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Check out past trip reports (old to new) Page 2 or Page 3 or Newest reports.

July 4, 2007: I made it out to photograph the fireworks this year. These are the fireworks from Channelside and were shot from the top floor of a parking garage in downtown Tampa. It was a good spot to view the fireworks without the crowds..

June 26, 2007: I returned to Ocala National Forest today in hopes of finding a bear again, but unfortunately no luck. I really didn't see much except several hundred spiders and some scrub and fence lizards.

June 20, 2007: On Wednesday I traveled down to Punta Gorda to take some new photos of one of my favorite Florida birds, the burrowing owls. I found a nice location with multiple nesting sites and some even had some young chicks (2 to 3 months old). Afterwards I headed over to Babcock Webb WMA mainly to capture some red cockaded woodpeckers which is a new species for me. I found them and also got a few decent flower shots (some of which I played with in photoshop) and saw a doe and her two fawns.

May 29, 2007: For the first time in a year I returned to Ocala National Forest. I don't think I saw any people on any of the trails with me that morning. I was able to see a bunch of the scrub lizards and fence lizards in addition to a red headed woodpecker and a summer tanager all of which I rarely see other places. One of the neatest things was this young buck that stared me down from down the trail and stamped his hoof at me. After a minute I started stamping my foot back and eventually he figured out that I was more stubborn and he ran the other way. On my way out of the forest, on a winding dirt road, I rounded the corner and saw my first Florida black bear since I was a little kid. Unfortunately he didn't wait for me to stop and get my camera out and I wasn't able to get any pictures.

May 24, 2007: On this date I traveled to Viera Wetlands for sunrise. Overall it was pretty quiet, but one of the click ponds was very low and had a nice feeding frenzy with every kind of wading bird there is in Florida. I did get to see a couple of babies including a sandhill crane, grebe, and coots. I also took a long hike at River Lakes although the only photos I took were of the cattle egret and frog right at the beginging. Afterwards I headed back through Three Lakes WMA and finally got some good pictures of snail kites. At one point I could see a pair of osprey on a nest, two bald eagles, and 3 snail kites all in my field of view. On the way home I stopped at Lake Kissimmee State Park and as I have every time through I saw multiple deer and turkey in addition to getting some good shots of a pileated woodpecker. (2 sets of 15 pics)

April 24, 2007: Returned to Fort Desoto today to add some more migrants. Not as birdy as last week, but I photographed 5 new warbler species and got some much improved pics of indigo buntings and rose breasted grosbeaks.(2 sets of 20 pics)

April 19: A very colorful day at Fort Desoto. The spring migration has finally arrived. I photographed 5 new species including Orchard Oriole, Hooded Warbler, Black Throated Green Warbler, Blue Grosbeak, and Scarlet Tanager. I also saw a bunch of Indigo Buntings, a Baltimore Oriole, a pair of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, 3-4 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, a White-eyed Vireo, and a bunch of shorebirds.

April 13-15: Back from my second trip to the Everglades this year. Took my mother who is a florida native and yet had never been to the park before. The water levels despite the statewide drought were extremely high limiting wildlife activity and photographic opportunities. Got to photograph a couple of new species including common myna, purple martin, white crowned pigeon, island glass lizard, and southern toad. The only thing in abundance was Lingus tree snails with a count of 71 on the gumbo limbo trail (previous high was 9).

March 31 through April 2nd, 2007: Back from my first (but not last) trip to the Dry Tortugas. I took a seaplane out the first day in hopes of getting some good aerial shots and getting started exploring the fort before returning to Key West. The second morning of my trip I rode the ferry back to the islands again this time to stay and camp for two nights. On the island I spent the day snorkeling, exploring Fort Jefferson, or photographing the birds which included magnificent frigatebirds, brown noddies, sooty terns, pelicans, and a variety of migrating warblers. The highlight of the trip had to be the sunsets over the lighthouse on Loggerhead Key which is actually 3 miles away from Garden Key where I was camping. This is definitely a recommended day trip for anyone visiting Key West.

March 30, 2007: Visited Key West on my recent trip to the Dry Tortugas. Caught a nice sunrise from the beach before heading out in the seaplane to the Tortugas and then spent the afternoon walking around the town. For sunset I headed out to Fort Zachary Taylor and photographed some of the art on the beach.

