Category: New Smyrna Beach

The Avian Face of New Smyrna Beach

Hefting my six-pound camera/lens setup, and tripod, I moved around the beach to get the best shots.

IUCN designation: LC, population increasing

New Smyrna Beach is miles long with several vehicle access points. RVs and other vehicles can easily drive along the designated lanes’ hard-packed sands and park for the day. There, one also finds walkers, cyclists, and surfers, the latter wearing wet-suits. Still, it was too cold at 50o F for most swimmers. Among the “snow birds” and local residents were a host of shorebirds that seemed to be relatively comfortable around their much larger counterparts. These shorebirds were the Gulls, Skimmers, Pelicans, and others.

This day the sky was overcast and the winds light–quite perfect for photography. Hefting my six-pound camera/lens setup, and tripod, I moved around the beach to get the best shots. The birds on the ground generally let me approach within 75 feet, enabling me to get a few pretty good compositions.

You will find more photos of these birds at my SmugMug gallery.

What birds have you seen in Florida?

Florida Surfing

It wasn’t exactly warm in Florida, as the temperature took a dive from the 70s to 45 — 60o F.

With some angst I booked a flight and visited friends in Florida (I’m pleased to report that I tested negative for Covid-19 three days after my return). Since they live near a surfing beach I dragged my heavy lenses and tripod to photograph these water warriors. It wasn’t exactly warm in Florida, as the temperature took a dive from the 70s to 45 — 60o F. So even here in northern Florida surfers were wearing their lighter wet-suits.

I first went to a stretch of beach where there were several surfers. Unfortunately, none of them were very adept at catching waves; I was mostly looking at bobbing heads and failed attempts. But further down the beach there were two surfers, once of which had no problems catching waves (see him, above).

I include surfers on this environmental blog because, aside from driving to and from beaches, this is a pretty green activity. Of course, their primary reason for surfing is fun, and many report it to be a Zen-like experience. To see more of these surfing images go to my on-line gallery.

I plan some surfing videos in the near future. In the meantime for those of you with Amazon Prime, check out White Rhino.

If you’re a surfer let me know about some of your experiences in the comments section.

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