Today was the second day in a row that the sun showed itself. Several young bucks with new antlers paraded through the yard. They appear to like to eat the acorns that have fallen onto the driveway. The ground is still very wet with mushrooms popping up every night. I caught one of the house trolls admiring the two types of mushrooms. For the last several days, I have been seeing some rather large spiders in the garden. Today, I got images of one with a funnel like web. The other one had an egg sack the size of a marble that was attached to its posterior. Finally, I still have a number of flowers and wildflowers in bloom. Behind an electric fence to keep the deer away.
Individual images from the slideshows can be viewed here.
Gone to See Florida 2017/2018 Road Trip. Day 2: Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.
I try to stop and spend at least a day at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge when I do a road trip to Florida. It has been a while, and the last time I got rained out. The wildlife refuge suffered some Hurricane damage. Both Black Point Wildlife Drive, and Biolab road are open. Biolab road is now one-way, starting from the boat launch area. This is unfortunate, since in the morning you are driving into the sun. I spent the night in Titusville. When I woke up it was foggy. I arrived at the entrance to Black Point Wildlife Drive just after the gate was opened at sunrise. The fog was starting to rise, and when I looked behind I saw the opportunity for a great landscape sunrise image. The clouds and lifting fog made for good backgrounds. I did two loops on Black Point Wildlife Drive, and one pass on Biolab Road. I saw many birds up close. I think the early morning fog helped. Many of the palm trees on Biolab Road lost their tops during the hurricane. I hoped to see more Osprey, but only caught one in flight. There were many more Turkey, and Black Vultures. I am not sure of the ID for the Hawk with a red breast. After the sun came out, a couple of Alligators showed up. As I was leaving, I saw a number of spider webs with droplets of water left by the fog that were lit up by the sun.
Photographer and tripod viewing the sun rising over the trees in the early morning fog. Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 OIS lens (ISO 200, 100 mm, f/7, 1/680 sec). (David J Mathre)
Gone to See Florida 2007 Road Trip Day 5: Selby Gardens in Sarasota.
We drove to Sarasota to visit Marie Selby Botanical Gardens to view the Orchid show. The gardens do not allow the use of tripods in the conservatory, but did allow me to use my walking stick as monopod to stabilize the camera while taking pictures. I tried to work quickly so not to block other visitors to the gardens. It was a target rich environment. After visiting the conservatory we spent time wandering around in the outdoor gardens. It was there I got an image of a crab spider having a fly for lunch.
Orchid at Selby Gardens in Sarasota, Florida. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (David J Mathre)
Crab Spider with a Fly for Lunch at Selby Gardens in Sarasota, Florida. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens (David J Mathre)
