Two Birds Uniquely Beautiful

There’s probably not too many birders or photographers who get excited when they see these two birds.  They aren’t graced with a beautiful face nor with bright colors as many other birds.  But they really are uniquely beautiful and interesting, and in abundance in Florida.

The first is the Black Vulture.  A common bird throughout the United States and a janitor to our earth.  Most everyone has seen them soaring gracefully across the sky as well as seeing them alongside the road, cleaning up a mess.

Okeechobee, Florida, was highly populated with Black Vultures.  They were seen often in the sky and could also be found at boat ramp areas usually in tight groups.

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Black Vulture

 

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Black Vultures sittin’ with the daisies

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Black Vultures, along with at least one Turkey Vulture (red face), and Great Blue Heron

 

I also found Black Vultures hanging together with a flock of Wood Storks at the top of the dyke along Lake Okeechobee.  I thought this was an interesting grouping.  So much so, it became a blog post!

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Black Vultures and Wood Storks hanging out together

A few more Wood Storks came in for a landing to the group.

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Wood Stork coming in for a landing

 

A Great Blue Heron was also watching the commotion of the landings.

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More landing while a Great Blue Heron looks on

 

Right place, right time.  My hubby shouted there were several more Wood Storks coming right at me.

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It was awesome to see them falling from the sky, landing practically on top of each other!

The Wood Storks were also frequent visitors to the campground, so photo ops were available often.  Some of my favorite poses…..

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Wood Stork

 

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Wood Stork

 

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Wood Stork on a light pole

 

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Wood Stork

 

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Wood Stork

 

Both the Black Vulture and Wood Stork are two beauties in their own right.  I see and photograph Vultures (both Black and Turkey) at home, but I am happy that I got so many photo opportunities with the Wood Storks.

 

Two of a Kind

There are actually three kinds of Ibis in the United States; but only two are found in Florida, the White Ibis and the Glossy Ibis.  The third is the White-faced Ibis which is the western U.S. replacement for the Glossy Ibis.

The White Ibis was fairly common and in abundance around our stay in Okeechobee, and I’ve already shared a few photos of them.  We actually had one foraging in the empty campsite just behind ours.  He gave me a fine pose!

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White Ibis

 

You really could find the White Ibis just about anywhere.  I came out of the grocery store and whipped out my cell phone for this next ‘poor’ shot.

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White Ibis in strip mall parking lot

 

It was also common to see flocks of White Ibis.

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White Ibis

 

I liked the little fella in the next shot soaring with the White Ibis!

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White Ibis and bird friend

 

Out for a drive around one of Lake Okeechobee’s boat ramps, there was a large flock of White Ibis foraging in the grassy sand areas.  There were quite a few juveniles in this group.  The juveniles are not born white but eventually turn all white with black wing-tips when they reach adulthood.

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Juvenile White Ibis

 

While watching and taking photos of them, I sighted one with a snake or marine worm.  The snake/worm was still alive and squirming while the Juvenile White Ibis tried to figure out what to do with this fiesty snack.

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Juvenile White Ibis

The snake/worm decided to take a chance and go for the juvenile’s face.

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Juvenile White Ibis

The snake/worm’s head literally went to the juvenile’s beak and hit it. What a pretty strong snake/worm!

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Juvenile White Ibis

 

My final shot of the series shows the juvenile had quickly dropped the snake/worm and was giving it a once-over.  We never did see him pick it back up, he just kept looking at it and pondering.

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Juvenile White Ibis

 

The second Ibis was a new lifer for me, and I had quickly mentioned it in my Roseate Spoonbill post where a Glossy Ibis was in the background of a few of my Spoonbill captures.  At such a distance, I never got lucky on a full profile of one, just heads and tails.

Lo and behold, it was in the campground in the Preserve area where I saw a small flock fly in to feed a late afternoon and luckily several more late afternoons.  With their darkness and desire to stay hidden, I wasn’t so lucky in getting many shots while they were on the ground at their distance, but I did have fun with the challenge of their flight.

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Glossy Ibis

 

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Male Glossy Ibis in breeding plumage

 

 

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Glossy Ibis in flight at sunset

 

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Glossy Ibis on a cloudy late afternoon

 

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Glossy Ibis

 

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Glossy Ibis

 

What luck I felt to get both the White Ibis and Glossy Ibis while in Florida, with one being a new lifer!

