Tag: Everglades National Park

Christian Point Trail Everglades National Park Sunrise

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Planned a trip to Christian Point Trail with a photographer friend of mine this week.  We decided to try and capture a sunrise from the end of the trail overlooking snakebight.  Unfortunately, this required leaving the house at 4:45 AM in order to get to the trail head by 5:45 AM.  The hike to the end of the trail takes about 45 minutes and since we were making this trip in the dark we left ourselves a little extra time for any wrong turns or unforeseen events.

Christian Point is a 1.8 mile hike through varied terrain and ending at the waters edge overlooking Snake Bight.  The shoreline faces due West making this an ideal sunrise location.  The trail starts by going through a mangrove forest before opening up into a small marl prairie.  After the first marl prairie you enter a large hardwood hammock where the trees are covered with epiphytes such as bromeliads, orchids and wild pineapples.  The hardwood hammock eventually thins out and the trail emerges into a large marl prairie that is about .5 miles long and full of dead buttonwood trees from past hurricanes.  At the end of the prairie is another thin clump of mangrove trees ending at the waters edge.

Unfortunately, the shoreline is densely covered in Mangroves leaving little in the way of options for choosing a photography location.  One is limited to the opening at the end of the trail.  The sunrise view is great however the composition options are limited.  I was able to get an OK shot using the surrounding mangroves trees and overhanging branches silhouettes to frame the sunrise.  In order to accomplish this I had to use a wide angle lens causing the sun to look small in the picture.  I did take a few with a long lens before the sun came up but quickly realized the sun was going to rise away from the subject I had chosen in the distance.

I did not have time to explore to see if other openings existed farther down.  I will try to plan a return trip when I am not in a hurry.

I found Christian Point Trail in Everglades National Park to be one of the more interesting designated trails in the park.  The varied landscape created multiple photographic subjects.  One could do landscape shots in one area and then switch to macro or plant specific shots in another.  I also saw a good number of raptors flying overhead or perched on the dead buttonwood trees.  However, be warned that the mosquitoes can be very thick in the mangrove and hardwood hammocks.  When I was there they were not to bad but the temperature was in the 60’s in the morning.  As the temperature started to warm up they started to become more plentiful.

I do not know if I would hike the trail again only for a sunrise as I think there are better sunrise locations within the park that do not require as much work to shoot.  However, I will definitely return to Christian Point Trail for other photography subjects that are available on the trail.

Eco Pond, Cypress Dome and Pine Glades Lake Sunset

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Had a free day and decided to get up early and head down to Everglades National Park.  I decided to start at Eco Pond in the morning to see if the birds were active and then work my way back north.  Today was a good bird day.  Eco Pond was full of Roseate Spoonbills, Snowy Egrets, Great Herons, Tri-Color Herons, Pelicans and the ocassional overflying Osprey.  They were also very active foraging around in the shallow water for fish and other food.  One thing I noticed was how low the water in Eco Pond had gotten since my last visit.  The East Side of the pond is almost completely dry.  I got a few good shots of some landing Roseate Spoonbills.  The one I captured was a juvenille spoonbill.

After the birds left Eco Pond I walked around and found a some osprey nests but they were not very active.  I left Flamingo and started heading back north.  My next stop was Snake Bight.  I brought my bike and rode the path down to the end of the trail.  I saw a few birds along the way but nothing motivated me to stop and get out my camera.  At the end of the trail is a boardwalk.  The tide was out exposing a large mudflat.  A few birds were around but nothing better than I had already shot.  I did note that this might be a good sunset location and may come back to try it out before summer officially arrives.

After Snake Bight I stopped by Mahogany Hammock to look for some barred owls but not were willing to show themselves.  I kept driving north to a Cypress Dome I found a few weeks back.  I hiked into the Dome and took some photos of the blooming Bromeliads.  They were everywhere in the dome.  I also came across the same water moccasins I saw during my last visit.  One of the moccasins was not very happy and tried to bite me.  Luckily I was out of his reach.  I still got a few good shots of him before I left.

My next stop was another cypress dome farther north called Movie Dome.  Last time I hiked into it the water was still about a foot deep or so.  This time it was completely dry except for a shallow pool in the middle of the dome.  I walked around the dome but did not take any pictures this time.

