Love Florida Nature!

We are getting to know these birds that hang out in the wetlands of Florida, realizing their comfort zone/s. If we stay back 50-60 yards, there is a good chance this species will not flush.

Many of these birds perch near the roadways that divide the marsh areas, so we have little choice but to flush them when we drive by - otherwise, if we sit and wait, someone will want to run over us!

Awesome birds, beautiful, and very probably ... incredibly sick of us humans getting into their space!

Red-shouldered hawk Hunting
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/250s f/4.5 at 400.0mm iso160

This male and female osprey parked themselves side by side in a pine tree about 150 yards away. she had just finished eating her dinner as you can see by the look of her beak. She flew into the nest, then, within a minute, she was accompanied by her mate!

Here, in the landing shot he keeps his talons up and lands on his "elbows!" To lessen the risk of injury to his mate.

Of course, they proceed to celebrate Valentines day a little early, too much fun to photograph these amazing birds!

Looking forward to returning in March.

Male Osprey landing on his Mate
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1250s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso2000

Everyone's gotta Eat!

Too bad for the snake, as the ibis kept pinching its head over and over, trying to kill it as fast as possible. Interesting to watch for a few minutes, unfortunately we were "beeped' at several times, so we had to flush the bird, as it left its meal behind. Too bad so many people have no patience.

White ibis and a snake
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/2500s f/5.6 at 400.0mm iso640

About 4 Terns were fishing in one corner of a pond, so I set up the camera and Jobu support gear to fire a few images.. (about 800!). I love watching the skill of these amazing and energetic birds diving for tiny minnows.

A spectacular scene.

Thanks for looking!

Forster"s tern with Lunch
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/4000s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso1600

About 3 pm, things were getting slow... light was a bit harsh, so we were talking about moving over to the Osprey nest (earlier post).. and wow, look who popped up! 4 river otters! They all actually swam right over to us, within 30 feet! Great fun, exciting, as these coming images are my first ever of this species. f13 was a bit much, wishing I was at f6.3 for these shots, looking back is always easy!

We head back south in early March.

More soon!

River Otters at Play
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/500s f/13.0 at 400.0mm iso800

Still, even in Florida where there are a lot of people in this park location, the kingfishers are very skittish! This one stood still for about 5 minutes, giving me time to set up, and get my iso as low as possible. Knowing I was going to do a heavy crop, the top priority is a low iso, at least 200 or lower.

At eye level with a very natural and typical environment, I had fun clicking about 20 images of this female (I think!). She was nice enough to pose for me with a twinkle in her eye!

I am heading back soon!

Belted Kingfisher looking for lunch!
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1600s f/4.5 at 400.0mm iso160

This beauty stood still like this for at least 20 minutes!
Lots of time to set up the Swarvoski Scope, and get a good focus lock., then create the correct exposure with enough shutter speed, and a low enough iso to end up with a very printable image. Awesome fun, challenging, but with a nice result.

Roseate Spoonbill - Swarovski Scope
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Swarovski Spotting Scope - 95mm Optic
1/400s f/8.4 iso640

Burrowing Owl - Swarovski Scope
Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Swarovski Spotting Scope - 95mm Optic
1/800s f/8.4 iso400

Foresters Tern Fishing
Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/2000s f/7.1 at 400.0mm iso1600

Foresters Tern Fishing
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/5000s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso1000

The last 20 minutes of light, on the last day of our recent trip to Florida, and the magical luck happens again. These 2 Osprey had a fish that they were sharing on a pine tree about 100 yards away, We waited for an hour at least .. so the female comes back to the nest, the male follows, and here we have real nature and amazement!

Love Nature, Florida was awesome.

Osprey Mating
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1250s f/4.0 at 340.0mm iso2000

Snowy on Ice
Ontario, Canada

We were out with the snowys, myself and mt 2 ladies, when my camera decided it had had enough! It would not focus, and the raw files were a mess beginning with the white balance. This is the only shot I could recover from the days shoot.

O well, hope to get back up there soon!


ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/640s f/5.0 at 400.0mm iso400

Snowy Owl on the Pond
Ontario, Canada

Barely time to get the window down in the truck, and this bird was gone.

I was very luck to have it on my side of the truck, as my guests missed the chance., still feeling guilty about that! Unfortunately, these birds have been chased around so much by folks with camera, and cell phone, they are weary, and timid.

Also, we hope for more snow! - next time.

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1250s f/7.1 at 400.0mm iso400

Beautiful Real Nature in Florida!

