A brief visit to the Everglades National Park.
Dec 27, 2019 07:43:45 #
The Everglades National Park from where I live can be approached going west on Highway 41 (Tamiami Trail) or via Florida City toward the southwest of the town of Homestead. The northeastern part of the park, the easiest for me to reach is called Shark Valley and that was where I spent a brief visit yesterday morning due to the miserable weather conditions.
The weather did not cooperate. We had intermittent rain most of the morning and to make it worse the water levels are still high so if planning a visit better wait till mid January or better yet February when the birds are plentiful and it is the dry season for South Florida. I met a gentleman who also lives in Miami and he told me that he visited the other part of the park and that birds were nowhere to be seeing. Indeed it is still early for bird photography, at least in this part of the Everglades. Considering the weather conditions and the low concentration of birds I did the best I could. I spent more time caring for my gear than photographing since I was not prepared for the rain.
All of these images were made using my Nikon D7000 with the old, screw driven 80-400 f4-5.6 VR Nikon lens. I varied my ISO settings between 400 and 800 depending on subjects and I was shooting at f8 most of the time. All images were original RAW data edited with Nikon View NX2 and Affinity Photo. All images hand held. A couple of images were enhanced with Topaz Adjust AI.
The rainbow shot had some weird colors in the sky. Those were not banding since I was working with 16 bits so I believe it could be the characteristics of the digital sensor. In spite of the mostly cloudy skies I was shooting with the lens shade on and occasionally I had to remove it to clean the small amount of water it collected inside. I do not know if the D7000 has sealing against the elements but neither the camera nor the lens failed to work. Back at home it was working like a champ so I cleaned lens and camera and when dried out I placed both in a container with a desiccant, which is my routine here in South Florida due to the high humidly in summer.
1- Green heron.
2- Blue heron.
3- Anhinga also known as Snake bird.
4- Great blue heron.
5- Blue heron fishing.
6- The rainbow.
The weather did not cooperate. We had intermittent rain most of the morning and to make it worse the water levels are still high so if planning a visit better wait till mid January or better yet February when the birds are plentiful and it is the dry season for South Florida. I met a gentleman who also lives in Miami and he told me that he visited the other part of the park and that birds were nowhere to be seeing. Indeed it is still early for bird photography, at least in this part of the Everglades. Considering the weather conditions and the low concentration of birds I did the best I could. I spent more time caring for my gear than photographing since I was not prepared for the rain.
All of these images were made using my Nikon D7000 with the old, screw driven 80-400 f4-5.6 VR Nikon lens. I varied my ISO settings between 400 and 800 depending on subjects and I was shooting at f8 most of the time. All images were original RAW data edited with Nikon View NX2 and Affinity Photo. All images hand held. A couple of images were enhanced with Topaz Adjust AI.
The rainbow shot had some weird colors in the sky. Those were not banding since I was working with 16 bits so I believe it could be the characteristics of the digital sensor. In spite of the mostly cloudy skies I was shooting with the lens shade on and occasionally I had to remove it to clean the small amount of water it collected inside. I do not know if the D7000 has sealing against the elements but neither the camera nor the lens failed to work. Back at home it was working like a champ so I cleaned lens and camera and when dried out I placed both in a container with a desiccant, which is my routine here in South Florida due to the high humidly in summer.
1- Green heron.
2- Blue heron.
3- Anhinga also known as Snake bird.
4- Great blue heron.
5- Blue heron fishing.
6- The rainbow.
Dec 27, 2019 07:52:41 #
Dec 27, 2019 07:58:06 #
These photos are exquisite William! I still use my D7000 when I travel because it is small and light.
Dec 27, 2019 08:11:03 #
Looks like you made good use of your brief visit, weather not withstanding! Great set of photos. I wonder if the birds are migrating later this year due to late fall up north?
Dec 27, 2019 08:18:20 #
Dec 27, 2019 08:24:58 #
Thank you all for your nice and interesting comments. I cannot say if there is a late bird migration but from my experience usually January and February are the best months to photograph birds in the Everglades.
We still have high water levels which implies that the birds can be anywhere in the park. They come to these places like Shark Valley when the water levels are low and it is better for them to feed.
We still have high water levels which implies that the birds can be anywhere in the park. They come to these places like Shark Valley when the water levels are low and it is better for them to feed.
Dec 27, 2019 08:26:18 #
Dec 27, 2019 10:49:40 #
Dec 27, 2019 11:44:02 #
Dec 27, 2019 12:00:59 #
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Dec 27, 2019 12:34:21 #
Dec 27, 2019 14:28:50 #
Dec 27, 2019 15:04:39 #
Dec 27, 2019 20:01:06 #
Wonderful downloads, William and I remember early one season Gregory45 kept taking images of almost empty spaces and then all of a sudden the birds seemed to be everywhere!
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