March 22, 2007: Visited Three Lakes WMA today. Had a very good day. Besides the usual suspects I photographed a bald eagle scavenging road kill, a sandhill crane baby only days old, a snail kite (finally), a great horned owl, and a pair of barred owls. Also met and shot with a couple of fellow photographers.

March 9-12, 2007: Christina finally got a long weekend off so we took off for Cumberland Island, Georgia. We stayed in a small town called St. Mary's which claims to be the second oldest city in the US behind St Augustine. We stayed three nights in a bed and breakfast called the Goodbread House, in the Rhett and Scarlett room. We spent both Saturday and Sunday hiking and biking all over Cumberland Island. Sights seen included the Dungeness ruins (an old Carnegie estate), wild horses, Plum Orchard (another old mansion) and the First African Baptist Church (also the site of the marriage of JFK Jr to Carolyn Bissette). The rest of the time we spent exploring the quaint little town of St Mary's and it's numerous old buildings. (2 sets of 15 pics)

February 27, 2007: Visited Merritt Island NWR today. Saw manatees, hundreds of ducks and coots, white pelicans, spoonbills, and two different great blue herons eating snakes. (2 sets of 20 pics)

February 22, 2007: Out for another trip today. And as a bonus got to try out my new car which I picked up the day before (see pic below). Spent the morning at Corkscrew. Not a whole lot exciting going on, but finally got to see my first male Painted Bunting. Afterwards made a quick stop at Panther NWR. Next I headed over to Big Cypress Bend boardwalk. Here there are nesting bald eagles although too far out for a good pic. Down at the pond at the end were baby gators, a water snake and a minor feeding frenzy of anhingas, an egret, a heron, a stork, and a green heron. On the way home I made a quick stop at Babcock Webb but was unable to locate the great horned owl I have seen the last two times there.

January 24, 2007: Spent the day over at Three Lakes WMA and had one of the most productive days I have had in a long time. My sightings list includes my first ever peregrine falcon, 4 whooping cranes, 10 bald eagles, 10 deer, a coyote, 50-60 turkey, sandhill cranes, bluebirds, robins, fox squirrels, meadowlarks and a multitude of little chirpy birds that I have trouble identifying. There are two sets of 15 photos.

January 18, 2007: Returned to Ding Darling for the first time in a long time. Saw many spoonbills, white and brown pelicans, feeding yellow crowned night herons and the rest of the normal wading birds.

January 12-14, 2007: Spent the weekend down in the main part of Everglades National Park. The water levels were pretty high limiting the accessibility of the wildlife. The highlights were the most Lingus Tree Snails we have ever found and the very active big crocodile down by the marina. The pictures are in two sets of 20.

January 6, 2007 : Returned to the Venice Rookery. Things are definitely picking up there as several herons are already nesting and more are in the process of nest building. Very foggy this morning limiting some photo ops.

December 28, 2006: Today I visited Shark Valley, Big Cypress, Fakahatchee Strand, and Marco Island with my sister. Unfortunately did not see too much exciting and there were a lot of people around.

December 2, 2006: Today I took a quick morning trip over to Viera Wetlands. There were still hundreds of coots and ducks. There were mostly blue winged teal with green winged teal, northern shovelers, ring necked ducks, and hooded mergansers. I also had the good fortune of seeing two Crested Caracara posing together in a pine tree.

November 26, 2006: Today I took a quick morning trip over to Fort Desoto. I took some improved pictures of ring billed gulls, american oystercatchers, and reddish egrets. I also added two more species to my ever growing list, a hermit thrush and a flock of red-breasted mergansers.

November 14, 2006: Today I spent the day over at Viera Wetlands. I went to see the famous Masked Duck which is a semi rare Florida visitor. While watching the duck an otter came out and began rolling in the dirt road not 15 feet away. Other interesting sightings include hundreds of blue winged teal, a bald eagle pair, a northern harrier hawk, a belted kingfisher, ringnecked ducks, a snail kite and a common snipe. The highlight of the day was photographing a barred owl who repeatedly flew out of the woods to investigate a fellow photographer's bird call.

November 9, 2006: Took a quick trip to Venice rookery and Oscar Scherer state park this AM. The rookery is pretty quiet although there were a couple of herons gathering sticks and taking them back to begin nest building. Not too much exciting at Oscar Scherer either.