Photos from Merritt Island Wildife Refuge:Winter Migration

RichardW

For Wildlife enthusiasts, here are some images taken in January 2009 of several species migrating through the Merritt Island National Widlife Refuge near Titusville Florida. Some of these. like the Kingfisher, gator, red bellied woodpecker, White Ibis, Wood Stork and Herons are residents. We lived in Melbourne, Florida for 10 years in the 60s and 70s but never made it back to the wildlife refuge intil this year; what a treat. This is a unique place, environmentally protected and in the direct path of many migrating birds such as the American White Pelican, Roseated Spoonbill, and a myriad of beautiful ducks. These shots were taken over 2 days. We will return next year and stay much longer.

A couple of sample images:

Here is the link to the album: http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album926&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

Richard
Laughing

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mcc272 · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:32 pm Post subject:

Richard --

Those are fantastic photos and I complement you on your skill. What lens are you using to get such close up shots?

Thanks for sharing the photos.

Jim

JamesTXSD · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:00 pm Post subject:

Nice images! Very Happy

Robbi · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:33 pm Post subject:

Wonderful pictures. Thank you!

Robbi

dotnmarty · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:28 am Post subject:

Your entire album is a work of art. Thank you.

MartyP

Pat Anderson · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:52 am Post subject:

Richard - as always, I am in awe of your wildlife images!

thataway · Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:52 pm Post subject:

Wonderful photos! We had the pleasure of spending a couple of days in this birding area in November--and commented on how great it would be during the height of the season.

hardee · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:51 am Post subject: wildlife portraits

Richard, Wonderful wildlife portraits. Oh the patience it takes. Of course, being in the right places at the right times helps some, but it is not all luck. You do extremely good work.

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

El and Bill · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 7:44 am Post subject:

El and I have been lifelong birdwatchers - your photos are marvelous - you not only have perfect images but you wonderfully capture the spirit of the bird.
We have just been to the Platte Valley in Nebraska to witness the spring migration of over 300,000 Sandhill Cranes - and your photos of the Sandhills are perfection - you captured all but the bugling calls, and your photos even fill our ears with that wonderful sound. Thanks for sharing your skill and sensitivity with wildlife with us all.

RichardW · Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:11 pm Post subject:

Jim,
I use Canon DSLR bodies (30D and 40D) and generally two Canon image stabilized lenses for most wildlife shots:
Canon 100-400mm zoom LIS
Canon 500mm LIS supertelephoto with Canon 1.4 teleconverter
There is a 1.6x multification factor with these digital bodies which makes these lenses 640 mm and 1100 mm respectively.

Thanks to all for the kind comments; it was interesting to me that the most viewed images were those of the Florida gator - a most common critter to Floridians.
Smile