Wild Florida

“I have swampland to sell you in Florida!” You may have visited Florida dozens of times. You may live there. You may have photographed Florida wildlife in all the usual places. But you’ve probably never seen “Sunshine State” wetlands almost as good as they were in the middle of the last century—before the state was carved up by real estate developers like a holiday turkey.

Our Wild Florida photo shoot delivers photographers to spectacular and little-known bird photography locales comparatively spared from the onslaught of development—wildlands that are more photographically productive than virtually all of the easily-accessed and well-known parks and refuges nature photographers flock to in Florida!

Traveling in two stable pontoon boats, our small group of 9 participants travels the wild waterways of Tampa Bay and Central Florida lakes that are jammed with iconic and photogenic birds. In this exciting week of photography we concentrate on two fantastic species—roseate spoonbills and snail kites (Everglades kites) at the height of their breeding season!

Deep into Tampa Bay, accessible only by boat, we visit one of the largest roseate spoonbill colonies in North America. Here we photograph these dazzling pink birds at their height of breeding plumage. We shoot them in flight against a jet-blue sky or foraging in shallow water flats, often at very close range. Once on location we photograph from the boats for full-frame images or, for added mobility, we may opt to wade in the shallow water on a firm sandy bottom to get additional angles on the action! We also shoot a host of other very photogenic species which read like a Who’s Who of attractive waterbirds, including brown pelicans, laughing gulls, American woodstorks and white ibis; reddish, great, snowy and cattle egrets, black-crowned night heron, little blue and tricolored herons; Caspian, Sandwich, royal and least terns, and American oystercatchers—most in breeding plumage and exhibiting energetic courtship displays!

From Tampa Bay we trailer our boats and head inland to the broad Kissimmee lowlands. Punctuated by lakes, grasslands and cattle ranches, this region, along with Lake Okeechobee, is part of Florida’s “liquid heart”—the stronghold of the snail kite’s range in the United States. Traversing a vast 100,000-acre marsh, our boats bring us into the realm of the loosely-aggregated kite breeding colony—a relatively unusual social behavior for any bird of prey.

Excellent snail kite flight shots are possible here, along with close-up portraits. We see the kites foraging for, and eating, their main prey—apple snails. These freshwater marshlands are limpkin country, and these secretive birds will be easily revealed as we explore this wetland habitat by boat to achieve photos very difficult to create from “dry land.” Numerous bald eagles, red-shouldered hawks and ospreys add even more photography potential, and barred owls may be coaxed into view. Least bitterns, purple gallinules, American coots and anhingas round out the daily shooting possibilities. Areas of bald cypress festooned with luxuriant Spanish moss add landscape photo opportunities as sunset colors glow at the end of the day.

This is a “big-glass” shoot where a long telephoto lens (500mm or the equivalent length using a 1.4X converter) is a necessity for achieving the tightest images of perched or wading birds. And a smaller fast prime or zoom telephoto for hand-holding flight shots from the boat deck is needed as they fly overhead. Fast autofocus is essential.

Join us to photograph in the best of Florida’s hidden bird shooting hot spots. Great wildlife and exciting habitats combined with the wonderful climate in April make this an enjoyable and productive nature photography experience and a great winter escape. Though we may not have swampland in Florida to sell you—we do have swampland in Florida to sell you on! Here is, perhaps, the best Florida bird shoot possible these days—one you should absolutely not miss!