We live in an area of South Orlando called Hunters Creek. It's a 6.4 sq. mile planned community that borders on Shingle Creek, one of the primary tributaries to the Everglades.

While there are a lot of homes and a lot of people living in Hunters Creek, the developers -- to their credit -- have tried to protect the environment as much as possible and have set aside areas along Shingle Creek as Nature Preserves with some lovely hiking trails that wind through the marshes that form this watershed. And the wildlife has stayed here in some abundance.

One area of photographic interest for me is wildlife and nature photography (clearly an important reason why I joined this forum) but I admittedly don't have a lot of experience in it nor a lot of skill. One of my goals for 2008 is to get more of both. Yesterday, I took a walk along one of the primary trails with my 30D, my 70-200 F4L, a monopod and Rowdy. Now I realize that Rowdy might be a deterrent to finding wildlife but he's 10 years old and he loves these walks off-leash and to me, his enjoyment is more important than my photography.

Along the way, we found an Egret sitting nicely in a Cypress tree and I took a couple of shots as close as I could get (which was not quite close enough).





A little farther along the trail, I spotted some furry movement about 1/2 mile ahead. I got as close as I could with Mr. R by my side and managed to get a couple of shots of some River Otters that reside along the creek. I'm going to have to go back without my canine partner to try to get some closer shots.



On our way back to the car, I found the Florida version of an autumn leaf to share with you folks buried in snow. By the way, did I mention it was raining? It was raining!



A couple of observations:

1. I need a longer lens if I really want to shoot wildlife.

2. I need to visit these locations at dawn and/or dusk to really be able to photograph some major local wildlife. We have deer, hawks, eagles and a bunch of other animals that I'm dying to photograph. I think Rowdy's going to have to wait for me at home.

Jim