Great Blue Hero in Rainstorm
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/400s f/4.0 at 200.0mm iso800

Snow Owl at Sunrise
Ontario, Canada

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1000s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso1600

The opportunity is one thing, taking advantage is another.

Boat-tailed Grackle
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/400s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso1600

Real, and wild Snowy Owl! - Never baited

Snowy Owl on a Brush Pile
Ontario, Canada

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/640s f/7.1 at 400.0mm iso500

Great Blue Heron with a Greater Siren for Lunch
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1250s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso1600

Many thousands of birds in the Orlando area, after 7 trips in the last 2 years, I think I know my way around, and with the help of local buddy and photographer Jack Rogers, we can navigate straight to some good shooting. sometimes it is a driving path, sometimes it is a walking path, but pretty easy to find great opportunity's.

Just less then 3,000 images in 3 days taken last week., good fun. Not bad for December!!

Great egret and a Catfish Lunch!
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/500s f/6.3 at 400.0mm iso2000

Look who popped up about 10 feet from my lens in Florida!

Pied-billed grebe
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1600s f/7.1 at 400.0mm iso800

Hanging out in the warm sun, listening to nothing but sounds of nature. This heron flies into my camera, and jumps around looking to fill its belly with minnows. Almost non-stop action, and a shutter getting its exercise!

Love Florida.

Tricolored Heron in Flight
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/5000s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso800

Heading south once again, Harry and I will tour the grassy swamps and have our fill of the superb Florida Birds once again., back on Saturday, so take good care!

Cattle Egret in Florida
Raymond Barlow USA - Wildlife and Nature

http://www.raymondstigerprints.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/3200s f/5.6 at 200.0mm iso640

Home from Florida, we had a good trip., 3 days of shooting and around 2700 images, and lots of good sightings. Thanks to Harry Hersh!

Belted Kingfisher in the Rain (shooting from inside the truck!)

Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/200s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso400

Juvenile red shouldered hawk
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/800s f/4.0 at 400.0mm

Peregrine Falcon in Florida
Orlando, Florida

This Peregrine has found a great home! Surrounded by 10's of thousands of bird in a huge swamp... life is good!

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/320s f/6.3 at 400.0mm iso1000

Purple Gallinule in Flight
Orlando, Florida

So many opportunity's this trip to catch action shots of these beautiful birds... I could shoot this place every day for a week, and still want more!
They run on the water, and fly from patch to patch of the lily pads., so I just sit back and be ready! No feeding ... just patience.

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/4000s f/6.3 at 340.0mm iso2000

Along the walking paths in Florida Wetlands Parks, there can be few opportunities to get low, and shoot off the level of the water due to the coarse foliage. . In this case, I was lucky... at my favourite pond not too far from our hotel, this beauty performed for me while I crawled down to the edge of the water.

So nice that the bird is used to people, as it gave me such a good chance for so many images. I was also 10 feet from a pie-billed grebe, and it popped up from its hunt right in front of me... more images soon!

Little Green Heron Fishing
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1600s f/7.1 at 400.0mm iso800

Shoreline Snowy Owl
Ontario, Canada

Owl tours and prints!
ray@tigerprints.net
Nikon D800 ,Swarovski Spotting Scope - 95mm Optic
1/2500s f/9.5 iso1000

Out shooting with Harry Hersh and Bruce Kennedy a couple days ago, here is my first edit. I was switching back and fourth with my Nikon, and the Swarovski kit. Just for fun, here is a shot using the scope.

The scope kit combination I use is an 95 mm optic, an STX body, an eyepiece, a TPO adapter, and a Nikon ring adapter.

I can easily change that adapter to any brand of camera, DSLR, Mirror-less, or set up for cell phone shooting in seconds.

With this kit, I am shooting at 900mm at the widest zoom on the lens (30x) at f9.5. From there this image is a slight crop.

The kit works well in the above situation, when your subject is resting, and you have time to mess around with exposures, etc. There are no electronics in the lens, so you have 100% manual focus, and fixed aperture. Like the good ole days with my Canon ftb.

The tough issue is wind, with this kind of magnification, wind and moving subjects are difficult.

Hoping to mess around with this gear in Florida next week.

techs .. Nikon D850 ,Swarovski Spotting Scope - 95mm Optic
1/500s f/9.5 iso320

Fly in Flight
Tanzania, Africa

Neat to catch all three species! Love Africa!!


http://www.tigerprints.net
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1250s f/5.6 at 400.0mm iso1000

Snowy Owl Hunting
Ontario, Canada

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/400s f/6.3 at 380.0mm iso400

Tiger cub - India


A wild Tiger cub posing in India. An amazing moment, this very young, and confident cub left the adult female and trotted over to our jeeps location to see close up what the heck we were doing!

