Hi, I’m Roger Simmons – the guy from RogerSimmons.com (but you probably guessed that by now).
I’ve been a journalist in the Sunshine State for more than 35 years, but my focus has been more on producing words than images. Still, over the years I’ve been fortunate to work with some amazing photographers – and their work inspired me to try to develop my own photo skills.
It was during the pandemic lockdown that I first started to pay more attention to the birds here in Florida. When you slow down and look around, you can see so many amazing creatures all around.
Toward the end of COVID, on January 1, 2023, I revisited Orlando Wetlands Park in Christmas but with a camera in hand for the first time. I had a blast taking pictures of all the different birds that were in the park – the natives to our area and the ones who were visiting for the winter.
I’ve been taking pictures of birds there and elsewhere in Central Florida almost every week since.
As a result, my friends on Facebook have gone from being inundated with daily Wordle scores to almost daily bird photo updates. (They are much more tolerant about the bird photos.)
Wanting to keep those Facebook friends as friends, I decided to post the majority of my bird photos here on my website (which used to be primarily about Orlando TV news and history – but that’s another story for another time). In addition to my bird photos, I will also try to share a little information about the birds or how I got the photos.
You can also find some of my work on Facebook in the Orlando Wetlands Park group and in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Birding group, among others.
