Best of Central Florida Bird Photography Tour Dates: April 24 - May 4, 2022 Fee: $1,295 Limit: 8 participants

COVID-19 precautions/protocols

The safety and comfort of the group is very important to us. We will follow the current CDC guidelines for sanitization, masks and social distancing. Therefore, all participants that choose to register for this workshop are agreeing to follow those guidleine and protocols, throughout the duration of the workshop. All particpants must provide proof of vaccination.

Description:

This tour is set up to visit the best locations for bird photography in central florida! We will focus primarly on coastal areas, on the east and west coast. Late spring is a great time to visit Florida. There are many species that will be raising their young. Some migratory species should have returned as well. The dates have been selected to coincide with favorable tides that should offer us the best opportunities. 

There will be a rich variety of species to photograph. Plenty of wading birds, shore birds and even some raptors. Rest assured, you will come back with thousands of images to look through and a bird photography portfolio that you will be able to share with others proudly. On location, Nikhil will be leading you to best locations at favorable times and also helping you with ideas and settings needed for the photgraphic opportunities. There is no scheduled classroom instruction to maximize our time in the field and pace yourselves given that this is a 10-day itinerary. Infromal image reviews can be arranged as needed. When we return and have chance to look thorugh all the images, an online feedback session will be held via zoom.

Equipment You Should Bring

Tour participants should have a minimum focal length of 500mm. A longer telephoto lens and tripod and/or monpod is recommended. Well before the start of the tour, a full gear and packing list will be provided so you can prepare for this trip.

Itinerary

This itinerary is subject to minor changes based on weather conditions. We will be out early and late to take adantage of the best light and bird activity.

April 24

For our first evening together we will meet for a group dinner at 7pm near Melbourne. During dinner we will discuss our plans for the next day and answer any questions partipants may have about the trip.

April 25

We will spend the morning at local wetland areas photographing various species of wading birds and ducks. In the evening we may head closer to the ocean to photograph more wading birds and shore birds as well.

April 26

The morning shoot will be at a local wetland. After that we will check out and transfer to our hotel in Boynton Beach. After checking in we will head to another wetland area to photograph nesting wood stork, great egrets, snowy egrets, great blue herons, double-crested cormorants and more.

April 27-28

While in the Boynton Beach area we will photograph at 3 different wetland areas and also have opportunties to photograph some raptors (including snail kites), if all goes according to plan.

April 29

After our morning shoot at a wetland area we transfer to our hotel in the Ft. Myers area. We will plan to photograph burrowing owls this evening.

April 30

We have the option of another wetland area and the beach for a morning shoot. The evening we will visit another location to photograph burrowing owls.

May 1

After a morning shoot photographing shore birds at the beach we will transfer to our last stop in St. Petersburg. Depending on conditions we may go inland to photograph or we will head to the beach to photograph shore birds.

May 2-3

Our focus in St. petersburg will be on shore birds and we should have a variety of species to photograph. We will be hoping to find a reddish egret feeding but we almost defintely get to photograph royal terns, least terns, black skimmers, roseate spoonbiils, great egrets, snowy egreats, black-bellied plovers, piping ploverm wilson's plover and more!

May 4

We will make one last trip out to the beach to photograph shore birds, after which the tour will conclude. We will return to the hotel and you may check out and proceed with your travel.

Please contact Nikhil if you have any questions.

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