What’s Up?
In the last post, I commented on Thursday morning at 8:01am as follows:
Thanks, all, (for the good wishes).
I slept through the night. I walked around the house at 6am with my iPhone flashlight; we are unscathed. We never lost power here at ILE. Jennifer did lose power at her home in nearby Babson Park.
As is often the case, the storm was pretty much a big fizzle with the usual trees and power lines down. It certainly was not the 100-year storm they were predicting. Unless you lived on the coast below Sarasota, there was not much damage. The storm surge at Tampa, St. Pete, and Clearwater was approximately “1-3 feet.” There was and is lots of local flooding.
with love, artie
ps: And yes, I will be heading down to the lake soon.
As it turns out, by pooh-poohing the storm, I spoke much too soon.
While Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Pete fared much better than they did with Helene, there was some damaging storm surge well to the south, though not as severe as predicted. The storm, however, claimed at least 17 lives, none by drowning. The deaths included at least five due to tornadoes in St. Lucie County on the East Coast (!) just 70 miles from my front door. Floodwaters rose to more than six feet in Lithia, near the Alafia River, about 20 miles southeast of Tampa. There were 3.4 million power outages, and early estimates are that Hurricane Milton caused $50 billion in damage.
While the Amazing Mets will be playing for the National League pennant soon, the roof blew off Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays’ in St. Petersburg. I had no internet for 26 hours, and Jennifer in Babson Park still has no power. But all in all, I and my friends were blessedly lucky. Again.
Even though I was amazed at the sharpness of the young Great Egret in flight at only 1/640 sec., my favorite of the two images in the last blog post was the Cattle Egret in the rain for the rain streaks, the shallow blue puddle, and the layers of color.
On Thursday, a two first-ever-for-ILE Royal Terns were flying over the pier, surely brought here by Milton. The day before, I had a first-ever-for-ILE fly-by Merlin. With north winds and cloudy skies, photography down by the lake has not been consistently good. With more of the same forecast for this morning, Saturday 12 October 2024, I will head down to the lake at about 8am. Whatever the heck you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day.
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This image was created on 10 October 2024 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estaates, FL. I used the hand held Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM lens (at 15 mm) and The One, the Sony a1 Mirrorless Camera.. ISO 1600. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/250 second at f/5.6 (stopped down two stops) in Manual mode. AWB at 9:23:16am on a cloudy morning. Lower center Tracking: Expand Spot/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #1: The 2021/22 Bald Eagle nest |
The 2022/23 Bald Eagle Nest
At about 9:15am on Thursday, well after Hurricane Milton had departed to the northeast, I drove down to the lake to see what was up and about. As I turned left onto Banyan Drive, a thought entered my mind: “The two big nests are likely on the ground.” Within a minute, I learned that I had been correct. This nest, just past the boat ramp, was the first lakefront Bald Eagle nest at ILE. A single eaglet fledged there in the late winter of 2022. The next year, the adults raised two young in it.
It was huge. It fell straight down from the tree, perhaps because the very large, very heavy branch that supported it snapped in the high winds. Last season, after the eagles left for a different nest in the same field, a pair of Ospreys hung around for months, courted and copulated, but never laid eggs.
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This image was also created on 10 October 2024 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Again, I used the hand held Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM lens (at 24mm) and The One, the Sony a1 Mirrorless Camera.. ISO 1600. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/250 second at f/4.5 (stopped down 1 1/3 stops) in Manual mode. AWB at 9:18:48am on a cloudy morning. Lower center Tracking: Expand Spot/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #2: The 2023 Bald Eagle nest |
The 2024 Bald Eagle Nest
Though the same pair fledged two eaglets from this nest in the very early spring of 2023, I don’t think that I made a single image of that family as the top of the dead pine tree was quite cluttered. Lots of branches were cleared away by winds. On two occasions over the past few weeks, I saw the birds adding branches to the nest. Things were looking good for photography. Until Milton came along.
This nest, much smaller and lighter than the original nest, was blown more than 40 feet to the west of the nest tree.
Both nest trees were practically reduced to the trunks by Milton, so I have no idea if the eagles will attempt to rebuild or will move on. Time will tell. At least two natural Osprey nests came down in the storm as well.
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This image was also created on 10 October 2024 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Working from the driver’s seat on my SUV I used the hand held Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS Lens (Sony E) with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and The One, the Sony a1 Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 1600. 1/2500 second at f/4 (wide open) in Manual Mode. AWB at 9:59:11am on a cloudy morning. RawDigger showed the raw file brightness to be perfect. Tracking: Expand Spot AF-C AF with Bird Face/Eye Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #3: Little Blue Heron juvenile on fallen log |
New Opportunities
The diagonal log in Image #3 was toppled by Hurricane Milton. I think that it is an Australian Pine, a Florida alien. I was glad that I drove down to the end of Palmetto Drive to make my u-turn in the driveway of the last house, the tangerine one, formerly owned by my late friend Bob. When I see the juvie LBH the wide shot jumped out at me.
High Level Image Design Question
Why was it vitally important to the success of this image that I moved my car up three feet before I went to work?
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Do not click on the composite image; simply scroll down for the best viewing. While Sebastian Inlet is justifiably famous around the world for the Ospreys diving for migrating saltwater fish each fall, there are a variety of desirable avian subjects there as well in October and November. Keep reading if you would like to join me on what will surely be a memorable photographic and learning experience. |
Pick Your Own Dates Short-notice Sebastian Inlet Ospreys and More BAA Personalized Instructional Workshops
Ridiculously Inexpensive!
