Back in February I made my annual birding pilgrimage down to Florida. It’s become an opportunity I look forward to, when I can escape and unplug for a week…no phone, no email, no Facebook…just enjoying the great outdoors and the hunt for that next great image.

My first stop this year was Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, where most of these images were taken. I’d read about this location but never been there. I found it had an excellent variety of subjects. However, good camo, plenty of patience, and a powerful telephoto were certainly required.

Fortunately, on top of my Nikkor 200-400VR, I had borrowed the venerable 600VR from Nikon Professional Services. Between those two lenses, my TC14eII, TC20eIII, and the option of a full frame D3 or the 1.5x crop factor of the D300…I had lots of telephoto options…reaching as far as the equivalent of 1800mm!

Here are just a few favorites from that first leg, culled from the over 4500 images I shot that week. Enjoy!