My last stop was Pine Glades Lake for a sunset.  I captured some sunrays that were streaming from the sun giving the shot a unique look.  Pine Glades Lake is one of my favorite sunset locations in Everglades National Park.  After the sunset I headed home.  On the way home I got a suprise panther sighting.  This was my first panther sighting since I started coming to the park almost 8 years ago.  The panther was walking the main park road and slipped into the bushes when he saw me coming.  It was too dark to try and use the camera but it was still great to witness a free roaming panther.

Everglades Crazy Flower, Alligator and Sunset

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Thanks to the time change, after I got off work on Friday I was able to run out to Everglades National Park to explore a trail I had not been to in some time.  Unfortunately, the weather conditions were not ideal for photography, very overcast and cloudy.  This made bird in flight and wildlife action shots very difficult.  Also, my primary purpose was to capture a sunset and the storm clouds were blocking the sun completely.

The bright side to the bad conditions is that it made me slow down and look hard for photography subjects.  I managed a few decent shots as a result.  My favorite was a crazy flower I found growing on the side of the trail.  I had never seen anything like it before and it kept me entertained for a little while.  In the end I did get an ok sunset shot with lots of color but it was not what I was looking for out of that particular venue.  The sun in the photo is off he frame to the right and behind a dark storm cloud.  I just captured the side lighting from it.

Everglades Sunrise, Birds in Flight and Cypress Dome Walk

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I went out last week to capture a sunrise down in Flamingo, Florida.  I took a few reflection pictures across the water as the sun came up.  After the sunrise I went to Eco Pond to try and capture some bird in flight pictures.  The birds have started to thin out after reaching a peak a few weeks ago.  There were still a good number of Roseate Spoonbills, Egrets, Heron’s and other birds but not like there had been the last few weeks.  I ended up with a few I liked.

After the birds stopped performing, I started heading back toward the park entrance.  I made one last stop to explore a cypress dome I had never walked into before.  It was a great find and I plan on going back to try and take more pictures there in the future.  Inside the cypress dome, I found resident gators, birds, and three water moccasins.  I also found numerous orchids of different varieties including some very large and rare cigar orchids.

 

Eco Pond Everglades National Park

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I am not much of a bird photographer opting to primarily focus on Landscapes and Nature shots in general.  However, I had someone request a Roseate Spoonbill in flight/action shot so I decided yesterday to give birding a try.  I have never tried to capture birds in flight before but was excited for a new challenge.  I checked the weather, got up early and headed to a place called Eco Pond to see if the Roseate Spoonbills were active.

Eco Pond is a very shallow (primarily less than 1 foot) pond with an island in the middle of it.  Birds of all types love this spot to wade and feed in the shallow water and along the shorelines.  There are even some nesting Ospreys that occupy one of the taller trees on the island.

Yesterday, the pond was full of activity with more than 100 hundred birds actively feeding or flying.  There were probably more than 25 Roseate Spoonbills which at least gave me a good statistical chance of getting the shot I had come here for.  I took about 150 shots and ended up with about 20 decent photos.  I got a few good Roseate Spoonbill in flight shots but had to crop them to get what I was looking for.  I will be test printing them to see if they will work or if I need to try again next week.  Either way I had a good time and learned a lot about capturing birds in flight.  It also made me realize I need to invest in some new glass if I am going to start shooting birds or wildlife on any consistent basis.  My equipment is primarily geared toward things that are standing still and do not get frightened if you get close to it.  These shots were taken with the Canon 55-250 Kit Lens.

Everglades Astrophotography

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This summer I recently stumbled across a website on Astrophotography and thought it might be a fun thing to try.  Unfortunately, since I live so close to Miami there is too much light pollution in my area to successfully take any astrophotography photos.  Therefore, I took a 40 mile trip out into the Everglades to find a dark enough spot.  I ended up at a place called Mahogany Hammock and had a good view of the Milky Way.

I never realized how many stars there were in the sky until I went on this adventure.  It was quite an amazing expierence.  It took me a few tries to figure out what I was doing but after awhile I was able to capture a few decent shots.  One of the techniques I used was to take my flashlight and paint an object in the foreground to make it stand out during the exposure.  I got lucky in one shot and captured a shooting star going through the Milky Way.

I had a great time taking the photos but now do not know what to do with them.  I tried printing one but it did not have the same effect printed as it did on the computer screen.  The computer screen back lighting makes the stars stand out.  Printed they are flatter and the photos loose there appeal.  I will hopefully find a way to effectively print them but until then they will remain screen savers only.