Five On The Wing – #8
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Here’s another post in my five bird species in flight series. These five birds are egrets and herons, all taken in Florida this past February.
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Tricolored Heron
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Great Egret
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Black-crowned Night Heron
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Reddish Egret
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Great Blue Heron
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“If birds can glide for long periods of time, then why can’t I?” – Orville Wright
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Osprey Gallery
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The Chesapeake Bay Osprey have returned! Local feeds are abuzz and I’m feeling the excitement. In my travels since returning home, I’ve seen quite a few in flight. I’m anxious to check out some local nests, hopefully soon!
Many Osprey in Florida are year-round residents.
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Florida Osprey with fish meal
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While we were in Everglades City the last couple months, I photographed the local Osprey already in high gear with incubating and having chicks by February. Here’s a gallery of some favorites of them and their different nests.
The first set of photos are of a pair who created a nest atop a utility transfer station. 😟
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Mr & Mrs Osprey starting a new nesting season together
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Osprey nest is established one month later
Mama is incubating eggs while Dad is eating a fish and on guard duty
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Male Osprey on guard duty
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Male Osprey on guard duty while finishing a fish
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Male Osprey departing nest
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More eating and guarding the nest
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That nest really seemed to be in a dangerous place. Seems Osprey are daredevils with their nest location selections.
Here are more nests around town…..
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Everglades City Fire Station – Female
Everglades City Fire Station – Male
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Osprey nest in palm tree berry branches
Osprey nest in palm tree berry branches
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Osprey chick!
Osprey Nest
On guard while eating
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Osprey Family
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Osprey nest along Barron River’s riverwalk
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Same Osprey nest on Barron River a month later
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Osprey Nest on satellite dish, dwarfed by Mexican Fan Palms that grow up to 100 feet
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A Waiting Osprey Home – “First Come, First Serve”
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Male Osprey fluffing and shaking to dry its feathers
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Handsome Osprey – “Almost Dry”
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And now all of this is repeating on the Chesapeake Bay…….minus the palm trees!
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Great Egret Gallery
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After a daily post for the past couple months, sorry for my sudden short break! We left Florida sooner than planned to head home to Maryland, so I wasn’t prepared for a post. We’ve safely arrived home, skirting all the east coast storms with no problems. I’ve got lots of catching up to do at home as well as with all your blogs!
I want to get myself back up and running too. I hope you enjoy this gallery of several different and interesting compositions of the beautiful and elegant Great Egret taken in Florida. 😊
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Leaving Florida’s birding paradise was bittersweet. I am glad to be home. A bit overwhelming, but I’m looking forward to catching things up! 😊
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Tricolored Heron Gallery
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Back home in Maryland, I get to see five of the six North American heron species. The one missing is the Tricolored Heron. So this past couple months, I always spent more time photographing the Tricolored Heron over the other herons to add to my collection.
So again, here I am sharing more of my favorites from the past several weeks of this beautiful heron.
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On Top of the World
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Heading Home With A Gift, I Hope She Likes It
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Fishing on a Cloudy Day
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Morning Reflection
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All Tucked In
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Water Ballet I
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Water Ballet II
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Chillin’ in the Mangroves
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Series: Take A Moment and Enjoy A Sunset
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As the sun began its descent, the skies become dotted with egrets and herons flying into 10,000 Islands NWR for their evening roost.
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At the last light, everyone is settling in…..
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Five On The Wing – #7
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Here’s post #7 of my Five On The Wing series, sharing five bird species, each in flight.
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Anhinga
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Caspian Tern
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American White Pelican
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Roseate Spoonbill
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Osprey with fish #1
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Osprey with fish #2
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Two of the Osprey, I couldn’t decide which expressions on each I liked the best! 😁
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Little Blue Heron On The Hunt
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This is another bird I photographed at Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary that earned its own post. 😊
This Little Blue Heron was intently on the hunt in the area called Lettuce Lakes, towards the end of the boardwalk.
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Little Blue Heron on the hunt
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Hmmmm…..what do I spy with my little eye….
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Gotcha!
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Now, what to do with this writhing meal?
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Little Blue Heron takes off with the crayfish to land on a felled tree
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Darn…..now what??
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The Little Blue Heron didn’t seem to know what to do with this large crayfish that was still very much alive and trying to pinch him.
It certainly wasn’t going to be gulped down like a fish!
The heron finally dropped the crayfish on the perch and quickly began stabbing it with its beak.
Unfortunately, I had a group of people approaching me on the boardwalk, so I left the Little Blue Heron still at it, wondering if s/he gave up or was able to digest it.
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Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
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“A visit to Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is a journey into the heart of the Everglades ecosystem. Discover the rugged beauty of this famed natural area on Corkscrew’s famous boardwalk – a 2.5-mile adventure through pine flatwoods, wet prairie, around a marsh, and finally into the largest old growth Bald Cypress forest in North America.” — Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary website
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Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary 2.5 mile Boardwalk
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Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary reopened this past winter by advance ticket purchase only for limited number of people at spaced out designated entry times, allowing social distancing, and the requirement to wear a mask when near others. I’ve always wanted to visit here and was able to go a few weeks ago. Hardly anyone there, it was pretty awesome!
Follow me as we wander along this famous boardwalk to see some of the beauty and wildlife this preserved swamp presently bestows!
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Blue Dasher
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Lichen
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Green Orchid Bee
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Fungi
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Raccoon
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Limpkin
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Strangler Fig Trees
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Carolina Wren
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Lots of birds in this area!
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Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
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Eastern Phoebe
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Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
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Great Egret 💚
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Lichen – “The Rose”
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One of many resting areas
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A tree resting
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Looking back…..
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Let’s continue on, we’re almost done!
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Great Egret
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Great Pondhawk
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Black Swallowtail
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Exiting the boardwalk
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We made it! Thank you for tagging along with me through the beautiful Corkscrew Swamp, I hope you enjoyed it!
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Woodpeckers – Comparing Four
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I have oodles of Red-bellied Woodpecker photos to still go through (they are everywhere in Everglades City and I cannot resist), but just recently scored photos of three others.
So here’s a photo of each of these four Woodpeckers, from smallest to largest, for a bit of comparison.
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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (7.5″/19cm tall)
(photographed on our RV lot 😃)
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Red-bellied Woodpecker (8.5″/21.5cm tall)
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Northern Flicker (15″/38cm tall)
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Pileated Woodpecker (18″/45cm tall)
(the largest of all North America woodpeckers)
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There are a total of 23 species of woodpeckers in North America. Wow, I didn’t know that myself!
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Black-necked Stilts
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A few weeks ago, I heard a couple of birders discussing that the Black-necked Stilts would soon be arriving in March. I remembered where I saw them last March and started watching that location for them since.
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Black-necked Stilts and Great Blue Heron
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Sure enough, I saw them the first week of March, right at the same wetlands location at Big Cypress Preserve as last year. I’ve seen them a few days since.
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Black-necked Stilts
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The Stilts species have the second-longest legs in proportion to their bodies of any bird (Flamingos rank first).
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Black-necked Stilts
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Black-necked Stilts can actually swim if necessary with their partially webbed toes and long wings.
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Black-necked Stilt (female)
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Black-necked Stilts
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Black-necked Stilt and Blue-winged Teal
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Black-necked Stilt and Yellowlegs
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Black-necked Stilts certainly are elegant with that stark black and white contrast and those long, rosy-pink legs!
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Bay Photos by Donna 