In Orlando recently to research a case, the lovely bride and I took a little time for wildlife photography before heading home.  It turns out there’s a lot to see in the Orlando area that doesn’t involve a certain Mouse and doesn’t require you to pay money to the Disney empire.

As for the two-legged “wild life” practitioners, we got to meet the nice people who run a machine gun range alongside a string of bail bond storefronts.  And the “OMG-POPO” phone number for the defense attorneys cracked us both up.

29 COMMENTS

  1. Check out the Morse museum in Orlando. They have an amazing collection of Tiffany Stained glass. Also, if you love gardens, check out the Sunken Garden near Tampa / Saint Pete. It looks like a tourist trap, but it’s beyond breathtaking.

  2. Beautiful photos! Where were they taken? I live in the Orlando area and would love to visit wherever you found that wildlife.

  3. Great pictures – h/t to EP for those, the Glossy Ibis is really nice! I think I’ve seen that phone number or something similar, it IS funny…

  4. Nice photography there. How close were you from that Gator? I was half expecting a story that would rival Amos Moses. ? Good to see you two enjoying some downtime.

  5. The birds are gorgeous, but as for the gators (and snakes), I prefer to live up here in the frozen North, where I’m closer to the top of the food chain. Y’all do get to shoot year round, I admit.

  6. I know the area you are taking about right by the Orange County Jail that is an interesting part of Orlando that has allot of crime and interesting people and I avoid like like the plague! Sorry that you had to go thru that area. There are much better parts of Central Florida that have beautiful scenery like Alexander Springs in the Ocala National Forest which is about a two hour drive from Orlando but it is like being in another planet with all the water and wildlife just be careful Water Moccasin do live in the area and sometimes they like to say hello. I have been living in Central Florida since November 1987 when shortly before my 18th birthday and I guess I can call Florida my home.

  7. Looks like you captured a sighting of a Black-bellied Whistling-Duck there. The only live year-round in a few places in the US. Thankfully you didn’t have a personal run-in with the elusive and potentially dangerous FloridaMan.

  8. The only wildlife I saw in Miami during Hurricane Irma response was iguanas. Well, and tourists on South Beach…
    (Although we had to change motels on short notice, turned out the restaurant fire across the street was an insurance job, and we couldn’t stay “in a crime scene.”)

  9. You’re pretty good with a camera Uncle Mas. In fact, on par with my old high school gym teacher who also had a professional studio which he still does to this day (no, I won’t say what year I graduated but I remember the Gipper well lol) and puts online.I actually need a new camera of my own…

  10. The thing that sticks in my mind about the Orlando area after decades are armadillos everywhere (thought they were desert critters) and the scent of Clorox in the air at Disney properties. They sprayed building exteriors several times a week to combat mold.

    OTOH, the airboat tour of the ‘Glades on the Seminole reservation was fascinating, as was their own collection of local critters. They also had a resident croc the wildlife people dropped on them. Definitely different attitude than gators. Even back then they were worried about invasive species like the various big constrictors and people dumping pet camans (sp?) who would cross breed with the gators and produce more aggressive gators.

  11. I am going off topic again (Sorry!) but I have a legal question for you. I realize that you are not an attorney but you are involved with the 2nd Amendment Foundation and (I assume) that they have lots of lawyers on staff.

    Anyway, here is my question:

    The Constitution of the United States of America clearly states (Article I – Section 9) that “No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. (By Congress)

    The Merriam-Webster Legal Dictionary defines an ex post facto law as:

    “a law that retroactively alters a defendant’s rights especially by criminalizing and imposing punishment for an act that was not criminal or punishable at the time it was committed, by increasing the severity of a crime from its level at the time the crime was committed, by increasing the punishment for a crime from the punishment imposed at the time the crime was committed, or by taking away from the protections (as evidentiary protection) afforded the defendant by the law as it existed when the act was committed ”

    Now, clearly, when the ATF created the new pistol brace regulation, they (effectively) created an ex post facto regulation. Prior to the creation of this new rule, it was perfectly legal to buy a pistol equipped with a forearm brace. Millions of Americans did so.

    Now, with the posting of a new regulation, the ATF has went back in time (ex post facto) and criminalized prior acts. People who purchased these firearms, in good faith, are now (potentially) being transformed into felons. This new regulation clearly functions as an ex post facto law.

    Federal agencies only have power to enforce existing law. They cannot make law. Therefore, they have the same constitutional limits as Congress. If Congress cannot make an ex post facto law, then a Federal Agency cannot make an ex post facto regulation.

    So, why isn’t this firearm brace rule unconstitutional? Seems to me that it clearly ought to be struck down, at least for people who purchased such firearms prior to the passing of this rule, by the courts.

    I know that the 2nd Amendment Foundation is challenging this new pistol brace regulation in court. Can you tell me, is one of their arguments that the new rule is unconstitutional because it functions as an ex post facto law?

      • The unconstitutionality of this new pistol brace rule seems clear to me. At least with regard to citizens who already owned one prior to approval of this new rule. I am not a lawyer but I fail to see how the Federal Government expects to ever prosecute anyone for owning a firearm, equipped with a forearm brace, that was purchased or built prior to the passage of this new rule.

        I find it strange that NO ONE ELSE seems to be making this point. Not in the media nor in articles written on the subject.

        Perhaps, when you next hobnob with the folks over at the 2nd Amendment Foundation, you could raise this issue and see how it is viewed over there? (Thanks).

        I find it so frustrating that, increasingly, the whole Constitution of the United States is being disrespected. The Federal Government seems to use the parts that push their agenda and then just ignores the Constitution whenever it becomes inconvenient and no one, not even Congress or the Courts, are hold their feet to the fire over it!

        John Adams said that United States has “A government of laws, and not of men.” Every day, actions are taken that puts the lie to his words!

    • Ex post facto went out the window with the Lautenberg Amendment. People with misdemeanor “domestic violence” convictions even decades before the law went into effect, lost all their gun rights.

  12. My wife interviewed a lady who was a big hunter. One year she went duck hunting and ended up knee-deep in swamp country watching the sky for birds. She had a great time.

    The next year she went alligator hunting. When she looked around for gators, she noticed she was knee-deep in the same spot she hunted ducks in the year before.

  13. The osprey is a fish hawk that typically migrates very far, but the usual Florida osprey apparently over-winters in that state. Many times floating down-river in Alaska in summer I have been amazed at the very regularly distant territorial spacing between evergreen trees with osprey nests, where the young osprey will scream like banshees. You know that come migration time they will launch and fly thousands of miles to more good fishing areas! They must be among the fastest and toughest jets in bird land. And fishing in Florida must be off the charts.

Comments are closed.