Galloway Captiva Triathlon 2012 at South Seas Plantation

Heading out this weekend to a Triathlon where I am the photographer for the event. Had so much fun last year and the folks who organized it liked my photos so much they decided to bring me on board as the official photographer for the event this year. If you feel like getting some sun and watching people swim, bike and run their hearts out, by all means come on out to Captiva Island South Seas Plantation. Check back after September 15th and 16th as I will be actively adding photos during both days after the event is over.

Click here to view my Sports Photography Gallery or Click on the photo above.

J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge Nature Photo Gallery

From now through February at J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge going towards Captiva near Crow will be hosting my nature photo gallery for all to see. For all those visiting or local the address is 1 Wildlife Drive Sanibel, FL 33957. I am really excited to have this chance to have Ding Darling host my gallery. I had never printed any of my photos in a 30x40 metal print medium before. The photo below is the one I used for this test of that size. Feel free if you find spare time to come on down and take a look at the gallery. The hours of Ding Darling are posted below. Hope to see you all down at Ding Darling. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Education Center : 1 Wildlife Drive Sanibel, FL 33957
May 1 - December 31
9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
January 1 - April 30
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Dissecting A Hornets Nest

I apologize for the long absence. I have been dealing with a sinus infection that doesn't want to go away. I am back now and ready to get to work. For Thanksgiving I went to North Carolina and around where we were staying I found this hornets nest that had fixed itself to the underside of a gutter. After a while thinking about it I decided to have it taken apart to show everyone what it looks like on the inside being how impressive looking it is on the outside. As we started cutting into it one thing that we found inside of it was a yellow wasp. I am not sure what it was doing in there as it looked like all the eggs had hatched and were already gone. Layer by layer we removed finding it quite interesting to see how much paper there was and how big the comb was they had built.

Visit To Austin Texas

Ducks Feeding From Down Under

Squirrel Sun Tanning

When I went over to Austin Texas I did an Incredible amount of walking around taking in the sights. A few miles from where I was staying there was a park that I walked over to and noticed there were quite a few birds there. I of course couldn't resist putting the walk on hold to go over and take some photographs of them. They were everywhere some in the water and some roosting on the land. I found the ones in the water the most interesting to watch them feeding. The way they ate was by taking their heads and going straight down into the water and by doing so sticking their butts in the air.

Turtle Keeping A Close Eye On Me

After that, I went to another park that had really beautiful water. There wasn't a whole lot of wildlife in this area I was in due to the amount of people there, but I did get to see some turtles. There were a few particular ones that caught my attention. They were out of the water completely sunning themselves. They were very touchy and you had to move ever so slowly closer in order to get close to them otherwise they would dive off the rocks and disappear into the water. On the way out I also came across this squirrel lazing about under this bridge. As always should you want to see more photos I have taken feel free to click on any of the photos to be taken to my galleries.

Cactus Flower Blooms

Inhabitants Of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

This weekend I decided to go take a peak at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary boardwalk and see how things looked since the last time I was there was during a draught. I noticed quite a bit of water in the area walking back to my favorite spot and the lake known as Lettuce Lake was quite full. The only downside from having as much water as there was is that the wading birds don't have anywhere to stand as the water is to high for them. I saw some other cool reptiles and amphibians there this time though. Never fails but I always seem to find frogs everywhere I go. In this case there were quite a few of these Green Tree Frogs that seemed quite young around in Lettuce Lake. 

The other creature I came across was two baby Alligators. Never did see the mother but I was quite sure she was somewhere close. With the plants on the surface, other stuff in the water these baby Alligators blended in quite well and were quite easy to just walk on by without seeing them. The baby Green Tree Frogs were the same way except once you saw one your eyes kind of adjusted and then all of the sudden your like whoa theres a lot of baby Green Tree Frogs here. There were also quite a few Green Anoles out there which I have honestly never seen that many before. Usually the the lizards you see are the Brown Anoles which are an invasive species to this area. To see more of my nature photography click on any photos.

Out Back Photography

Ibis Doing A Balancing Act

This week I decided to talk about some photos I took from our backyard or a neighbors back yard. Here in Florida we have a pond out back that birds like to frequent and also the area in general that we live in during the wet season remains quite wet. Just the other day we had a Anhinga taking a dip in our swimming pool and drying its feathers off at the side in the hot sun. In the past I have also seen animals like turtles and wild pigs. Even if you don't live in a area that wildlife frequents, if you look hard you might be amazed at what you might find. 

Chipmunk Caught Red Handed Taking Food From Bird Feeder

Turtle Rescued And Released Out Back

Water Splashing Upwards From Impact Of Water Droplet

I know just taking a walk out back from where I work I find subjects to photograph that interest me. Not always wildlife though. One day walked out back while it was raining and sat down on a bench near this puddle and watched the rain drip off the roof hitting the water hard enough to splash upward a little. So I laid down on the ground in work clothes to take this photo of the water splash. In my opinion it looks even cooler looking at the water in the photo seeing that second where it hits and the water goes upward. To see other photographs I have taken click on any of the photos.

Turtles Are Not Speed Bumps!!! (Please Watch For Them)

I was on my way home one night heading away from a street named Veterans. I all of the sudden noticed a police car went into the turn lane going towards Veterans and then flipped his lights on and went into my left lane. I was in the middle lane and was thinking oh great I did something wrong. As I came closer to him and pulled up next to the police car I noticed something in front of the car but figured it was just trash he didn't want someone to hit. I looked closer and realized that it was a turtle he had stopped for and it had been hit by a car already. He picked it up and said, " Oh it is still alive". 

After saying that I immediately responded that I could take care of him and that I am volunteer at The Conservancy Of Southwest Florida. The one thing that kept going through my head as I was heading home with the turtle next to me was," why did this have to happen now of all times?" I mean if it had happened during the day, I would have been able to find help for him right there and then. The next day I went and checked on him to see how he was doing and he had moved around quite a bit during the night which I was glad to see. So after taking him down and leaving I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of him so I called back and asked if it was ok to get a picture. I also offered to stay and help since they were short handed. It is hard to believe how many animals are injured every day.

I checked periodically during the time I was there to see how he was doing by peaking in a corner that was uncovered and from what I could tell he was going to be just fine. They patched him up with gauze and electrical tape on the area of his shell that was broken from the impact of the car. Aside from that what he needed most was just rest to let the wound heal. To end this story while I was there one of the cute animals I saw being helped was this baby squirrel who was being fed. If anyone would like to donate to The Conservancy Of Southwest Florida please click on this link https://www.conservancy.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=478. If you live here locally for example Fort Myers, Naples, Bonita Springs Etc and would like information on volunteering click on this link http://www.conservancy.org/page.aspx?pid=521.