Carolina Wild Photo (the blog)

On our third and last day of the trip we headed out around noon for Rachel Carson Reserve. Sunshine and near 70 degree temps would make for a very pleasant day, though the breezes were up from the previous two days. It turned out that the wind actually served to keep us from getting too warm, and was no problem for us. Like the previous days, the horses proved to be elusive.

We soon found the horses widely scattered on the marsh in small groups of two to four, requiring long treks in slippery, muddy muck to get closer to some. Others were beyond channels too deep to cross on foot. Relocating by boat would have been time consuming, only to get closer to one group while putting us much farther from any other group. There was nothing to be gained by chasing back and forth among them. We decided to try finding other groups in more easily reached areas. (continue reading…)

I’ll pick up my story from the previous post as we’re leaving Cape Lookout at midday after a successful morning of horse photography on Shackleford Banks. We made our way across Back Sound behind Shackleford aboard the “Calico Jack II”, with Capt. Monty of Seavisions Charters, headed for Rachel Carson Reserve. The sunny weather was beautiful, with calm wind and flat, glassy water, and temps close to 70 degrees. You couldn’t ask for a nicer December day.

When we reached the reserve, we spent over an hour checking out several areas of the reserve where we had found the horses the day before, but no luck. Finally we decided to check out the tidal flats on the ocean side of the reserve, despite them not being there the day before. Sure enough, we found the horses on the ocean side of the reserve, out feeding on the tidal flats, right where we would normally have expected to find them in good weather this time of day. (continue reading…)

The second day of my 3 day trip to Beaufort brought even nicer weather than on the first day. We headed for Shackleford first thing in the morning, and spotted Dolphin on the way to Shackleford, which is not uncommon.

Upon arrival we found a family group of horses on the sound side of the island near the eastern end. We landed near them on the beach at the edge of the maritime forest. Then we hiked through the trees toward the oceanside dunes, searching the high dunes for more horses, but had no luck there. Eventually we circled around to the sound side again and soon found more horses in the trees not far from our boat. (continue reading…)

Well, it’s been 2-1/2 years since my last blog post here. Not a situation of my choosing. Uncooperative weather, appointments and (mostly) Covid restrictions threw up multiple road blocks against traveling for photography. My return last week to Rachel Carson Reserve and Shackleford was planned and paid for 18 months ago when I thought the Covid mess was about to turn around. Finally though, I’ve jumped the hurdles and got in three beautiful days of weather Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 photographing the wild horses. It only goes to prove that even in “winter” you can have fun visiting the wild horses at Beaufort.

The first thing I saw when I set foot on Rachel Carson Reserve wasn’t wild horses, but a pair of Sandhill Cranes. That was quite a surprise, as this was my first sighting ever of Sandhill Cranes, and I didn’t know they frequented North Carolina’s coast at all. They were too far away for anything but an identification shot, but at least I have something to show. (continue reading…)

The glowing reports from other photographers about Estero Lagoon tempted me to include this unique location on my list of stops during my 9-day photography trip to Florida in early March, 2019. But, it seems Fort Myers Beach does not see fit to provide any public access paths to the beach for its visitors near the lagoon. So, unless you rent a room or condo next to the lagoon, you must deal with a rather circuitous, roundabout route to reach this highly touted location.

Thankfully, one of the articles I read pointed out this problem, and gave advice on how to overcome the issue. From that advice and my own experience, I prepared a map and detailed information to make it easier for others to find their way. You can find the map and info in my Estero Lagoon article at CarolinaWildPhoto.com. Traffic and toll roads, however, were issues no one warned me about for any of the Florida locations I visited, including Estero Lagoon. (continue reading…)

The fabled “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge was in my sights as we left Titusville, Florida on the morning of Day Six of our 9-day photographic expedition across Florida in March, 2019. Having spent a day and a half at Merritt Island NWR with some modicum of success, I was excited to be on my way to what it seemed was the Mecca of bird photography in Florida, if I was to believe everything I’d read about Ding Darling NWR.

Soon though, the tedious stop and go of continual toll booths around Orlando began to wear on the upbeat spirit I’d started the day with. Eventually that passed, as did Tampa, and we reached Fort Myers about 3:00 pm. With daylight to spare, we skipped checking into the motel and headed straight for Sanibel and the refuge. We paid the $6 toll to get onto the island at Sanibel, and arrived at the wildlife drive at 4:00 pm. With my national parks lifetime pass in hand I skipped the modest fee at the entrance booth and drove along the smoothly paved, two lane wide, one-way drive with plenty of time and daylight left to scout out this bird world wonder. After creeping along for the first 2 miles of the 4-mile long drive we had yet to find a single bird….. clearly not a good sign.
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My previous post chronicled Day Two of my 9-day photo expedition to Florida, the bird rookery at St. Augustine Alligator Farm. Today, Day Three, we headed to Big Talbot and Little Talbot State Park areas just south of Amelia Island, outside Jacksonville.

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If you read my previous post, “The Florida Bird Haven Myth”, you already know how disappointed I was with the lack of quantity and diversity of birds on my 9-day adventure across Florida. The full day spent at the bird rookery at St. Augustine’s Alligator Farm hardly lived up to my expectations, based on the reports and stories I read in preparation for the trip.

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It’s the middle of March, 2019, and I just got back from a 9-day trip to sunny Florida to photograph birds that I had never seen in person before. I’d been thinking about such a trip for years, encouraged by the photos and stories I’d heard and read from other photographers. I was excited about finally getting a chance to see and photograph Roseate Spoonbills, and Wood Storks, and Reddish Egrets, and other interesting species. Yeah, so many birds you can’t take it all in – birds, birds everywhere you turn, right there just feet away – so close you have to use short lenses….. Yeah, right! (continue reading…)

I seem to be logging a lot of wild horse time this Autumn. Just two weeks after the wife and I spent two days with the wild horses at Beaufort and Shackleford, I had the opportunity to join three other photographers for two more days with Seavisions Charters. For the other photographers… two from New York and one from Massachusetts, it was a first time visit with the wild horses.

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