The cub stayed put for about three minutes, posing like a model, then was called back to the family. We were very lucky to have all 4 tigers within 20 yards of us for about 1 hour.

To me, these tigers are easily the most superb looking creature we have on our planet.

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D810 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/400s f/7.1 at 360.0mm iso800

Beautiful wildlife in Africa, all real, nothing captive. This family of Mongoose were a fair distance off the road, so I knew I was in for a heavy crop. So, I try to keep the pixels clean, at iso 500, then preserve as much environment as I can to help tell the story ... and here we are. We kept a fair distance, the animals were not disturbed, as they were quit curious in fact.

Thanks for looking!


Common Dwarf Mongoose
Tanzania, Africa

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/400s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso500

Vervet Monkey in Tanzania
Tanzania, Africa

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1000s f/4.0 at 350.0mm iso1600

Sometimes brutal back light isn't so bad? We were in the best spot possible to watch this kill, but the sun was coming up directly in front of us!

Thought I would give it a try anyhow.

Cheetah Cub with a Kill
Tanzania, Africa

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1600s f/4.0 at 200.0mm iso800

Orca and Gulls - Newfoundland
Newfoundland Canada

A pod of Orca had a Minke Whale surrounded, and were in the middle of a feast when we caught up to them. they were 12 animals strong, and devouring the whale right below our boat!
Nikon D300 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/500s f/4.0 at 200.0mm iso400

Lake Ontario Sea-scape
Ontario, Canada

ray@raymondbarlow.com
samsung SM-N910W8
1/361s f/2.2 at 4.6mm iso800

Thanks to Swarovski for providing me with some great equipment to experiment with. The new support kit is brilliant!

Waxing Gibbous - Sept 24 12:30 am
Ontario, Canada

Ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Swarovski Spotting Scope - 95mm Optic
1/250s f/9.5 iso64

Damselfly in Flight!

My sweet Maria and I went out into the hot field, beside some lagoons, and took images of bees and damselflies. So much fun, and hope to better next time. I did get a neat shot of 2 bees., i will post tomorrow.


ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1250s f/4.0 at 360.0mm iso2000

best regards.

raymond

There is always something out there!!

Out with sweet Maria on a training program, helping her get used to setting up a camera... and some fun near a swamp with the goldenrod and a few yellow jackets!

Love the challenge, so long as there is a little success!

Yellow Jacket Bee and a little friend.
Raymond's Ontario Nature Photography

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/6400s f/7.1 at 400.0mm iso2000

Resplendent Quetzal in Costa Rica

One of the most incredible birds worldwide, the male Quetzal is truly a work of natures beauty. Having such a chance to photograph such colours and feathers was quite an experience!

Costa Rica will always be on of my favourite travel destination., I am now planning a tour for January. What a place for a winter break from the snow and cold!

Thanks for looking!

I was never happy with this image, and the original edit, so I took another crack at it last night, for fun. Maybe a little better, but regardless, I will give this shoot another try next spring!

Tree Swallow in Flight
Raymond's Ontario Nature Photography

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/5000s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso640

London Ontario Air show

London Ontario Air show

This pond is one of my favorite places on earth!!

real nature, real colors, 100% natural.

Common Tern in for a Drink
Long Island - NY

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/2000s f/5.6 at 400.0mm iso1000

Four Common terns chasing the fifth, for a meal. A nesting colony near NYC proves to be very productive this time of year!

Five Hungry Terns
Long Island - NY

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1250s f/5.6 at 200.0mm iso320

Another road trip to Long Island this summer, and great results .. so much fun too! Birds in flight everywhere you look, it is overwhelming. Really, I just get worn out so quickly, it takes a lot of energy to keep up with all this, and come home with a few images to process.

This is such a superb bird!

Black_Skimmer in Flight
Long Island - NY

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/4000s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso500

Maria Barlow - Fog show at Algonquin!
Algonquin Provincial Park

Long drive yesterday, 2:30 pm, off to Huntsville for dinner, then a quick run into Algonquin until almost midnight, as we came home with this shot. About 5 am I was back home, and toast! 24 hour days are fun, along with too much coffee!

Maria basically took this shot, I just coached with the tech stuff, she is really getting this photography deal!

Sharing what I know about photography with Maria is quite an honor.. she is really keen, and picks things up quickly. She is already teaching me!

Best regards!
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S
10s f/4.0 at 28.0mm iso1600