You Can Take Better Wildlife Photos

 Here is a link to a powerpoint from a presentation I gave on capturing better wildlife photos.  Enjoy.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s5dqd7ykbx7w4nv/You%20Can%20Take%20Better%20Wildlife%20Photos.pptx?dl=0&fbclid=IwAR2jodeHZ21vkddpRh0dw2eReXo0uQ1G3GSDGCi6tqyXvTZ3l5Pm1DYkTmk

 

 

How to Create a Wildlife Habitat for Photography

This blog on How to Create a Wildlife Photo Habitat was published earlier by NANPA.

Update: The second monarch of the summer finally visited my yard this week and the first of the coreopsis are just starting to bloom.

Creating Your Own Wildlife Photo Habitat

By Tom Haxby

We are all staying much closer to home these days, yet the need to connect with nature through our photography is needed now more than ever. One way to do so is to create a wildlife photo habitat in your yard. This is how I came to create a habitat for monarch butterflies in my northern Michigan yard.

In the Beginning

Award Winner

Two years ago I was fortunate to have one of my photos place in the top 250 in the NANPA Showcase competition, as well as being a winner in the Nature's Best Backyard photo competition. It was also included in one of my magazine articles. This award winning image of a trio of monarchs posing on a northern blazing star was taken at a nearby botanic garden, which is a certified Monarch Waystation. This is about 20 minutes from my house and gets a lot visitors who would sometimes inquisitively approach me as I was quietly and patiently trying to photograph the monarchs. This of course caused the monarchs to flee.

Two Years Later

Fast forward to today. My own yard is now a certified Monarch Waystation and during the summer I spend a lot of time 30 feet from my front door photographing the monarchs and other pollinators in my yard. I watch out of the windows for the monarchs to appear, usually after 10 a.m., and carefully consider the lighting of the moment. I have had painted lady and viceroy butterflies, a few hummingbirds, assorted bees, other pollinators, rabbits, and even one unidentified snake consider my yard to be a nice place to visit.

Creating the Habitat

The question you may ask is how did I go about converting my yard to a Monarch Waystation? Grass on my sandy soils has never done particularly well since I tend to neglect it, so competition for flowers was not an issue. There have always been a few common milkweed plants around and an area of planted tickseed coreopsis spread to other areas of the yard. There have been a few purple coneflowers that seemed to reproduce each year too. I started to notice the monarchs taking a liking to the yard and thought that perhaps if I could add more butterfly friendly plants it would draw in even more butterflies. After first doing research on suitable native plants, I made a visit to a local native plant nursery and came home with prairie blazing star, northern blazing star, joe pye weed, whorled milkweed, butterfly weed (not really a weed) more corepsis and more coneflower. These plants inter-planted among the existing flowers added even more incentives for monarchs to visit my yard.

Photographing Monarchs in the Yard

Monarch on Rough Blazing Star

Monarch on Prairie Blazing Star

And visit they did. All through the summer the monarchs laid eggs on the milkweed or sipped nectar from the native flowers in the yard. As September rolled around, it seemed as if the two varieties of blazing star would never bloom in time for the fall migration, but magically they did. The yard full of native wildflowers looked like a tall-grass prairie and the tall-purple spikes of the blazing star were a magnet to the southward-migrating monarchs. It was so much fun photographing the monarchs and I got quite a few good photos as the combination of the bright purple of the blazing star and the orange monarchs is striking in photographs. I also found that the out-of-focus yellow of the coreopsis made for a good background. Another background was an area of shade behind the sunny flower areas which added a dark background and the weathered street showed as white in the background of another photo. Funny how you notice those things when you visit an area often.

Becoming a Certified Monarch Waystation

What does it take to have an area certified as a Monarch Waystation? Through a program sponsored by Monarch Watch, monarch enthusiasts are encouraged to create, conserve, and protect monarch butterfly habitats. To learn more go to https://www.monarchwatch.org/

Maintaining the Habitat

Fall finally arrived and the last of the monarchs visited on a cold and blustery day. The first frost and an early snow ended the growing season for the wildflowers. I managed to harvest a few milkweed and blazing star seeds and those were shipped to an uncle in Pennsylvania who has started his own monarch garden. Finally, spring is just around the corner and another batch of native plants in a mix called a waystation flat has just been ordered. This time I will be adding Butterfly weed, Swamp milkweed, Whorled milkweed, Cylindrical blazing star, Bee balm, Showy goldenrod, New England aster, New Jersey tea and Big bluestem grass. I think I need a bigger yard.

