South Florida Swamp...

I always wondered what kind of woodpecker made these holes...one with OCD?? j/k
These, I've now found out, are made by the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. (I've really learned alot in the last year or so...things I've noticed but never actually seen)

A more distant picture. I guess the sapsuckers really like this tree.

Julie, I googled a bit to try and find some sort of universal tube lens...no luck and I've never heard of one. Maybe try a camera store?

John, I ordered the Canon EOS20D (I'm so excited) with 2 Canon image stabilized lenses, the 17-85 and the 100-400mm. I told my DH, Paul, that birthdays and Christmas should be very easy from now on...Ü

ROTFL....either that or they really HATE it and are trying to chop it right down! LOL

Thanks for trying to find something on those lenses Stacey. I'll have to try to find that article I read again and see if perhaps the person using it just improvised or something.

-Julie

Aaaah, Stacey, that is so cool! That is the camera I would choose too, if I could.

Julie, I have heard of that technique being used for macro shots, as well.

I've been researching a long time John. I was hoping Sony would come out with a new version of my favorite camera but I have waited long enough.

Julie, could you have read about it hear on DG? If so look up threads by our 'Dinu'...I think he had a thread about a trick he used to get closer pictures.

Nope it wasn't on DG. I'll let you know if I find the article and or the tube I read about.

I will look up the thread by Dinu though....thanks for the head's up on that :-)

-Julie

Julie, if the camera you have has a 'group', like on Yahoo or a simular site, you can often learn tricks people have used to enhance the telephoto capaciies. Try googling groups.

I have gotten a lot of info from the Lumix Yahoo group. (I need a lot of info. I am a beginner)

Stacey, love your swamp photos!

Have you and Paul considered a trip to near Waycross GA to the Okefenokee?

Funny you should ask...the Okeefenokee was one of the places we went on our honeymoon. A beautiful place but not nearly as accessible as the south FL swamps.

Fakahatchee borders yet another preserve called Picayune State Forest. This is the area that became the joke of buying swampland in Florida. Developers bought up thousands of acres and then dug canals to drain the swamp. This was to be the world's largest subdivision. The state has bought out some 15 thousand land owners. Originally, and eventually as the land is restored, this entire area will be under a flowing sheet of water. We were able to drive the roads out of the area and back to civilisation (??). It took awhile since we'd been told the road would run into Alligator Allley or I-75. We hit many a dead end so we just kept going north or west and finally found a road to the interstate. It was such a great drive we took it out the second time we visited too.

This is the road at first...it eventually narrowed down to one lane because the grass was growing over the edges...kinda scary with only a quarter tank of gas. It eventually ended in an area called Isle of Capri, unpaved but named roads that went nowhere and where no one lives.

Maybe you should travel with a 5 gallon tank of gas in the back?

I'm so glad to hear/read that FL is reclaiming some land, routing straight rivers like Kissimmee back to curving, etc. To bad they cannot make Alligator Alley go away so the everglades continue to flow...

But that wouldn't be near as much fun! LOL

This is a view of one of the canals that is scheduled to be filled in. It has certainly be reclaimed by south Florida flora in the passing years...

The bits that are being reclaimed and restored are being done by environmental groups...Florida land is being developed at a horrifying rate, but this is a place I can't go on DG so I'll bite my tongue and move on...

The lock had already been closed on this canal and it's drying up. It is full of vegetation now but it didn't look particularly healthy.The sky was so beautiful this day...

You are right... beautiful sky!

Se_eds, thank you for the suggestion. I'll definitely look into it :-)

More lovely photos Stacey....and very entertaining stories too :-)

-Julie

Got any great blue heron photos?! Always ready for those, hehe.
Or greater egrets!