 

 

 

 

A Froggy Fabulous Rendition

My wonderful Maryland blogger friend, Laura at CreateArtEveryDay, has done another rendition of one of my photos for her 100 Face Challenge started in January.

RIPPIT RIPPIT!

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030316 frog©Laura @ CreateArtEveryDay.com

Isn’t he froggy fabulous!!  Thank you again, Laura, his smile made me smile!

As Laura said, have a Happy, hoppy Thursday, everyone!

 

Two More Lifers

<BIG SIGH>  The time had to come to leave Florida and “Bird Paradise”.   😦

We spent the last couple days cramming in the remaining things we wanted to do before packing up camp and hitting the road.  We’ve made a stop-over in South Carolina for a few days where I’ve been chasing Blue Jays and a Red-headed Woodpecker.   🙂

With that fun going on, I’m still also going through my bird photos from Florida and have two more lifers to add to my bird list.

The first lifer is a Limpkin!  I found one visiting the campground around one of the ponds late evening.  I had to lighten up this to see him well enough!

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Limpkin

Another time I found a pair at a pink sunset at the same pond area….

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I was a bit disappointed with the late evening lighting but at least I had photographs for my list!

During our stay, we stopped by a few local Lake Okeechobee boat ramp areas where I sighted a lone Limpkin and was a lot more successful.  And no longer disappointed!

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Limpkin on the move, not wanting my photography services

This next lifer is a bird that is also found at home around the Chesapeake Bay, but I never took the time to confirm I had photographed the Boat-tailed Grackle that is very close to the Common Grackle that I knew I had.  The Boat-tailed Grackle has a longer, pointed beak and longer tail that is more than half of it’s body’s length.  Boat-tailed Grackles are also quite common in southern Florida so it made this lifer-add easy, and I can finally count him.   🙂

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This Boat-tailed Grackle was busy at a fish stand gathering up a few tidbits left by fishermen who had just finished cutting up fish or bait.

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For those of you ‘home’ around Grasonville, Maryland, and the Chesapeake Bay area who follow me, I’ve got exciting news that one of our ‘famous’ Osprey that nests atop one of the Rt.50 W signs has already returned!  My blog-follower, Tammy, sighted the Osprey early morning on February 29th and immediately commented her finding in my last post.  It was sighted & recorded later that day and many sightings today by birders through the QAC bird e-alert.  Way to go, Tammy!  You definitely had your Osprey-eye on!

To celebrate, here’s a couple Osprey photos I took in Florida where the Osprey reside year-round.

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Although Florida has been awesome, I will admit I have sorely missed my winter birds around the Chesapeake Bay, where it is migrating ‘duck’ paradise!   🙂

 

 

Happy Leap Day

You know I love my birds, but today gives me the opportunity to share my campground critters.  The first photo is my leaper!

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That is a bungee cord he’s sitting next to, he was tiny!

 

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Of course, you can’t go anywhere in Florida without seeing a little lizard.

 

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Another leaper…..or I guess more appropriately, hopper!

 

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Why did the turtle cross the road?

 

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To get to the other side!   🙂

 

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That turtle really needed a washing!

 

I was told there had been sightings of a bobcat on the premises, but I didn’t see nor wished to tangle with one of them.

Happy Leap Day!

 

 

 

 

 

Berry Good Days

Late afternoons, I tried to go to the tree line along the road that led to the back exit of the campground.  Within those trees, there were oodles and oodles of berries.  Of course, the birds along there knew that.

It was a lot of fun trying to capture those birds having one of those delicious berries in their beak!

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_DSC0119-1 21816Yellow-rumped Warbler reaching….

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This was definitely challenging with all the leaves and branches; and, of course, the constantly moving birds so I was happy to get these few.  Berries add a nice touch to a bird’s portrait!

 

A Sandhill Crane Artistic Rendition

While here in Florida on vacation, I wanted more than anything to photograph two birds that would be adds to my “lifer” list.  One was the Sandhill Crane which I excitedly posted on previously.

One of my followers who is also a WP blogger, Sharon of Sharon Mann Illustrations  requested to paint one of my posted captures which I was thrilled to say yes!  I just received it and couldn’t wait to post it for you to see!