You Can Do It Too

Your own wildlife photo habitat can be for birds, frogs, bats, or any number of species. It is fun, a good thing to do for our wildlife and the benefits of having nature close to home can yield endless opportunities for photography.

Male Monarch

Biographical Information:

Current President of NANPA

Website: https://tomhaxbyphotos.smugmug.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tomhaxbyphotography/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomhaxbyphotography/

Blog: http://tomhaxbyphotos.blogspot.com/

E-mail: thaxby02@yahoo.com

Photographing Florida's Birds

This past winter I did what many birds do by migrating to Florida for sunny skies and the warm climate. While there I had many opportunities to see and photograph many varieties of birds. There were ducks, herons, egrets, osprey, ibis, warblers, roseate spoonbills, terns, white pelicans, sandhill cranes and more. My top areas for birds near my base were the Silver Springs State Park, Orlando Wetlands Park and Black Swamp Wildlife Drive at the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. Due to the pandemic, I did not get the opportunity to visit the Viera Wetlands which is reputed to be a great bird destination. There are many other great places to photograph birds in Florida and the Great Florida Birding Trail is a great resource. 

Silver Springs State Park

Wood Duck, Silver Springs State Park

Located just east of Ocala, natural springs feed the Silver River which is teaming with wildlife. Along with the manatees, alligators and even exotic monkeys, the bird life on this river is exceptional. All of my photos there were taken from a kayak and were photographed handheld. Some of my favorite bird images from there included a wood duck headed right towards me. Being in a kayak meant that I was near eye level with the birds and it showed with this photo.  On the same day I had a long session with a green heron as it went about fishing on the edge of the river.  I always look for a good background in my images. Something that will allow the subject to stand out. Finding a spot to anchor my kayak and a great background behind the heron was a little tricky, but eventually I found a satisfactory spot.

Green Heron, Silver Springs State Park

There were numerous Little Blue Herons and some even struck a nice pose such as this cooperative bird.                                                                                                                     

Little Blue Heron, Silver Springs State Park

While anhingas may lack the colorful feathers of the other birds, their black and white plumage is still quite striking, especially as they stretch to dry their wings . 

Anhinga, Silver Springs State Park

Orlando Wetlands Park

Great Blue Heron, Orlando Wetlands Park

This park which is well east of Orlando has large lagoon areas separated by dykes which surround the pools of water. This park is a magnet for all types of birds and the dykes make for easy access and use of a tripod. My favorite photo from there was of a Great Blue Heron gracefully gliding across the wetlands. This was photographed by panning along with the bird. I had also engaged the focus tracking on my camera to maintain focus.

Watching the habits of the birds helped to find photos that I would not have otherwise been able to capture. Action shots are always preferred and this glossy ibis which would hover above the water as it was fishing was one that caught my eye.

Glossy Ibis, Orlando Wetlands Park

Snowy Egret, Orlando Wetlands Park

It was the same with this snowy egret as it danced about while fishing or catching action when a heron captured a large frog.  

Heron and Frog, Orlando Wetlands Park

Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge

One more great spot for photographing Florida's birds is the Black Point Wildlife Drive at the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. Here there are many chances to photograph while using your vehicle as a photo blind. I used this to my advantage when photographing this Tricolored heron.

Tricolored Heron, Merritt Island NWR

 

One of the most colorful and sought after birds is the Roseate spoonbill. Their colors against a blue sky are striking. Especially at first light, if you can be at the right place at the right time. 

Roseate Spoonbills, Merritt Island NWR

To say that I enjoyed my time in Florida spending time with the birds would be an understatement. It was a great winter and the photos I captured will always bring back those memories.