Vernal equinox
First light of dawn on the first day of spring….Nikon Z9 with Nikon 24-70 1/125, f/11, ISO 360
It’s a glorious first day of spring 2025 and the weather is perfect for golf and for birding….so why not both? This is the second annual Birds and Brews held at Hidden Lakes Golf Club by Southeast Volusia Audubon. We began at 5:00 PM and headed out to the 10th tee box to see if we could find any avian life. Golf courses often get a bad rap with critics pointing out the use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers as being a detriment to birds and other wildlife. On the positive side, however, golf courses preserve a great deal of habitat that may otherwise be developed for housing, strip malls, parking lots and other not-so-environmentally friendly enterprises. As we head out to explore the habitat around the course, we almost immediately find an Egyptian goose which is apparently oblivious to the golfers sharing the same fairway. The “negative” impact of this course has not apparently had a negative effect on these geese as they have a family of 5 chicks on site.
Great blue heron searching for its next meal
Osprey - Nikon Z9 with Z100-400 at 400mm (heavily cropped) 1/1250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200
One of the major contributions golf courses make to the environment is the addition of lakes and ponds. This course is riddled with pools, ponds, and sizable lakes where many ducks, cormorants, herons, egrets, and other water birds abide. The great blue heron in the photo above was found along that same 10th fairway we saw the Egyptian goose. Although this was evening, the presence of these magnificent herons is not restricted by time as we will come across them almost every time we play this course. The presence of so many birds and insects attracted to the water brings in birds of prey which see these lakes as a magnet for their food source. Along one of the larger bodies of water, we had three kestrels patrolling the waters, an osprey (photo above), and a four-year old Bald eagle. Eagles take 5 years to develop their classic white head and tail, and as this bird had a “mostly” white head and tail with some prominent black mottling included it can be estimated that it is an “almost adult”….about 4 years.
This young eagle was actively hunting over the waters of the lake and had its eyes set on a raft of cormorants and well as some Egyptian goose chicks. The cormorants which had been on the island in the center of the lake quickly took to the water when the eagle showed up and were partially submerged as they often are. Eagles don’t fare well in water and would prefer to grab a bite with a little less hazard involved. The chicks which are often on dry land along the shore make for a much easier meal….unless Mom or Dad is around. In this case, an adult quickly took on the role of family protector and made a beeline for the intruding threat. It was pretty amazing to see how agile the goose was in harassing the eagle and chasing it out of the goose’s territory.
By day’s end, we had amassed over species including songbirds like bluebirds, cardinals, and palm warblers up to large birds of prey like Red-shouldered hawk, Swallowtailed kite, and the Bald eagle pictured above. As the sun set, all agreed it was a fine way to spend the first day of spring.
Tech tip - When a desirable target is quite distant, don’t give up on the shot. Try to keep the ISO as low as possible and try cropping in post processing. The shot may not end up being as sharp as you had hoped for, but you still may be able to salvage a “documentation” shot such as the Osprey seen above. Images shot at lower ISO’s (under 1600) will be much easier to enlarge with some degree of sharpness than those shot at higher ISO’s. Just remember we’re not shooting expensive film anymore and if a shot you tried doesn’t come out quite as “perfect” as you had hoped, delete it! Like in basketball, you’ll never make the shot you don’t take!
