around mine are honeybees.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

There is no cover around the pond, just high grass, it’s isolated in the middle of the marsh, really on an island. I do have mocs in the yard frequently. Most of them don’t really look for trouble, but some have really bad attitude problems. My grandson uses the little Colt .22 SAA on them.

[Just A Reader]

Indigo Spires - that’s what I had. I had to look it up after seeing your pictures this morning. I used to have a good collection of salvias at one time. They are on our list of flowers for hummingbirds. I live west of Katy, used to live south of I-10 now I am north of that and the soil is so sandy I am having trouble getting used to the different growning conditions.
Great pictures.

[rustbucket]

The snake picture was from south of you at Brazos Bend State Park, one of my favorite places for water bird pictures. There wasn't much stirring when I was there a few weeks ago, aside from the snake. There were a few white ibis,, a moorhen, one algae-covered alligator, a great egret, a cardinal, and a yellow-crowned night heron. Sometimes I see as many as 40 alligators, flocks of tree ducks, blue wing and green wing teal, snowy egrets, bitterns, anhingas, etc. Great place.

I haven't seen any pictures of yellow-crowned night herons on Swampy's threads, so here's one.

[Just A Reader]

I’ve never visited that park, what a great source for all your photos. I saw an earlier picture you posted of a rosette spoonbill in flight that was fabulous! When I lived south of I-10 I was only 2 miles from the Brazos river and right next to a bayou that came off of it, plus in a migratory path for many birds. I never grow tired of watching them. Anhinga - I had to look that up, yes we had them and I never bothered to identify them (lapse on my part).
Great photo of the night heron. Glad I stumbled upon SWAMPSNIPER’s thread.

[rustbucket]

Brazos Bend has been voted one of the ten best state parks in the country. I highly recommend it.

I always park at the first lake you come to in the park, which is called 40 Acre Lake. It has a large parking lot, restrooms, children's playground, and picnic area. This lake is on the left on the park road a few hundred yards from the entrance station. I walk clockwise around the lake. There is an observation tower on the far side of the lake. I usually take the trail another half mile or so to Elm Lake, then return to the observation tower and continue my walk around 40 Acre Lake. On this walk you'll hit some of the best places to observe birds and alligators.

I've visited the park maybe 40 times. There are not a lot of birds and gators along the trail at this time of year, but I usually see something unique on each trip to the park. The teal start coming down this time of year. A few other species of ducks are there over the winter. Black bellied whistling tree ducks are there year round. Purple gallinules are in those two lakes maybe May through June. Water birds have a feast around Memorial Day catching crawfish in the shallows. When the temperature cools a little bit you will often see alligators sunning themselves on the banks and sometimes on the trail itself.

You occasionally see roseattes at the park usually at long distance. The best place to spot them would be on Elm Lake, but they are not always there. There is a big picnic area at Elm Lake and a trail around Elm Lake as well. There are other little horseshoe lakes in the park with trails around them.

The best place to see nesting water birds around Houston is over at Smith Oaks on High Island on the east side of Galveston Bay. That is where my roseatte photo came from. You can stand some 20 yards from a big nesting area and watch the birds. However, Hurricane Ike knocked down the trees they nest in last year. I haven't been back to see it. The Audubon people who run Smith Oaks may have had to resort to putting up nesting boxes until the trees come back.

If you are interested in birding, a good birding day trip for you would be a clockwise loop around Galveston Bay. There is a bird observation dock on a lake next to I-10 just south of I-10 and just east of the Trinity River, but you are a fair distance from the nesting sites. Bring binoculars. Head to the town of Anahuac and follow the signs on south to Smith Point. Smith Point juts into Galveston Bay. We've seen a lot of skimmers there. Beautiful bird. And pelicans, gulls, and the usual beach shore birds.

Then head east to Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. There is a sign leading to the Refuge which is south of the highway. At the refuge there are roads that lead around some lakes. I've seen many water birds and alligators there from the car.

After Anahuac NWR head east then south to High Island. You can find maps online showing how to get to Smith Oaks, which is just a few blocks off of the highway through town. There are other birding spots at High Island as well, but Smith Oaks is my favorite.

After Smith Oaks you can drive south on the main road through town to the Gulf shore about 1 mile away. Then head west along Bolivar Peninsula past the area that was devastated by the hurricane. Bolivar Flats is a good spot for shore and surf birds.

Then you can ride the ferry over to Galveston, along with gulls that follow the ferry and the occasional porpoise in the water.

Here are some of the skimmers at Smith Point:

[rustbucket]

The best time of year to visit High Island east of Galveston Bay would be late March through mid May. That is when the birds nest. You can see eggs and chicks in the nests, nest building, mating displays, and constant activity as birds come and go.

The birds nest on an island that is patrolled by alligators in the water below. Swampsniper has pointed out that the alligator patrols keep down predators such as raccoons that might swim over to the island to climb the trees and raid the nests.

Here is a photo of the Smith Oaks nesting island taken with a regular lens (not telephoto). This was taken after a minimal hurricane had knocked off the tops of the trees two or three years ago. Hurricane Ike took out most of the trees last year.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Great catch, without the gators the birds would be in big trouble.

[rustbucket]

I double checked the dates on some of my old photos from Brazos Bend. One of the most productive photographic visits I ever had there was in late October. It was a little cool, and a number of alligators were out on the banks sunning themselves. Some of them were at least 7-8 feet long. One of them had killed a nutria, and another one chased him to try to steal the nutria.

My last visit to the park was in early October this year. For some reason, I didn't see many critters on that visit. I've only been one time when I didn't see any gators (very cold day), but I always see water birds, sometimes by the hundreds.

[Just A Reader]

First your photo - WOW! As I scrolled up it made me draw in breath. The black and white and red was so striking.

Your great information has me looking forward to using the next “roadtrip day” to go there. Used to do alot of that years ago with husband, we went to Rockport one year for the hummer festival and did alot of bird watching along the gulf.

Photos of God’s creation and creatures are soo satisfing, thanks for sharing!

[rustbucket]

I never have gone to the hummingbird festival at Rockport, but I've seen the hummers there. Nice place. We usually try to stay there when we head down the coast.

The Brazos Bend trails beside 40 Acre Lake, Pilant Lake, and Elm lake are nice and wide and elevated 5-10 feet above the water levels in the lakes. You can give any alligator on the bank a wide berth. Usually the gators are in the water.

A couple of times I've seen newly hatched baby alligators on a nest maybe 20 or 30 feet from the trail. The babies make little "cheep cheep" sounds. A parent gator is usually nearby in those cases watching the babies.

When I was there in early October, 40 Acre Lake and Elm Lake had plenty of water in them, but the water level was way down in Pilant Lake. Pilant Lake lies on the north side of the 40 Acre Lake trail and between 40 Acre and Elm Lakes. Pilant Lake has a lot of vegetation and trees in it, but you often see birds and alligators in it. The volunteer staffer at the park's Nature Center (nice exhibits there) said that the water level in Pilant Lake was down because of the drought. Even so, I still saw a Great Blue Heron and some Ibis rooting around for food in the Pilant Lake mud. Here is a picture of the Great Blue Heron from my visit. It was maybe 30 feet from the trail and didn't seem to mind me being there.