Florida March 2015 - One Week and my first Visit only for Bird Photography, so wich Lenses ????

Let me know the hotels you book. As most of the photographic places are parks, I'm looking for rentals in Airbnb.com so I can stay close to the parks and save some time.
If someone has recommendations about users in Airbnb who usually receive bird photographers, let me know.

Eric Dienesch said:

Thank You Don,

yes i will take the 7D II with me, so i can equip both lenses (and i can take a small 18-55 IS for all the rest in my pocket). And thank you also for your opinion to circle b,
i will remember it in my plans

i have now booked my rooms: i will stay most of the time at ft. myers.. and from this point starting to places like ft. myers beach, cape coral and sanibel island.
the last days i will travel to titusville and check the place at the east coast in Florida. its only one week, so i have to plan carefully

BUT the little owls and the ospreys are my favourite targets in this week.. other raptors or bird of preys and herons and so on will follow, but the first two species are on top for me.

Thx again.. and i will be happy for every tip or experience from you or other forum members.

Eric

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Something about ospreys

https://www.facebook.com/OspreyDocumentary

Fabio, your postbox is full ;-))

Eric Dienesch said:

Fabio, your postbox is full ;-))

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Cleaned !

fabiobernardino said:

Cleaned !

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hmm
ive got still (right now) this message:

Errors

The following errors occurred with your submission

• fabiobernardino has exceeded their stored private messages quota and cannot accept further messages until they clear some space.

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i have send the message to your email adress, hope you got it.

Greetings

I got it. Thank you; trying to understand what's going on here as I deleted some messages earlier.

i want to change my bookings...
has anyone a good tip for an motel/hotel near the Blue Cypress Lake or Vero Beach ?? only for 2 nights
does anybody know the Holiday Inn Express - Vero Beach

Thx

So i have checked the holiday inn express in vero beach.. nearby is a great outlet and a steakhouse, so everything is fine for 2 days, i think.

The Blue Cypress Lake: + :e3
i`ve heared, that it would be very usefull (for good pictures) to get out with a boat.

1. Does anybody knows here a well named boat hiring there (with experienced skipper) ??
2. And has anybody a hint for the best focal length on the lake ? More 600mm or is 400mm enough ?



Thank You !!
Eric

You can rent a small pontoon boat from Middleton Fish Camp found here on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/middletonsfishcamp. You may call them toll free at 800-258-5002. You can rent a small boat and they will show you where to go. You might also consider hiring Jim Neiger who has a custom pontoon boat to take you out. You can find him here on this site and PM him.

You do NOT need a long lens for this location at all.

@Marina again: THANK you so much for your support !!!
noticed !

Hello its me again..
now its less than 3 weeks until i start my first trip, i have made an elementary concept and would like to ask the florida specialists here,
if this plan could or would works ? :e3

Here it is (7day trip):

1. landing in miami on a saturday at about 4 PM, then get my car (National)


2. then i will drive to my first location/hotel on the other side of the sunshine state, take the interstate 75 or the 41, its about a 3 hour drive, perhaps with a stop overs
( the big cypress national reserve is on the way), but perhaps not, bacause its my first visit with car in the US

3. motel check in , then i want to check out fort myers beach, the places/beach there should be good für waders and ospreys, i have heared about it and i hope, its true.

4. the next days i want to check the nearby „hotspots“: ft. myers beach of course, sanibel island, cape coral and take there a time there in the evening and morning.

5. i also plan to drive from my motel in fort myers beach to fort de soto and tampa or Marco Island: There are more burrowing owls than in cape coral, i`ve heard ??

-> but it is a little bit more far away (2 hours drive), so i think only one or two times

6. on day 5 i have to change the motel and drive to my new location at vero beach outlets, outlet = a little bit shopping for the family

7. near vero beach i plan to visit the Blue Cypress Lake (2 or more times, perhaps with a guided boat tour) = ospreys and something more ??

8. check out my motel at vero beach outlets

8. if there is enough time left, i am planning to visit gatorland near orlando with an early photo admission, to take pictures from the herons there at the last day (saturday)

9. my flight will go back at 6PM on saturday, so i have to give my car back about 2 or 3 pm and then waiting for my flight back to Frankfurt/Germany

Thats my little plan :c3:

What do you think ?
More or other Suggestions ?
Thx !!!!

I will be in a similar trip starting on April 9 so forum members don't be shy on tips !

