Today, Oct 22 the Photo Adventure Camera Club that I belong to took a field trip to a 41 Acre Park in Port Charlotte FL. It’s called Ollies Pond and has about a 1 mile walk through it. I took my usual walk around kit. A Nikon D300 with 70-300mm VR and a D90 with the 105mm f2.8 Micro-Nikkor and a Nikon SB-800 flash. Since it’s not a long walk, I took the lens bag too giving me a range from 12-200mm in various zooms and primes.

I arrived a little early hoping for a nice misty sunrise over the pond but, it wasn’t to be. The low humidity and cloudless sky just made for clear air with the sun a big hot ball. Still, there were a few shadowy opportunities for small scenics that promised more activity with fewer people in the locale.

Even though a large group walking around moved a lot of the animals away from the path, there were still a lot to be seen. One of my surprises was a bird that I had never even heard of even though it is quite common. It’s a Sora – Porzana carolina which is described as a secretive marsh bird. Since I never heard of it, it was certainly living up to it’s reputation. It lives within the cattails and other foliage of marshy land. I got a couple of rather unsatisfactory shots of it just to show I had seen it.I never would have seen it without it being pointed out by a friend who maintains his own record at zinnysworld.

One of our group found a shed egret feather covered in dew. While I was looking at it a couple of Long-legged flies showed up for a sip of water from the dew.

And, of course, the usual range of marsh wildflowers shining in the morning sun. If you look closely, to the right of the white flower, you will see a small beelike insect on the stalk.