Here are mine and her versions.  🙂

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Sandhill Crane - Sharon Mann

 

 

Isn’t he gorgeous!!!!   I also love the amazing background; it gave a wonderful, dreaminess to the Sandhill Crane as he ponders his next move.

Thank you very much, Sharon!  Your painting is absolutely stunning!!   ❤

 

Taylor Creek Storm Water Treatment Center, Okeechobee, FL – Last of Series

(Taylor Creek Storm Water Management Center – Part 5 of 5)

A second visit to Taylor Creek yielded just as many photo ops as the first visit.  During the first visit, I did the top loop on the following map.  The second, I completed the bottom half of the map.  The trails on the entire map total just over three miles.  It doesn’t take much walking to discover all kinds of birds in this birder’s gem of a place!

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Here’s a few photos of the bottom loop areas that also hosted just as many birds and gators as the top loop.

(No gators this post, see Part 3 for those I photographed at both visits by clicking here.)

Many birds that I had seen the first visit were there again, many in large numbers.

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Common Moorhen

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Common Moorhen

_DSC0159-1 21716Snowy Egret

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_DSC0207-1 21716Double-Crested Cormorant

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_DSC0463-1 21716American Bald Eagle ( I saw one but missed capturing it the first visit)

I came across a lone Mottled Duck taking a bath, which looked like it was having fun.  A beautiful pose was given to me when he/she was done.

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_DSC0013-1 21716Mottled Duck (Thank you very much!)

The bird fly-bys were constant so I got many chances to practice that challenge.  Sometimes one would be coming/going before you knew it.  This Wood Stork did just that; he was passing by while I was trying to photograph something else, so I failed to lock on my focus.  I still liked the series with the movement and background colors though.

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It was this second visit that I got my wish to capture a Roseart Spoonbill that I had posted separately.  Here’s a couple more photos that include a Glossy Ibis.  (another lifer for me!)

_DSC0078-1 21716Roseart Spoonbill and Glossy Ibis (another lifer!)

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Walking along a line of trees, I spotted two Great Blue Heron nests….

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Also way up in a tree, I spotted a Hawk with my Eagle eye.

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I quickly moved closer & took several photos in case a flight took place, then I kept moving closer & shooting, hoping I could steady enough to get a close focused shot.  Here’s my best; and it turned out to be a Red-shouldered Hawk, which I posted already this Florida trip as a new lifer for me.  These photos surpass my previous!

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This next photo I believe is an Eastern Phoebe, which I’ve photographed before.  Let me know if I’m wrong on this ID please!

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I was fooling with my settings at one point and worked on a few butterflies fluttering around, not an easy species to photograph!  I only got one worth sharing, a Great Southern White.

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In one area where there were quite a few gators, I spotted many large fish (not sure what kind and how they even survive around the gators).  Of course, I had to take on the challenge of whether I could get any good photos, even with the pollen in the water.  Didn’t really, but going to share anyway, as this fish reminded me of something.

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Did you ever see Don Knott’s 1964 movie, “The Incredible Mr. Limpet”?  I watched it numerous times as a kid and even saw it a few years ago on cable.  A silly movie, but when I saw those fish lips, it reminded me of that movie, isn’t it funny how you remember things?  I kept expecting to see one of those fish surface with glasses on.  heehee

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The next two photos (if you can stand it!), are two more lifers for me.  The first is a Crested Caracara.  Not the best but good enough to identify, and I’ve since taken a few more of one in the sky from the campground I’ll share later.

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The second new lifer is the Little Blue Heron.  We have these around the Chesapeake Bay area, but again, one that has eluded my lens.  Nailed this species this time!

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I got so many great photos of this one who was quite cooperative, I’ll share a couple more.

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His mouth was open the whole time panting, see his little tongue?  I guess he thought it was a bit hot that day.  Geez, he needs to go north and find out just how wonderful the Florida temps are this time of year!

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You’ll get a kick out of this.  There were so many Egrets and Great Blue Herons with those beautiful bright yellow beaks, that when I first spotted the next photo op at a distance, I thought I had spotted another one.

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Hey, at least it looked like a bright yellow beak at a distance!  Or maybe I was getting dizzy on bird overload.  There’s always a photo op for a good laugh!

