(Click on photographs to see full size)
I traveled to South Florida for six days in February to explore the Everglades and photograph the wildlife there. It was the first trip I have made to pursue my personal photography. In my career I traveled all over the world for someone else’s photography needs.
Margo had plans for a trip to Italy with a friend and I wanted to get away from the Maryland winter. I thought the southern tip of the Sunshine State would be a good place to visit and find lots of birds and other critters to photograph, with the added benefit of shedding the layers and wearing shorts.
I spent the first couple of days visiting Everglades National Park. I started with a late-afternoon visit to the Anhinga Trail where I saw a few species of birds that were firsts for me, including the eponymous anhinga. The first thing that enchanted me was the purple gallinule. I had to step gingerly around a lounging alligator, probably not giving it a wide-enough berth and hoping it would, if hungry, go after one of the other tourists around me.
My first morning I drove to the tip of the state and met friend Jeff Bundonis in Flamingo. I photographed short-billed dowitchers on the shore of Florida Bay, black-necked stilts on a pond, and ospreys on a nest.
I moved west to visit Big Cypress Swamp and Everglades City. I had a particularly wonderful morning in the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. There I saw the beautiful roseate spoonbills and tricolored herons, among other birds and creatures.
I returned to the east and stopped at Shark Valley where I caught a photo of an illusive white-eyed vireo, whose call I imagined translated to “Take my picture! Too late!”
My last day I revisited the Anhinga Trail at dawn. Fog shrouded the ponds lending an aura of mystery.
It was a great trip. Appropriately I returned home to fresh snow on top of the month-old ice piles. Here are more of my photographs from the trip. Thanks for looking!
