Nichter Photography PLUS

This mound at Kolomoki State Park in Blakely, GA rises 56 feet high and measures 325 x 200 feet at the base. A visit to the museum at the Visitor Center provides much information, or as much as archeologist know at this point, about this mound, the others in the area, and those who build it.

Constructed over 700 years ago, and surrounded by villages, burial mounds, and a ceremonial plaza, it was a center of population in its time. It likely also served as a meeting or ceremonial center for the nearby cultural centers.

I managed to get to the mound only a couple of minutes before the sun peeked over it. I centered my shot directly at the stairs, and the sun is nearly directly at the top. I suspect on the summer solstice in June it would be in the center. I had time for two quick shots before the sun completely appeared.

We decided to try to camp at Kolomoki Mounds State Park again. Our first trip there, two years ago, coincided with Hurricane Irma. We checked in late because of the evacuation traffic on US 19 and set up the RV at site 18 only to learn the next morning that the hurricane turned and the forecast called for it to hit the area. After an hour on the telephone with a wonderful customer service person at Choice Hotels, we finally secured a room in Alabama and left the next day. When we checked in this trip we told the ranger the story, and he said we should have stayed. It turned again, as we knew, and their full campground, sold out the two nights we stayed mostly with fellow Floridians escaping the storm, emptied out as everyone left due to the new forecast. The second trip never happened. Hurricane Michael came right over the park a week before our reservations, and closed it for a few weeks. Two trails remain closed and need to be cleared.

We left on an overcast but pleasant Sunday morning, Mother’s Day. The new anti-sway bar installed the week before made a big difference in handling and in the ride. As we headed north on U.S. 19, the clouds began building ahead. We crossed into Georgia, and had a few drops of rain around Thomasville. We turned to head west on US 84, and the sky in the distance looked very threatening. Just outside of Bainbridge, GA we hit the line squall. We actually saw it coming. Suddenly the trees ahead swayed and bent, leaves and pine needles swirled in the air, the rain started and we felt it hit the RV. With no place to pull over, everyone slowed. The rain fell hard and considerably reduced visibility. We found our left turn and continued, the wind eased after the first hit and the rain, while heavy, backed off somewhat. We continued toward Blakely and the park.

Upon arrival at the park, the ranger met us in the parking lot. The line of storms we just drove through had knocked out their electricity. We went to our campsite without checking in and the ranger promised to stop by and let us know when the electric came back. We set up, and not knowing how long it might take to restore the electricity we decided to conserve the house batteries as much as possible so pulled out our battery-operated lantern, camping French Press and kettle, and solar phone charger. As we still had overcast skies and occasional rain, the latter item would not be put to use immediately. Our RV stovetop runs on propane, and we carry a two-burner propane Coleman stove to avoid heating up the RV on warmer days. Two hours later the ranger stopped by, we had electricity.

The campground sits on the shore of Lake Kolomoki. We prefer a site away from the water, near the path to the park. From our site we see the lake, but have plenty of shade and privacy. Several other campers joined us for one night, and went on their way the next day so for the most part we had the campground to ourselves. One afternoon I took my camera and notebook and sat at the picnic table at one of the empty lake front sites. I glanced up from my writing to see a snake watching me from only a foot or so away. I never noticed it coming. I slowly grabbed the camera, backed off a bit, and took a couple of shots, When it didn’t move I gathered my things and giving it plenty of room left and walked back to our site. The ranger looked at the photograph later and said it looked like an Oak snake, also known as a Gray Rat Snake. They average 5 – 6 feet, but can be up to 7 feet. This one I think was about four feet.

Barb and I finally saw the Painted Bunting Male, along with many females on our third day, this time at Honeymoon Island. Mark and Karl saw one our first day that we missed. Our big surprise: A Yellow-headed Blackbird in a shrub along the path to Bet Beach. This species makes very rare appearances this far east. Luckily I managed several good photographs, and a local birder confirmed the sighting. I tried to post to both eBird and Birdbrains, and though a member of both neither site would take the photograph.

From the third day:

Our drive to Fort DeSoto takes well over an hour now due to traffic. We make the sacrifice in time and sanity once a year because of the migrants that it draws. Some of the highlights from the day: Summer Tanager, Scarlet Tanager, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Tennessee Warbler (lots), Yellow Warbler, Orchard Oriole, Baltimore Oriole, Dickcissel, and many others that went by too fast.

