By Vladimir Brezina
We’ve traveled to Florida a number of times over the past couple of years, and each time I’ve come back with hundreds—sometimes thousands!—of bird photos. The bird life on the Gulf Coast of Florida is amazingly rich and varied, and the birds have learned to tolerate, at least up to a point, human proximity…
Needless to say, processing thousands of bird photos has taken a long time.
But I’ve been getting through it. I’ve posted a few selections of the photos along the way (here, here, here, and here), and here now is the final installment.
As usual, though, I need help with identification! The identity of many of these birds is obvious, even to me, but of others not quite so obvious. But I know there are some real Florida bird experts among our readers… :-)
(click on any photo to start slideshow)
Still more photos are here and here.
Vladimir Brezina (RIP) 
Johna Till Johnson
Wind Against Current 
These images are AMAZING! Stunning color, clarity, and composition in each one. Wow!
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Thanks so much, Elaine! :-)
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So that’s where all the birds have gone! Nothing left here but sea ducks and they seem to be headed south. Thanks for the “warming” photographs.
George
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“Warming” photographs—if you wait a few decades (so they say), all this will be yours up north too… ;-)
Thanks, George!
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Fun! I love it when an outing turns into a photo shoot of a specific category.
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Well, the birds were the most obvious thing to photograph, but on the same beach on which I took some of these photos, during the same few hours, I also got this and this… :-)
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Neat! Again!
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:-)
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Are most of these “hand held” shots? Remarkably crisp! Thanks again!
G
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Yes, all hand-held, most with a 300mm lens, some from a moving kayak… So, of course, there were many failures, which you are not seeing. And even the ones here are not all that crisp, if you look closely. The best ones in that respect were here.
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Amazing photos, Vlad! Great to see them all in one place :-) I’m hoping to make a trip to Lake Erie this spring to capture migrating birds for my Penn’s Woods project. I had the great experience of shooting video at a lake nearby and have a great blue heron land nearby and show off long enough for me to get some magical footage. Loved your heron shots!
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Yes, the great blue herons are pretty forward, not to say nosy (beaky?)—
Thanks, Lynn! Looking forward to your photos and videos… :-)
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That’s really awesome :) So many different birds and such beautiful captures :)
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Thanks, Gaurab!!
There were actually many more species, but in many cases I didn’t get good enough photos…
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ohh …they are so cute …want to hold them …..nice shot :)
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:-) Thanks!
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Beautiful, graceous creatures. Great pictures!
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They are indeed! Thank you!!
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Very cool shots of these creatures!
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Thanks, Amy!!
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Fantastic!! Love the herons especially.
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The herons were not shy at all… :-)
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beautiful gallery of birds!
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Thanks!! :-)
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Love these.
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Thanks! :-)
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WOUW!!! How beautiful!!!
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:-) Thank you!!
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Fabulous shots!
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Thanks!!
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Love the brazen and bold look of your opening celebrity : >
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That’s why I picked him/her… definitely knows how to strike that winning pose! :-)
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Definitely!
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I love those big seabirds, especially pelicans. Great pix!
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Can’t take enough pictures of pelicans (great blue herons, too)—that’s why I gave them their own separate post :-)
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I love bird photos, and I find them so difficult to capture. I definitely need a camera upgrade and some lessons. I am afraid I am no help when it comes to identifying birds, even though I spent many days at bird sanctuaries and bird watching with my grandparents when I was growing up.
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To photograph birds, a long telephoto lens is definitely a good thing :-)
I think I’ve identified almost all of them now. Internet photos make it pretty easy, and most of these birds are pretty distinctive…
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Great pictures! I just saw royal terns on a San Diego beach recently and I had no idea what they were. Now I know, thank you!
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Although I didn’t know either until I looked it up for this post, I am pretty sure about that identification. If you Google images of royal terns you will see many similar photos…
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Yep, that’s it, especially with the feathers sticking out on top of their heads. Interesting the same bird resides on both coasts of the US.
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Fantastic pictures!
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Thanks!!
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