Washington Oaks and Big Talbot Island Parks

I've been a busy photographer this week! First I went to Washington Oaks Park. Here are some shots from there. My photos can be purchased at http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/kenneth-albin.html


This motorized parachute was cruising above the beach.


The beach has a strange set of eroded coquina rocks there that make for a very artistic view of the ocean.


The algae covered rocks there were fascinating


and this little sandpiper was happily looking for morsels along the beach.

Next I went to Big Talbot Island and fed the mosquito population there. Wow, 95 degrees never felt so hot!


Here is a pretty little zebra longwing butterfly I found.


There is a funny story behind this ghost crab shot. I was trying to get down an embankment to the beach. The sand gave way under my feet and I slid on my tush the last 6 feet, winding up directly in front of this startled guy. I grabbed the camera and got a few good closeups of him before he recovered his senses enough to scurry away.


Speaking of crabs here is an Atlantic horseshoe crab I found at the edge of the water.


This poor osprey never did find a fish for lunch while I was there.


We will say goodbye to the beach there with this closeup of one of the dead oaks laying along the beach. There are hundreds of them there due to erosion, giving this section of beach its nickname "the Boneyard".

Till next time have a good week!

Another Nature Walk

Hi all! I've been going crazy the past week because my Nikon D5000 had a recall to fix a potential power problem so I have been without my baby! It's back now so I spent yesterday hiking 4 miles along a local nature trail. Here are three photos I took. As always, my photos are available as prints/greeting cards from my Fine Art America website.

This photo is of berries from the possum haw shrub, found near swamps. It adds a bit of color to the drab summer landscape.

and this one is another flying great egret. I never get tired of watching these beautiful creatures.

This last photo has a little story behind it. The poor male grackle spent 30 minutes fluffing his feathers out and loudly singing to a nearby female. She completely ignored his advances. Ah, the neverending story of love!

Oooh, a cool snake!

I ran upon this guy while traveling down a local nature trail. It is a dusky pygmy rattlesnake, a very poisonous snake with a reputation for being extremely aggressive and vicious. It rarely kills humans but can cause intense damage of tissue and loss of digits.

I am attuned to wildlife and my wife has nicknamed me Dr. Doolittle. I think they can sense that I don't mean them any harm so animals are almost never aggressive towards me. When I saw this little guy sunning himself I slowly dropped down and worked my way up to him until I was less than a foot away. He showed no aggression or nastiness and did not even rattle. Their rattle is a high pitched buzzing sound similar to a flying bee. He very obligingly posed for this shot. Lovely golden eyes!

You can purchase any of my photos as prints or greeting cards at Fine Art America.