Heron with some sort of water snake?

We were shooting a red-bellied woodpecker who was doing some nest work, so I did keep an eye on this heron, as it was only maybe 30 yards away. Hot sunny pm, and maybe a little heat wave happening, so for me, it is not crystal clear., but it will do.

More from the set another day.

Florida rocks!

Great Blue Heron with a Snake
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/5000s f/5.6 at 300.0mm iso400

Right place, right time, right settings, and here we go!

Looking forward to seeing the chicks, at least one hatched today.
In about 2 weeks, the activity should be awesome to see, and photograph.
Cool. as this location is about 90 yards away from a great coffee and iced tea location!

Join me?

Incoming Osprey with Breakfast
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1000s f/6.3 at 240.0mm iso1600

These adults are on egg/s, taking turns eating a nice sized fish first thing in the morning. Amazing, how the have a very specific eating perch, away from the nest, so they do not make a mess in the home of the new chick!

Superb opportunity!

Osprey with Breakfast
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1000s f/6.3 at 240.0mm iso1600

We were very lucky to have the sun at our back!

A juvenile bald eagle was eating its breakfast here on the shore of the pond, when this adult popped in for the steal! We had time to get out of our vehicle, and blast a few images as it flew away!

Thank goodness for luck!

Bald Eagle with Stolen Breakfast
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/2000s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso1250

So many hours of waiting ... concentrating, and hoping for a chance to catch such a shot, it takes so much commitment!

I cant wait to back!!

Love Florida!

Osprey Dive
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/2500s f/8.0 at 400.0mm iso1250

Flying Monarch!

A wonderful stroke of luck to catch this beauty in focus. 3 hours of hard concentration, and a result I am happy with. getting the butterfly and the flower in focus, with a nice background was worth all the effort!

Heading back south in a month or so!

Join me! ??

Monarch Butterfly in Flight
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/5000s f/4.5 at 400.0mm iso640

The Hunt!

Almost as much fun as watching a cheetah hunt in Africa, this tri-colored had a lock on this catfish from the lily pads. A few seconds to prepare to lift off, and success! With a burst of images, i was able to capture the whole scene.

The 'flip" was a bonus!! I didn't even see this until this morning, a week after the image was taken. A nice surprise!


Tri-colored heron with catfish
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/2500s f/8.0 at 400.0mm iso1250

Great Horned Owl nest, East Florida.
Packing soon, as we head home late tomorrow pm, we had lots of fun here this week., Love Florida!

Hoping for a return trip in late April.
Swarovski Optic + D850.

Osprey Connection

Finally home from the Florida shoot and wow! even in some chilly weather we always have awesome opportunities!

Here is a posing female keeping her eggs warm on the nest, Image taken from about 16 yards. We were so lucky to see this pair mating about 6 weeks ago, so here is the result!

D850 + Swarovski spotting scope. Hope to see the chick/s in April! Here, I was using the D850 in 1.5 crop mode, so a full frame equivalent of over 1400 mm.

Nikon D850 ,Swarovski Spotting Scope - 95mm Optic
1/320s f8.4 iso1250

Totally manual lens with this scope, fixed aperture, so some interesting challenges to when creating images. On a full frame camera, I am shooting at about 1,000 mm, so fine tuning the focus is so important!

To catch a kingfisher in flight from about 90 yards is more then enough challenge!

Belted Kingfisher - Swarovski Scope
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D800 ,Swarovski Spotting Scope - 95mm Optic
1/2500s f8.4 iso800

Osprey Female waits patiently for her mate to visit the nest with a fish.

About 3 hours of watching a mating pair of Osprey feeding, protecting their nest, and mating was quite the amazing experience during our last adventure south to Florida.

We had some time with this female, as her mate was busy on a nearby telephone pole chowing down on some fresh fish. (about 80 yards away)

We could hear her calling, as I am sure she was quite hungry! Interesting, that when he brought over the meal, she instantly left the nest to eat on a nearby pine tree, about 150 yards away.