Seriously not wanting to leave, I finally forced myself to head back to the truck.  I came around the last turn and upon a walker who was watching a Great Blue Heron.  Oh boy, one more op before I go!  The gentleman said it looked like a bird was eating a bird.  Through my lens, I could see it was a black fish.

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A few more walkers came around the corner, oooohhing and aaaahhing.  Too many humans for this fella!  He took flight right past me.

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I was very excited with the flight shots and was hoping for a good one.  Chatting with the walkers, someone hollered he was coming back.  He landed exactly back to the spot where he stood previously.  Guess that was where he wanted to eat his dinner!

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Well, no such luck for this fella.  Now with four people standing there, it still made him nervous and he took off again in the other direction.

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I’m sure he found somewhere to eat that nice size meal!

Whew, sorry for the long post!  I promised in my last one I’d finish the Taylor Creek series but didn’t realize I had so many to still share.  But this does wrap up my two visits to Taylor Creek.  I still have oodles of bird photos I took at the campground and along the road and lake piers, and do I dare say more lifers too?  🙂

I do have one more share.  In Part 1 of this Taylor Creek series, I shared a couple photos of the cows who were at the fence in the parking lot.  Laura with CreateArtEveryDay has created another one of her Face Challenges using one of those photos.  Here’s my photo and her #49 Face Challenge.

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022316 cow                                                      ©Laura @ CreateArtEveryDay.com

 

Isn’t he whimsical and “udderly” beautiful?!!!  Thank you again, Laura, for your jazzy, artistic work!

And thank you, everyone, very much for following me along on my Florida adventures, your comments have been wonderful and humbling.  It’s not possible to wipe the smile off my face!

 

Artistic Renditions of My Double-Crested Cormorant

I wanted to share in a separate post two beautiful artistic renditions of my Double-Crested Cormorant photo I blogged a few posts back on my Taylor Creek visit.

Here is my original photo, followed by a cropped version.

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My dear blogger friend, Laura, at CreateArtEveryDay has taken on a 100 Face Challenge since the first of the year of drawing faces of people, animals, or birds.  She’s a fellow Maryland gal with a talent that is out of this world!  Laura’s so far ahead on her number of faces, I think she’s going to have to extend the number to draw, since it’s only February.  She’s definitely been on a roll!   Whatcha think, Laura??   😉

Here’s the first rendition, her #47 Face.

022116©Laura @ CreateArtEveryDay.com

And here is the second, her #48 Face.

022216©Laura @ CreateArtEveryDay.com

We all marvel at Laura’s renditions of eyes.  When photographing birds or animals, we know it’s the eye(s) we are trying to focus and capture.  Laura has the talent to create eyes on her subjects that are bold, bright, and focused, as well as showing character and personality of the subject.  Check out her blog and follow her 100 Face Challenge, you will enjoy the fun and drawings, I promise!

I am humbled and honored she’s chosen one of my bird photos to use as one of her Face Challenges, or in this case two!  Thank you, Laura, you are an inspiration to all.  ❤

 

Tricolored Herons

(Taylor Creek Storm Water Management Center – Part 4 of 5)

I had no idea I’d have to take several posts just to share the variety of birds I photographed at Taylor Creek for two days, so many ops provided several great series, and then add all the lifers.  What a gem of a place!  I am still trying to get over there one more time before we leave end of this week.  Rains are in the forecast, so we shall see.

We have Tricolored Herons around the Chesapeake Bay area but they have always eluded my lens.  Guess it was meant to be I’d get this lifer in Florida.  In abundance no less, this species was everywhere at Taylor Creek.

The Tricolored Herons were posing….

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Doing a little fishing……

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Snagging a snack…..

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Flying here and there…..

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More fishing……

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Fluffing up the feathers….

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Hiding in the reeds….

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And just overall, being a beauty to behold.

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If I hadn’t been successful in scoring any decent photos of the Tricolored Heron, it would definitely have been my fault with so many of them there being a cooperative subject!

I going to try my darnedest to wrap up Taylor Creek visits in one more post, because I am still taking photos daily within the RV resort and have files of photos busting at the seams to review, and I know many to share.

As always, thank you for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed!