Florida's Merritt Island Refuge

[gparr]

Stayed an extra day in Florida, after my business trip, to visit the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge at Cape Canaveral. I spend about five hours photographing birds of all kinds along Black Point Wildlife Dr. It's a superb way to see a wide variety of wildlife and photograph many animals up close. The day was cloudy, windy, and dumped an occasional shower on me, but I got lots of shots and had a ton of fun. Here are three of my favorites. A couple of more in my gallery and more to come. All shot with a 300D and a 100-400L. This was my last shoot with my 300D, which has served me well. It's sold to a friend as his first SLR of any kind. I'll be ordering a 20D this week.
Gary

Little blue heron
http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/500/153littleblueheron1.jpg

Snowy egret
http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/500/153snowegret1.jpg

Wood stork
http://www.dphoto.us/forumphotos/data/500/153woodstork2.jpg

[Steve Mitchell]

Hope you had a good trip. Nice pix, and great to hear you're getting a 20D...you'll love it.

[gparr]

Hope you had a good trip. Nice pix, and great to hear you're getting a 20D...you'll love it.
Thanks Steve. Looking forward to the new box and its capabilities.
Gary

[Jim]

Great images, Gary. I'll be heading that way after the 1st of Feb. Plan to go down to the Everglades and then up the west coast and over to Texas, Oklahoma and then back to MN. Should take about 5 weeks. (if we don't spend too much of my kids inheritance) lol

[cox]

Love the closeup on the Heron. You'll love the detail with the added resolution on the 20D. I coincidentally was shooting Great Egrets today, but you must have been getting a lot closer than I could to get these with a 400mm lens. Very nice.

[brentrh]

That is in my neck of the woods haven't been there in years. Think I will go there when I get my 20D. Like the blue heron on too.

[FredG]

Nice shots Gary! Glad you had a good time.

[MatsP]

Very nice shots.

I'm sure you'll enjoy the 20D.

--
Mats

[OlgaJ]

Super shots, Gary! Oh, how I wish I could be in Florida!

You will absolutely *love* the 20D. Looking forward to your results with it.

Olga

[Anders Östberg]

I'm envious, you live in a more friendly climate than I do... :) Nice pictures!
Please report on the 20D once you have it, it would make a nice companion to my 1D2 I'm beginning to think. The 10D is feeling more and more sluggish in comparison.

[gparr]

Thanks to all! The 20D arrives tomorrow and you can count on reports and photos.

Have to put in a plug for Allen's Camera in Levittown, PA, the place that Bob Gleason keeps in business. The 20D was my second order from them and I couldn't ask for better, more prompt, friendly service. I placed this order with Allen and also wanted to order a Better Beamer flash attachment. He doesn't carry that brand but carries another. I have a Sigma EF-500 DG Super flash, which he doesn't carry. The "Beamer" attachment comes in two sizes and he didn't know which one would work with my flash. So he volunteered to call the manufacturer and find out which model would fit. Within 15 min. he called me back with the answer and I added it to the order. Can't ask for more than that in terms of service.

Gary

[gparr]

I'm envious, you live in a more friendly climate than I do... :) Nice pictures!
Please report on the 20D once you have it, it would make a nice companion to my 1D2 I'm beginning to think. The 10D is feeling more and more sluggish in comparison.

Anders,
Don't be deceived. I had to travel from Illinois to Florida to get those photos. In Illinois the temperature has hovered around 0 F for the past three day. Going to warm up today to snow 3 in. then get cold again. I doubt we're in a deep freeze like you, but we definitely keep ourselves chilled.
Gary

[Anders Östberg]

...
Have to put in a plug for Allen's Camera in Levittown, PA, the place that Bob Gleason keeps in business.
...
What? They sell bowling gear? :D

Sorry Bob, couldn't help myself.

[MatsP]

Not sure what the CURRENT weather is in Stockholm, where Anders is, but I'm pretty sure it's actually warmer than the part of Illinois that you describe. Just because I didn't know, I checked with "weather.com", and it's 2'C, which is about 34'F, so quite a bit warmer than you have at the moment.

From my summer-experience of Chicago, Illinois, I didn't think it was that great then either (too hot), but I guess spring and autumn are quite nice.

Obviously, Florida has a quite different climate, both because it's further south by a couple thousand miles or so, and because it's surrounded by the gulf of mexico and the atlantic on most sides, so it would have quite a lot better climate.

From my visits to Texas, where the winter climate is very changable, it's either northerly winds and freezing cold or southerly winds that make the place heat up quite nicely. I think it's more stable in Florida...

--
Mats

[gparr]

What? They sell bowling gear? :D

Sorry Bob, couldn't help myself.

ROFLMAO!! That's why he keeps driving from Princeton, NJ to Levittown, PA! Now I'm thinking the place is nothing more than a front for a 50-lane bowling alley!