Great Horned Owls, Anhinga, and Double-crested Cormorants. These were my target birds for this trip out to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland, and I was excited to head out early Sunday morning.

I arrived in the parking lot area near the nature center a half hour before sunrise. I was the first there and it was dark and foggy. I made a pot of coffee in the camper van and got my camera ready.

A few minutes later I started walking around the parking lot area because the reports I saw stated that a Great Horned Owl was nesting in “the parking lot area.” I walked up, down, and all around that parking lot - a mile my watch told me - and could not find the owls nest. There wasn’t even any photographers around. Something was off. Plus, the early morning fog was rapidly dissipating which was bad because I was hoping for a dark, foggy, moody shot of an owl in the forest.

Not really knowing what to do, I walked down a trail off the parking lot. About 0.2 miles later, the trail opened up to another parking lot, the Otter Parking Lot, where whadya know - there were about a dozen photographers all huddled together pointing their cameras towards a tree. I walked over and couldn’t get a clean shot with all the branches in the way.

I decided to walk around, and luck would have it there was a clean shot from a different side of the tree. There was no one there, momma owl was looking right at me, and within a minute, a little baby owlet popped out from under mom’s wings. Amazing! The other photographers, who were busy talking and laughing amongst themselves rather than taking photos, must have noticed me firing away because within a few minutes all of them descended on me. Not that they didn’t stop talking and being rather loud, mind you. (Note: if you are a wildlife photographer, you really shouldn’t be loud and laughing at the top of your lungs in the field, especially near a nesting bird. If this is you, please be quiet, both for the wildlife and the people around you who haven’t had enough coffee yet. I was ready to snap.)

**Great Horned Owls.** A little baby owlet checks out the scene below as mom starts to doze. Nikon Z8 with tripod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/640 sec, ISO 4000.

**Great Horned Owls.** A little baby owlet checks out the scene below as mom starts to doze. Nikon Z8 with tripod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO 3600.

After taking a ridiculous number of shots of exactly the same thing, I decided to leave Mom and her two owlets (the other one didn’t pop its head out) to go find the Anhingas and Cormorants. Both of these birds are in their breeding plumage right now, so it’s really the only time of year to photograph these birds. It’s a short window too, and both birds are usually easy to find at the B.

Along Marsh Rabbit Run I found an Anhinga. My goal was to try and take an image of an Anhinga similar to one I saw in last year’s Audubon Photo Awards. Check out photo #77 here. That photo is a beautiful black and white image of an Anhinga, and it has inspired me to create my own version. This is my first crack. Many more will come until I get it perfect.

**Anhinga.** Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 450.

It’s a nice photo, but boy I wish the wing was in focus. A couple of things worked against me though. First, the bird was close to the trail and 800mm was too much reach. Second, I really needed to be more behind the bird so that the wing and head would be in the same plane. That was hard to do given the the trail and where the bird was located. As it is, the wing was coming towards me. Lastly, I shot it wide open at f/6.3. In retrospect, I should have stopped down to f/11 or even f/16. I had the light to make that possible. All things to consider the next time I’m out in the field.

Here’s the same bird in a different shot, but in color. You may have a different preference, but I like the B&W better.

I struck out with the cormorants - didn’t come across a single one. I may have to return to the B next weekend. Hope to see you there.

Happy birding!

Great Horned Owls and Anhinga at Circle B

Saturday at Orlando Wetlands

A Visit to the Rookery