Creativity out of Madness: One woman's journey to photograph some birds

 So, one of the things that made sense when we moved to Florida was that I would stay home and raise our kid. I loved working and I loved my job, so I struggled REALLY HARD when we moved. My in laws were kind enough to gift us (loan us?) a Nikon Coolpix L840 and I started taking it to the only place to go around here, 

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge at Cape Canaveral National Seashore. 

(Although, some of these photos were taken in the backyard of our rental when we first arrived, a joint we called "The Rivershack".)

Moving to Florida was no joke. 

It was a like a hard punch and birds are delightful creatures and auspicious little signals.  We're way better off now and the TrumpVirus has taught me that Florida really was the right place for us to be and raising kiddo full time the absolute right thing to do, but while I was struggling with all that, I took some pretty good photos of some spectacular bird actors. 

First up, The Rivershack photos - obvi, it was by a river, and we haven't been able to attract the Buntings and Orioles at our new house, so we'll start with these stunners:

Check out this beautiful badboy, The Painted Bunting

(Dan over at SPACENERDZ.COM got the above photos of this clandestine bird meeting!) 

🚀SPACENERDZ.COM🚀

Getting these pictures of the Oriole was honestly one of the highlights of my life, I was so fucking proud. Not that they are such great photography, but the subject was hard to catch. 

 

Now then, onto the shore birds!

Roseate Spoonbill and Great White Egret sharing a joke

Roseate Spoonbill

Heron haz lunch

Wood Stork SuperModel

There are SOOOO MANY other shore birds, but these are my favorites of my favorites. 

We will end with some Raptor shots and the energy of mighty talons.  🦅

Gut your day like a fish you had to dive out of the sky for.

Osprey are characters. They are special.

Now get a big dose of fucking FREEDOM. 

These top two were taken at 

Pine Island Conservation Area

I'm proud of these pictures, and I'm also proud that I didn't lose my mind. 

I'm lucky we got that camera and lucky that birds exist. 

And on that inspirational note, I'm out. 

-NG-

THIS IS ALSO IMPORTANT

(I just discovered I took this photo. Is it a crime scene?)