(c) 2009 Lydia Hinshaw
Hawk on a roadside perch
Red bellied woodpecker ST. JAMES CITY, FL -- We required only minor sacrifices from the birds we chased this Thanksgiving weekend.
In fact, we didn't eat a bite of turkey, opting instead for a Florida feast of stone crab in a Fort Myers restaurant.
Prince Charming and I packed up the cameras and headed to Southwest Florida in a downpour Wednesday, hoping to find some birds on the loose. Our primary objective was the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island.
We visited Sanibel on Thursday, because the Refuge is closed every Friday without exception. It's a way of giving the animals a tourist-free interlude each week.
Unfortunately, the heavy overcast Thursday wasn't great for photography. Although we saw lots of birds, our results were disappointing.
Naturally, Friday was spectacular, weather-wise. On our way back from our beakfast walk, we came across a hawk on a power line. Armed only with a tiny point-and-shoot, I had to get pretty close for any hope of a decent picture. The hawk proved fairly cooperative. He flew off twice, moving farther along the wire, on the same route we were hiking. The last time he landed, he seemed to have concluded we weren't dangerous, and he posed there for a minute at least before hurrying off into the distance.
Later in the day, I was taking it easy in a beach chair at our campsite when I was alerted by a knocking noise. Almost directly over my head, a red-bellied woodpecker was pounding away at a utility pole. This time my SLR and long lens were close at hand.
Some days you travel far and wind up with nothing. Other days the birds come looking for you.
In fact, we didn't eat a bite of turkey, opting instead for a Florida feast of stone crab in a Fort Myers restaurant.
Prince Charming and I packed up the cameras and headed to Southwest Florida in a downpour Wednesday, hoping to find some birds on the loose. Our primary objective was the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island.
We visited Sanibel on Thursday, because the Refuge is closed every Friday without exception. It's a way of giving the animals a tourist-free interlude each week.
Unfortunately, the heavy overcast Thursday wasn't great for photography. Although we saw lots of birds, our results were disappointing.
Naturally, Friday was spectacular, weather-wise. On our way back from our beakfast walk, we came across a hawk on a power line. Armed only with a tiny point-and-shoot, I had to get pretty close for any hope of a decent picture. The hawk proved fairly cooperative. He flew off twice, moving farther along the wire, on the same route we were hiking. The last time he landed, he seemed to have concluded we weren't dangerous, and he posed there for a minute at least before hurrying off into the distance.
Later in the day, I was taking it easy in a beach chair at our campsite when I was alerted by a knocking noise. Almost directly over my head, a red-bellied woodpecker was pounding away at a utility pole. This time my SLR and long lens were close at hand.
Some days you travel far and wind up with nothing. Other days the birds come looking for you.
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