Hi guys,
I do not live in Florida but spend a fair bit of time there.
I was in Cape Coral last week and hired the owl lady to take me around to show me new nests that I wasn't aware of from previous visits.
We saw lots of nests but the owl were not cooperative at all. They were hunkered down in their burrows and despite being patient for 2 hours at 2 different nests I got nothing...Did not take a single shot. May have been bad luck or because it was a cold day. But if you want to quickly find nests (instead of driving aimlessly around Cape Coral) I would hire this lady ($25.00). Her name is Bev Saltonstall and her # is 1-239-850-7324.
If you are in Fort Myers area you will want to check out Bunche beach( at the end of John Morris Road) BUT ONLY GOOD at low tide. I did very well there last week. Check the tide charts online to help you with your decision.DO NOT GO at high tide. The birds will not be there!
If you decide to go to Gatorland be aware that early photographers entry day are only from Thursday to Sunday inclusive. We went on Tuesday am and were very disappointed to find out we couldn't get in early.
In the Orlando area we enjoyed Circle B Bar Ranch but it is a LOT of walking so be prepared for that.
Sanibel is excellent but the traffic in February and March is INSANE. If you do not get on the island by sunrise you may find yourself in a 1 to 2 hour line-up to get across the causeway. No problem getting off the island until 4:00PM. The only place you can find public parking is at the Lighthouse and Pier so get there EARLY!The toll fee is $6.00 to cross the causeway.
Make sure your rental car has the Sunshine Pass electronic box so that you do not have to stop at every toll booth ( there are lots of them and many are not staffed by human beings so if you do not have correct change you are screwed and if you decide to proceed through the toll booth without paying you will face a $100.00 fine.) The "box" allows you to drive through the tolls without stopping. If you decide not to get the Sunshine Pass "box" then make sure you always have at least $10.00 worth of quarters. As an example, the first time I ever went to Fort deSoto I had to go through a toll booth that required 0.50cents. It was not manned at 6:00AM and I did not have any change so I had to turn around and drive back 3 miles to the nearest convenience store to get change. A real pain in the butt...
Hope these little tidbits help
Gail
PS There is a great outlet shopping mall in Fort Myers called Miramar Outlets. As nice or nicer than Vero Beach outlet mall IMHO
PSS I did the osprey tour with Jim Neiger. It was excellent and he gave us great opportunities with barred owls.

Thanks for the tips. Regarding the Sunshine Pass electronic box, is there any chance that you could rent a car without it and buy a prepaid pass in an authorized dealer (CVS, Publix) ?
If you have any other references for guides at the other places, it would be helpful too.

Hello Gail..

thank you so much for your really useful comment. perfect !
its very good to know about this sunshine pass box before getting the car.. i will become my car from national, so i write now an email and ask for this box.
miromar outlet: they have a coach shop there.. so i can get a handbag for my wife, thats very good to know !!!!

But folks don't be shy to write more useful hints like this. :wave:
i think its good and worthwhile for everyone who wants to visit this state; no matter if he/she is from europe, asian, south-america or even from inside the US. :5

Eric,
The device is called a transponder and you can just ask for one when you rent the car.There ia small fee for the rental and then your credit card is charged for all the tolls you go through.
gail

The Blue Cypress Lake: + :e3
i`ve heared, that it would be very usefull (for good pictures) to get out with a boat.

1. Does anybody knows here a well named boat hiring there (with experienced skipper) ??
2. And has anybody a hint for the best focal length on the lake ? More 600mm or is 400mm enough ?


I drove a boat out there yesterday, with 3 others. My friend shot an 80-400 afs, and I shot a 300 2.8 with a 1.4tc. Nesting is crazy active, with flight shots, nest shots, nesting material flight shots, etc. Also, after you leave the marina under the (small, my boat captain days helped out) bridge, go to the left and you're already at the nests, a grand total of 3 minutes driving time. Cruise that shoreline, the morning light will be behind you, for several miles of nesting ospreys. Next time I'll shoot the 300 2.8 by itself, as the birds often fly so close you'll clip lots of feathers. We shot them handheld due to bumpy water, but as long as you have adequate ss you'll be fine. I believe Marina said you don't need big glass there, and I agree. 300 is often max fl. I attached an image from yesterday, not the greatest shot, but an idea of what's going on out there now. At 420 mm, not much crop here.

Eobert, thanks for the info. Great picture !
Could you provide the captain contact info ?
I'll drive from Orlando to there. So maybe it's better to spend the whole day there. Is it worthy ?
Maybe get the boat in the morning, have lunch somewhere and then back at the end of the day for the sunset.
Suggestions are welcomed.

I was the captain that day. You can however, pay for a boat with a local guide, but I don't know prices, reservations, etc. I'd recommend going on a weekday, as the weekends can be very crowded. As for the whole day, we went out in the morning, about 8 (an hour or so later than we wanted) and stayed on the water for about 2 hours, which was plenty of time. It seems like a nice place for a sunset, but I doubt I'd stay there all day for that. Just call them for details and have fun!

So I'll have the April 10 (Friday) only. If you'd like to join me, it would be great. I am going from Orlando.
Do you have any phone number or email to contact them ?
Thank you.