Despite the cloudy forecast, Thursday morning dawned still and clear with a light mist in the air that cleared quickly. The crane in the North Marsh sat steadfastly on her nest with two eggs and the branched eaglet remained branched. The crane family on the South Peninsula was MIA. Despite the perfect conditions, I almost made it home without making a single image. Then I stopped to try for some Cattle Egrets in a low-growing, purple flower setting. When I checked on the eagle nest the young bird was jumping around from its perch to the nest and back again. I was thrilled to see it make a ten foot “flight” from the nest to its perch to the south. Then one of the adults flew in with a big silver fish and the eaglet returned to the nest for breakfast. And I returned home to prepare brunch. As I left, I saw that the crane family had crossed to the North Field (but ignored them to head home and get to work). <\/p>\n
All day yesterday I thought that it was Friday … Anyhoo, I got a ton of work done on Thursday. I now have 368 images in the first of my two GNPA Keynote programs. About half the slides are arranged properly, the other half are not. And I need to get down to less than 350 photos. I worked on lots of images from my two Jacksonville visits last year in preparation for announcing two Jacksonville IPTs this summer. I sent 44 work-related e-mails — about par for the course, and I did a gear consult by phone. Lastly, I began work on today’s blog post. <\/p>\n
Today is Friday 18 March 2022. The morning forecast is again calling for still and partly cloudy … Such forecasts at ILE often mean “still and sunny.” Time will tell. IAC, I will head down to the lake for a bit. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too had a great day. This blog post took a bit more than three hours to prepare and makes eight days in a row with a new one. <\/p>\n
I will be heading to Gatorland on Saturday and Stick Marsh on Sunday to check things out. If you are on the list for Gatorland early entry for this Saturday and would like to learn to be a better photographer, please get in touch via e-mail<\/a> ASAP. <\/p>\n Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links on most blog pages and always in the right column and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords. And please consider joining a BAA IPT<\/a>. You will be amazed at how much you will learn …<\/p>\n Good afternoon, Artie,<\/p>\n Just a fast word of thanks. I just completed second purchase of equipment using your site. I am retired on SS my fun budget — let’s just say it is tight, leading me to the used equipment market. FIRST TIME (March 2021). You went out of your way to find me what I was looking for (a Canon 100-400 II lens). The lens was not listed yet, but you found one for me. I got a great deal\/price, in better condition than posted. SECOND TIME (March 2022). I grabbed the 7d MK II package that was listed on your Used Gear Page by Steve Zarate. Again, the process was easy, the price was great, the equipment in very good condition, and packed and delivered as stated.<\/p>\n Thanks again! I have recommended your site to others and will continue to do so.<\/p>\n Tom Muilhern<\/em><\/p>\n This image was created on 24 February 2022 by Clemens Van der Werf at Lake Blue Cypress, FL. He used the hand held Canon RF 600mm f\/4L IS USM lens<\/a> with the Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R<\/a> and the Canon EOS R3 Mirrorless camera body.<\/a>. The exposure was determined via histogram evaluation. ISO 640. 1\/4000 sec. at f\/5 (stopped down 2\/3 stop) in Manual mode. AWB at 7:25am on a sunny morning. <\/p>\nUsed Gear Kudos via e-Mail from Tom Muilhern<\/h3>\n
\n
\n \n \n \n Image courtesy of and Copyright 2022: Clemens Van der Werf
\nImage #1: Osprey squabble<\/strong><\/h2>\n