From the second day:

 

Twice a year, our part of Florida watches closely for the migrant birds that pass through on their way either north for the summer or south for the winter. This year we visited several places along with family, who also bird. Quite a few migrants stopped this year due to a weather front, so we went with high hopes.

When I bird, I also photograph. Often I photograph for identification confirmation more than for art or science, but occasionally the birds cooperate well enough (or feel sorry for me?) that I manage both. We saw birds, but not many migrants at Eagle Point Park, Green Key Park, and Key Vista, our hiking on the first day. The second day at Fort DeSoto yielded the best migrant count, and also the best migrant photography. Our third day together at Honeymoon Island provided some birds, and quite a surprise.

My bird lists, as usual lately, ended up incomplete and sparse. Juggling the binoculars and camera I often think I will remember all the species. I don’t. I also lose my pen or pencil frequently. Fortunately Karl usually sees me drop it and tells me. Too often, mostly with the expensive waterproof pens or mechanical pencils, I drop them and we never find them. After returning from these wonderful three days of hiking, I decided to make my note taking easier for me and the pens more likely to stay put. Women’s hiking pants rarely have pockets suitable for the notebook and pen, as most men’s do. I am trying a new system and will report back if it works.

From the first day:

Last Saturday we held our second of two Spring photography hikes at Brooker Creek Preserve in Tarpon Springs, FL. The slightly cool start invigorated all of us.

We saw spring flowers, plenty of dragonflies, some of whom even stopped long enough for a nicely posed shot, a hawk sighted by one of our sharp eyed regular hikers, and near the end a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron who sat in a tree for us.

Thank you to all of our hikers. We love these hikes because we meet such interesting people, and we all learn from each other. Our next event will be another workshop style class in July. We scheduled this recently after the positive feedback from the January program and after discussion with the staff at Brooker Creek Preserve. The workshop starts with a short basic photography presentation, followed by questions from you. Bring your camera and any questions you have about the camera or using the settings, we do our best to answer them. We hope to see you there.

For next season, we plan to stay with the program of two hikes in the Fall (October and November) and two in the Spring (March and April) with a workshop style class in January. We do not charge for the hikes or the classes, they are part of our volunteer work in support of Brooker Creek Preserve.

We have guests this week, and they love birding as we do. We are off hiking for the week. Next week I hope to have some interesting bird photographs to share.

The Mexican bromeliad weevil (Metamasius callizona) entered Florida through imported plants in the late 1980s. By 2009 it spread to most of south and central Florida. We once  saw this plant, the Cardinal Flower, frequently on our hikes in this area.

This is the first one of this size we have seen in years. When the botanist pointed it out to us, slightly off trail, we all were excited to see it. I believe as a result of the weevil, called the “Evil Weevil” by bromeliad lovers, the T. fasciculata along with the Giant Air plant (Tillandsia utriculata) are now listed as either threatened or endangered.

It is amazing how quickly an insect inadvertently moved from its native area to a new area can affect the native flora, unfortunately negatively in this case.

Our end of March hike went very well. We saw an incredible number of Spring wildflowers, a Carolina Wren sat very still singing for several minutes in full view right off the parking lot, and a deer walking straight across ahead of us near the bird blind.

Wrens tend to hide more, though their singing carries far, so the fact we all managed several shots of this one definitely set a good tone to the hike.

This wild iris makes me reach for my camera every spring. This time I caught a good shot in good light with an insect along for the ride.

Our second spring hike takes place April 27 at Brooker Creek Preserve, 8:30 in the morning. Meet in the lobby of the education center and we will set out from there.

 

I worked with shutter speed at Falling Creek Falls during our visit (see last post). Neither Karl or I brought a tripod, so each shot was done either hand held or resting the camera on a fence or post to try for better stability. Karl hand held the shot on the last blog entry.

I set my camera on shutter speed control, not manual for this, and worked with various speeds. The first did not get what I wanted, and actually just makes the water look blurry to me. I shot, checked, decreased speed, and shot again for about 10 or 12 shots. The other two I posted below really produced some interesting effects, but I never got quite the shot I had in my head. The tanin in the water added a dimension that the same photograph on a clear creek or stream would miss, and I achieved that look but not the overall shot.

Because of the lighting and wind, I needed a tripod to achieve the shot I wanted. I plan to play around with the second and third shot in Photoshop with cropping to see what abstracts I can produce.

Some days, nature photography produces great shots, other days, all you get is some fun and a nice walk in the woods. But who is complaining about that…