It's springtime here in Florida, so everything is blooming. Here are a couple of impressive trees I wanted to share with you folks. The one above is a silk oak, and the one below is a jacaranda. Who cares about DC and their cherry trees?
OK, the suspense is killing me. Who's in Tallahassee that's hitting my blog all the time? You know who you are, there at the Department of Health. Just curious.
I told you that I saw all these birds together tonight, and I wanted to prove it to you. Here's a good shot of three different species, all together in the water. I also spotted a little blue heron, a white ibis, a great egret and a juvenile little blue heron, which meant he was white instead of blue, with occasional blue feathers popping out making him look spotted. I would have stayed and got his picture but he didn't fly in until I was in the truck and pulling off.
Is this the fourth species of bird I've posted tonight? I think it is. Anyhow, this is a moorhen, and there were a pair of them in my magical lake this evening. I only got one of them in this shot, but I liked the way you could see some of the harder-to-spot parts of the bird in this photo. You can see the white stripes, the red face and the yellow tip on the bill. Cool, eh?
I seem to have shown you these guys a couple of times before. I didn't think I'd shot and shared them that often. Oh, well.
The nearly-dry drainage pond where I found all the birds this evening was a suprisingly diverse habitat. You've seen a pair of spoonbills, a pair of ducks and now you get a glossy ibis. This is only the second time I've shot one of these, and the first time hardly counts. In this case I got one individual as he paused during feeding, and another one as he came in for a landing on the other side of the lake. It takes a lot of light to illuminate these dark birds, most of the time they look black, but I got very lucky this evening and caught them with full illumination from just the right angle. You can see for yourself the color that is usually hidden in these birds.
This pair of ducks was in the same body of water as the roseate spoonbills this afternoon. They aren't as attractive as the bright pink birds, but they make for a nice little picture anyway.
You never know what you might find if you just keep your eyes open. I spotted this pair of roseate spoonbills on the drive home from work today. I think this is only the third time I've ever shot these birds, the first time I've shot them with the new camera with the longer lens, and only the fifth time I'm ever seen them, period. And I got plenty of shots. Stay tuned for more photos of these guys and other birds in the same mudhole, err, I mean lake this evening.
Hmmm, let's see what we have this week. This is a very tight shot on a purple flower I found up at EPCOT during their Flower & Garden Festival last year. They had a large butterfly garden set up, and I found this flower in there. None of the butterflies would hold still for a nice portrait, but this flower was more than happy to remain immobile for me.
I think this is the last of the cat pictures. This is a cheetah, but his name is... No, wait, I got that backwards. This is a leopard named Cheetaroh. That's not confusing at all, is it? Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed all these big cats.
Update: I think I'm still wrong. This is a jaguar. Or at least the enclosure was sponsored by Jaguar of Tampa. Why else would they sponsor the enclosure if there wasn't a jaguar in it? I'm so confused...
OK, I'm running out of cats to share with you, but I've got a couple left. This is a serval. They're a smaller cat than the other tigers, lions & cougars you've seen today.
Trust me when I say these guys are next to impossible to get a picture of. This is about the best I could do. Everybody loves the black leopards, but did you know they aren't really black? Look at the coat on this one, the part that's in the sun, and you'll see it's actually dark brown and spotted. Cool, eh?
Here's a little bit more to mess with your mind. This detail of Spaceship Earth was taken just after sunset as they were turning on the lights. That's pretty much the natural color of the sphere at that moment. All those little triangles will make you ill if you stare too long.
Just a little bit of psychedelica to make your day. This was the view inside a ride up at Epcot Saturday night. The ride was terribly boring, but the image is pretty interesting, don't you think?
Ah, this one I know. It's a cougar. Or is it a mountain lion? Now I'm not so sure. Well, all I can say for sure is that he's tired.
I really have no idea at all what species this cat is. I was too busy shooting pictures of the animals to shoot some pictures of the names on the cages. I guess I'll know better next time.
I'm afraid I don't know the names of all these different cats. I think this one is some sort of lynx, but I'm not sure.
Here's another big cat for you on this Easter Sunday. This lion is just lyin' around, watching the world (and tourists) go by. In case you're curious, I found these big cats at Big Cat Rescue, up in Tampa, Florida, right across from the Citrus Park Town Center. I guess the cats were there first, but development is trying hard to squeeze them out.
The photographer in me wishes that wire weren't between me and this tiger, but the survivor in me is glad it was. More on this guy later, but I wanted to throw up a picture real quick to wish you a Happy Easter. What does this picture have to do with Easter? Well, nothing really.
