Author: Kathleen

Hot, humid, and very wet describes the last week. Three days in a row we woke up to rain, had rain off and on through the day including some heavy thunderstorms, and fell asleep to rain. Desperate to get out, we saw some clearing and took an early morning drive through a local preserve. A flock of Jakes walked through the wet underbrush, and tolerated me getting out of the car and photographing them. Further on, a doe with two fawns froze as our car approached on the road. I took a shot out the window. By the time I exited the car the fawns wandered further away.

With few clouds in the sky we decided to take a walk. A very short walk, as Karl was swatting mosquitoes as soon as we started on the trail. The sun lit up the leaves of a wild coffee plant, and I stopped to photograph it causing the mosquitoes to find me! Back to the car, we left as it darkened up again, and rain started before we arrived home.

Our photography exhibition at Brooker Creek Preserve, “20 Years At Brooker Creek Preserve: Photography by Karl and Kathleen Nichter” ended July 27. Thank you to everyone who came to see our work and attend the two programs we presented.

Special thanks to the Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve for the opportunity to do this exhibit, all the gallery volunteers, and to the staff at Brooker Creek Preserve for all of their support during the exhibit.

We presented a photography program in the morning, then stayed as gallery volunteers for the afternoon. For the past several days we experienced high heat warnings from late morning to late afternoon, and today followed suit. The heat built as the day progressed, and just walking outside felt like hitting a hot wall. We sat in the lobby, and through the glass doors I watched the activity in the wildflower garden.

Early that morning the garden volunteers worked to clear and maintain the garden. As I watched butterflies took advantage of the flowers and their work. I noticed a new butterfly with a bit of light orange flying around, and went outside to see. At that point three butterflies worked the flowers, a Gulf Fritillary, a Sooty Wing, and the one I spotted, an Orange-barred Sulpher. The Sooty Wing flew quickly about landing and taking off, and often landing where one of the others already sat, seeming to bounce off them as they also took off. The activity continued for several minutes, then calmed down, the ONLY activity we saw on this very hot afternoon.

We decided to take a short mid-week break and headed toward mid central Florida. Summer started later in the week, but as usual the summer heat and humidity arrived long before that. Our hike, on a trail with no shade, started about 7 a.m. and by 8:30 we were back in the car with the air conditioning running. The predicted high temperature for the day was 94 degrees, and the humidity high, so we knew the hike would be short.

The above juvenile Purple Martin, identified as such as he sat on a perch with adult birds I assume were his parents, watched us walk by. The bird below provided such a nice contrast to its background and the spray of branches I couldn’t resist the shot.

Our Spring weather suddenly turned to hot, humid summer weather a couple of weeks ago. We hoped for a reprieve before summer actually starts, but it appears to be here to stay. The opening of our exhibition went well, and we were very pleased to meet so many new people and see so many friends stopping in.

We decided to do two programs during the exhibition. The first, this Saturday June 7, is a Gallery Talk about the photographs on exhibit including the cameras used, settings, places, and whys of why we did it the way we did. This is the first time we will be discussing our entire process, from why we decide to go where we go and the shots we take, right through to choosing what to print, which paper to use, ink settings, matting, and framing. We decided when we started 20 years ago that we wanted to control the entire process and we still maintain that.

The second program will take place on July 26, just before the close on July 27. That program, Landscapes and Wildlife, is a program we intended to do in February but had to cancel due to illness.

We hope to take a few short weekday trips this summer, but won’t be doing anything longer until after the exhibit closes.

We have volunteered, photographed, led photography/nature hikes, and conducted classes in photography at Brooker Creek Preserve in Tarpon Springs for 20 years. It was there we found again our love of nature photography and in 2008 decided to name our collaborative work Nichter Photography. We are very honored that the Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve asked us to do this exhibition.

We visited Battleship Park in Mobile, AL to check out another site of the Coastal Alabama Birding Trail. The trail starts in the field behind the outdoor displays and concludes with a boardwalk leading to a two story covered observation deck. As we started walking we could see the Canada Geese in the distance, in a field filled with flowers and surrounded by tan blobs. As we walked closer, the older geese immediately stood at attention watching us, and with the 400mm lens and binoculars we saw identified the blobs as chicks, a lot of them. We kept our distance, walking to the boardwalk and deck, spotting several birds including a Downy Woodpecker quite close on a tree.

As we left, we saw the Canada Geese moving around the field, as one fluttered its wings to herd the youngsters along.

We heard the Great Horned owls calling in the early morning, so knew they were in the area. For the third year in a row, we camped at Meaher State Park in Spanish Fort Alabama, this time at site 50, directly cross from the Delta Boardwalk trail. We visit in the spring, but the timing varies, and we always heard but rarely saw the owls. Heading out on the Boardwalk with binoculars and camera that first chilly morning, I found two owls sitting on branches in full view, several yards apart.

As I walked back to the RV another birder asked what I saw. I mentioned seeing the pair, and asked if she knew of a nest. She then told me that the baby owl had been seen in the pines near her campsite, not too far from ours. Later, another person told us they nest year each year.

We kept watch on the pines and later in the day realized the young owl moved to the tree directly across from us. At first it hugged the trunk of the tree, but later moved out further. Many people stopped to look up at it as they walk by, but located high enough up in the tree with Mom and Dad nearby it never looked upset or nervous, just watched them as they watched it.

Rounding a curve in the trail, we looked up (for birds of course) and instead saw a fish. Apparently one of the birds, we assume an Osprey, caught a fish wrapped up in fishing tackle. With the hooks and weights, maybe it dropped it rather than attempt eating it? It hung quite a way up the tree, so we doubted a human prankster did it. It caught our eye, and that of several hikers as they came up on it.

We took a day trip to Manatee Springs State Park, a favorite of ours for camping when we camped in the van. We take longer trips now, and drive by this wonderful park too often on our way to other places. The sunny day often seemed cool with the north wind, but perfect for a hike so we decided to visit. Spring arrived and the trees are starting to slowly green, but winter colors still predominate.

We saw several manatees, and heard and saw many birds. We guessed a local school system had spring break that week, since families with younger children filled the campground and roamed the trails. We all enjoyed the weather and the outdoors.