mpwolfson
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off
|
You have picked the best time of year to come to Florida for bird photography. I am in the Orlando area, so I'll start here.
Gatorland is a commercial tourist site in this area, with hundreds of giant alligators in a natural environment. Birds like to nest in the area, and a boardwalk right thru the rookery lets you get very close for excellent photography. They offer a photo pass, so you can get in early. beating the crowds. This is a must for the best experience. In St Augustine, there is a similar setup called the St Augustine alligator farm. Both are sure fire places for world class bird photography.
Over to Tampa, there is Ft Desoto nature reserve out on a southern peninsula in St Petersburg. Shore birds along the beaches.
Going south on the Florida gulf coast, there is the Venice Rookery. It is in Venice florida on Annex Rd off Hwy 41, near Jacaranda Blvd. Annex Rd is only a few blocks long so you can't miss it. Drive past the Hwy Patrol facility, to where the buildings end and look on the right for a covered, open hut. Park and walk just thru the hut and you will see the rookery where a variety of birds are nesting. This is a morning site.
Further south on the gulf coast. near Ft Meyers, is Cape Coral. Burrowing Owls nest all over Cape Coral, and you can google the location to see the best places to look.
Keep going south on Hwy 41 till you get to the middle of the state, and find Shark Valley Rd. This is a fantastic place to get great closeups of many of the Florida birds, nesting and fishing. A morning place only due to light. Shark Valley is a paved walkway along a water retention swamp, the northern boundary of the Everglades park.
Get Arthur Morris' Birds as Art ebook on Florida Birding for many more sites to visit.
Good shooting.
Mike
|
