April 18 - 24

Birds of Florida Photo Workshop

$1,995

Flight Destination: Tampa, FL

The Pinellas Suncoast is a bird photographers gem on Florida's Gulf Coast. Nesting osprey photography at Honeymoon Island is just one of the highlights. At Fort DeSoto a wide variety of shore and wading birds add to the mix. Several other parks with more opportunities will also be featured as well as some very photogenic pelicans. Year-round residents are also more plentiful than many other spots in the state. With Pinellas County being a peninsula both sunrises and sunsets are capable. In addition to Pinellas County, the trip will start off with an evening and morning shoot at Gatorland in Orlando. Lots of nesting activity just a few feet away adds a new dimension to this trip.

Back in St. Pete, photograph the behavior of laughing gulls as well as royal and sandwich terns. Herons, great egrets, reddish egrets, roseate spoonbills, shorebirds including threatened piping plovers, and skimmers are among the many birds found in the area.

There is always at least one reddish egret that puts on a show that keeps everyones attention captivated over and over again.

It is not uncommon to have a mix of birds such as snowy efretsm night herons and spoonbills all gathered in one small area and the interaction between them can be quite amusing.

Having grown up in St. Petersburg, I know several hidden parks and lakes where the action is just as good as the other more popular parks and some different birds find the solitude enjoyable including green herons, wood storks, and hawks.

Both Fort DeSoto and Honeymoon Island are now counted on as premier birding locations in the country. While other spots in the state might receive more notice, the photography opportunities in Pinellas County are just as good if not better.

A look through the guides of the Great Florida Birding Trail shows how prolific the bird activity is here. And this hasn't even touched on the migrating songbirds that show up in great numbers at one of two spots at Fort DeSoto or the skimmer activiy we will encounter on our way to Honeymoon Island to photograph the osprey.

We will also go out on a boat to spend a morning at a bird rookery that is one of the best in the state with more than 100 birds calling the island home.

During this timeframe, the tides are at their best for morning and evening low tides for optimal wading bird activity.

Click here to see bird photography from this area.

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