I am thinking she didn't want the mess in the nest.

Amazing Nature. This is a special part of our world that we all need to protect.
Osprey portrait with my Swarovski Scope
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D800 ,Swarovski Spotting Scope - 95mm Optic
1/800s f8.4 iso2000

I spent some time having fun with the Swarovski Scope attached to my D850 during my most recent trip to Florida. Worked out well!

Especially with this cute model in superb light!

Burrowing Owl - Swarovski Scope
Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D800 ,Swarovski Spotting Scope - 95mm Optic
1/640s f8.4 iso1250

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
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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let me GO!!!

Great White Egret and a Bullfrog
Orlando, Florida



Let Me GO!!!

(back to Florida!)
Nikon D810 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/640s f/5.6 at 600.0mm iso1000

Love Florida! Thanks to my guest Harry Hersh., and for the help - Jack Rogers.

Osprey feeding time
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/800s f/5.0 at 400.0mm iso320

Awesome place to Hang out!

Our eye-level view of a busy osprey nest was brilliant!

This male Osprey is returning to his next for a visit to the family. Near Orlando Florida.

Osprey in Flight

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1250s f/4.5 at 400.0mm iso400

Love Florida!

A great place for action photography, testing the limits of the D850.

Purple Gallinule Landing
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1250s f/7.1 at 400.0mm iso500

Brilliant early morning light, just north of Orlando we found a superb wetlands location. Miles of driving trails, with superb nature on both sides of the track. Early am, the light was excellent with the waders waking up and lifting off their overnight perches.

Some sweet backgrounds on this marsh were so much fun to shoot against. Looking fwd to returning!

thanks for looking!

Tricolored Heron in Flight - Florida
Orlando, Florida
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/8000s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso800

Such a cool bird! Least bittern.

It's been 11 years since I have had a good chance with this beauty. Great fun

While we were shooting and tracking this Least, there were osprey crashing the water for fish, and snail kites picking off huge snails off the water, a green heron in the next swamp to our right, (50 yards), dragonfly's everywhere, tri-coloured heron, egrets, grackles, purple gallinule, common galinules and gators. what a place to shoot!

I was set up under a tree out of the sun, 10 feet from the waters edge, in a city park., walking paths, and parking 70 yards away. A gift! I have been shooting at this location at least 20 times, and have never seen such action!

Hope to go back soon., 3 full days of shooting - join me!!??

raymond

Least Bittern in Florida
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1600s f/6.3 at 400.0mm iso500

Such a cool bird! Least bittern.

It's been 11 years since I have had a good chance with this beauty. Great fun

While we were shooting and tracking this Least, there were osprey crashing the water for fish, and snail kites picking off huge snails off the water, a green heron in the next swamp to our right, (50 yards), dragonfly's everywhere, tri-coloured heron, egrets, grackles, purple gallinule, common galinules and gators. what a place to shoot!

I was set up under a tree out of the sun, 10 feet from the waters edge, in a city park., walking paths, and parking 70 yards away. A gift! I have been shooting at this location at least 20 times, and have never seen such action!

Hope to go back soon., 3 full days of shooting - join me!!??

raymond

Least Bittern in Florida
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/1600s f/6.3 at 400.0mm iso500

Lots of hours hanging out at this nest site., so much fun to have them just less then 20 yards away!

We ended up in a lot of good locations besides this one, so I will keep editing and posting for a while., along with more from Africa. Love Florida!

Osprey Landing
Orlando, Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/2000s f/7.1 at 400.0mm iso800

Barred Owlet - Florida
Raymond Barlow Photo Tours to USA - Wildlife and Nature

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/100s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso800

Barred Owl Chick
Raymond Barlow - Wildlife and Nature

ray@raymondbarlow.com
Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/250s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso2000

Barred Owlet
Florida

ray@raymondbarlow.com

Nikon D850 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/320s f/4.0 at 350.0mm iso2000