Dates: October 29 (arrive on the afternoon of Monday the 28th) thru the morning session on Saturday 22 November
Right now I have four folks for the last week, 17-22 NOV. So any few days (or a week!) after 28 OCT and before mid-NOV would be fabulous.
As BIRDS AS ART lost more than $100,000 in tax year 2023, I am moving forward looking more at sharing expenses than at making money. Simply put, for more reasons than I will list here, sharing an AirBnB or VRBO place maximizes learning while reducing your overall travel costs.
Consider joining me at Sebastian Inlet this fall for some great bird photography and a ton of learning. Life is short; what are you waiting for? While a 600mm f/4 lens is ideal, you could do the whole trip with a variety of other lenses including a 500mm f/4, a 400mm f/2.8, a 400mm DO, a 200-600, a 100-500, a 300mm f/2.8 with TCs, or one of the great new Nikon Z telephoto or telephoto zoom lenses.
Bob Eastman is driving from Wisconsin and doing all 26 days, from 28 OCT thru the morning session on 22 NOV, prime time for Ospreys diving and catching a variety of saltwater fish. There are four bedrooms in this great AirBnB property that is just 22 minutes from the south jetty at the State Park, 24 minutes from the northwest pool where the Ospreys spent a lot of time last year. Please note that NOV 21-22 are sold out.
Hopefully, those who come would stay for a week or ten days (or all 26 days!) to maximize the opportunities. As above, fewer days would work also. Fly to Melbourne (MEL) or Orlando (MCO) and rent a car. Local folks who would like to arrange a morning or two of In-the-Field Instruction during October should get in touch via e-mail.
Here, if you stay in the AirBnB with me, are the ridiculous low rates for the in-the-field sessions (that include the daily Image Review and Photoshop sessions).
$250 for a morning session
$150 for an afternoon session.
Brunch and dinners at the AirBnB will cost you $20/day.
If you are interested, let me know your preferred dates via e-mail and I will get back to you with the per/night price for the lodging.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
Wow! I love your image #3 Artie. The richness of textures and colour in the scene and the beautiful bright egret are a feast. What a beautiful composition of elements and what a wonderful place.
Very best regards,
Clive
Glad you made it through unscathed! I just learned that Fort De Soto has been closed since Helene went through. Do you have any updates on the damage or when it may reopen?
Thank you Ryan.
The DeSoto closing was noted on the blog. After Helene, they said it would be closed until at least November. Below from the Pinellas County website:
Hurricane Milton Update
Fort De Soto Park will remain closed until further notice due to significant damage and unsafe conditions. All camping and shelter reservations are suspended until further notice. Thank you for your continued patience and support as we work to repair, restore and improve our beautiful parks and preserves.
with love, artie
Artie. Glad all is well with you and Indian Lake Estates
Bob
Thank, Bob. I was thrilled to learn that you are doing so well after the horrific car crash.
with love, artie
Glad to see the good reports..
Thankful for limited damage for you all, and hoping for recovery for those less fortunate.
All the best.
Good morning again, Artie. I have a saying based on 60 years of following the weather, and that is that the worst weather almost never occurs right where it’s forecast to occur. I can think of a few exceptions that “prove” the “rule,” and one is the blizzard of 1978 that did indeed give Boston its most powerful blizzard and greatest snowfall to date, and probably Hurricane Katrina. The Galveston hurricane of 1900, the US’s deadliest natural disaster, which killed an estimated 6,000-12,000 people, most in Galveston but also as far away as Massachusetts, is an early example of how injecting politics into weather forecasting can have tragic results. The chief of the US Weather Bureau, Willis Moore, blocked telegrams from the Cuban weather office, which had been warning that the storm was headed toward Texas, and not headed back to Florida, as the Weather Bureau insisted. The Cuban weather service was one of the best in the world in 1900.
Artie: Although Ft. Myers Beach and Sanibel were hit pretty hard (again), my home in Ft. Myers was undamaged — just loss of power and sewage problems. Since I am still in NC with my daughters, I called a company to remove the sandbags and throw away everything in my refrigerator/freezer.
Good news. Good plan.
Enjoy your visit.
with love, a
Artie, love the wide-angle fallen nest with the water background, the birdscape Little Blue, and the rain-streaked image from your previous post. I’m guessing you moved the car to place the Little Blue against the dark background rather than Spanish Moss, but the position of the diagonal log is perfect too. Photo looks as if it were made in Big Cypress. Seems Milton’s surge was no more than 3 feet at our place, only a foot more than Helene, and nothing like Ian’s 9 feet, but power isn’t back yet and sewer will take two days after that.
Thanks, Cliff. Glad to hear that your place fared relatively well. Are you home already?
Here’s a related question: were the causeway bridges to Sanibel ever permanently repaired?
with love, artie
Glad you’re ok.
Thank you Dr. Fish,
a
Still in Jacksonville. Will wait for sewer restoration to go home. Monday or Tuesday I’d guess. Water in the basement and garage not much problem, as I moved most everything upstairs prior to Helene, and the surge drains out as quickly as it comes in. Causeway was at full traffic capacity prior to Helene and Milton, is reopened now, but nothing like it was before—i.e., no access to the causeway islands, no palms, pines, or shade. Least terns nested in the construction zone though. Surprisingly, photography has been pretty good at times since Ian.