Reddish Egrets – Adult and Juvenile, What An Incredible Treat!
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Heading out yesterday early morning for our an essential grocery store run, I grabbed my camera equipment, thinking, well, maybe I’ll just make a quick stop at the 10,000 Islands NWR Marsh Trail while enroute, see what might be out in the wetlands. (It’s hard to pass and not want to stop for a quick look, you know? 😉)
I am so glad I did stop….peering through an opening along the trail, look what I found!
Welcome to my photographed bird lifer list, #219 the Reddish Egret! Not only was there an adult in the beginnings of its breeding plumage, but just further up the trail was also an immature/juvenile.
It was so hard to leave; but I finally did, 45 minutes and 300+ photos later. 😉
It’ll take time to go through all those photos of the prancing, dancing, and feather displays for some future posts. But here’s a few so I can calm down from the excitement of sharing. 😊
Here are three photos sharing the adult Reddish Egret’s beautiful coloring and feather displays.
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Reddish Egret (adult)
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Reddish Egret (adult)
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Reddish Egret (adult)
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And here’s one of my photos of the juvenile Reddish Egret.
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Reddish Egret (immature/juvenile)
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Would you believe I was still walking on Cloud 9 at the grocery store?!
On the way back, I saw another awesome sighting of another bird species I’ve yet to share this winter from Florida. Next post!
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Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Chasing Breakfast
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One of the recent mornings I looked for the Cape May Warbler at the Everglades NP Gulf Coast Visitor’s Center, another welcomed treat was a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in one of the two Sweet Acacia trees.
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Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
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The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was hunting for insects on branches full of thorns. Look at those intense focuses!
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Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
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Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
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The bugs are fast, and so isn’t the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher!
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Blue-gray Gnatcatcher sees that bug! Do you see it?
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Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
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I love the bonus of flowers and berries in images of birds! 🙂
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Ibis – White and Glossy Comparison
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Two of the three Ibis species in North America are seen in Florida, the White Ibis and the Glossy Ibis.
Many times the common White Ibis roam in small flocks and can be very easy to find, including residential communities.
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White Ibis (adults)
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White Ibis (adult) in a strand
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During their first winter, a White Ibis is actually brown above and white below with a streaky brown neck. As they molt into adult plumage, immatures (first summer birds) are splotchy brown and white above as they molt into their white adult plumage.
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Lone White Ibis (juvenile) visiting our campsite
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White Ibis (immature molting into adult plumage)
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White Ibis (adult)
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Not too easy a sighting is the Glossy Ibis, let alone finding several together at a time. And it is the one of these two Ibis that birders get excited on finding. They are very skittish and remain in hiding most of the time in remote locations.
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Glossy Ibis
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The plumage appears dark, almost blackish, at a distance or in poor light.
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Glossy Ibis
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At close range and with the lighting hitting just right, you’ll find much of the body is maroonish, with the wing coverts showing metallic green, bronze, and violet tones. During breeding season, all these colors become much more vibrant.
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Glossy Ibis
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The next shot was definitely a right place right time moment for me and two other bird photographers when it came around the mangroves and in front of us 100′ away. As soon as it saw us, the Glossy Ibis quickly disappeared back into the mangrove root thicket out of sight for good.
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Glossy Ibis
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I couldn’t wait to check the series of that last shot to see if I lucked out and didn’t mess up a sweet encounter!
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Five On The Wing – #2
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Continuing with my new series of sharing five birds in flight, here are five birds that have some of the largest wingspans in Florida.
They are in order of the smaller to the larger in wingspan, along with their approximate wingspan measurement.
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Wood Stork – 59-71 inches (150-180 cm)
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Osprey – 59-71 inches (150-180 cm)
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Great Blue Heron – 66-79 inches (168-200 cm)
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Brown Pelican – 78-90 inches (198-228 cm)
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American White Pelican – 95-120 inches (241-304 cm)
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Shhhhh……here’s a bonus sixth photo, another one of the Brown Pelican above. That Brown Pelican was coming straight at me on the dock, to get as close as it could to land next to the fishing table, where a guy was standing with equipment, waiting for incoming boat. I just loved the wingspan partially closed.
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Brown Pelican coming in for a dock landing
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More to come in another later Five On The Wing series post!
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Busy, Busy Ruby-throated Hummingbirds
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It’s been about three weeks since I shared the female Ruby-throated Hummingbird enjoying her winter so far in the Hong Kong Orchid trees along The Broadway in Everglades City.
She is still here to my delight, and I hope yours!
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Ruby-throated Hummingbird (female)
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“Peek-A-Boo”
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (female)
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“Nailing the Back-Arch Competition”
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (female)
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I overexposed this next image but loved the overall bird framing. So I tried my hand at a black and white process, then with two crops. I couldn’t decide which I loved better so I’m sharing both.
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Ruby-throated Hummingbird (female)
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Ruby-throated Hummingbird (female)
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By golly, we’ve got great news! This pretty gal now has a male friend who is also hanging around the same orchid trees.
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Ruby-throated Hummingbird (male)
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Ruby-throated Hummingbird (male)
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Ruby-throated Hummingbird (male)
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“Look Ma, No Wings”
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (male)
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“Going In For The Prize”
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (male)
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Maybe there’s more to this winter meet-up between this pair! hehe 😉
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Male Red-bellied Woodpeckers Collecting Berries
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The palm tree berries in Everglades City are ready for the picking, and the male Red-bellied Woodpeckers are collecting them as fast as they can, then stashing them in tree trunk crevices and holes for later consumption for him, the Mrs, and soon to be babies.
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Red-bellied Woodpecker (male) collecting berries
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Red-bellied Woodpecker (male) collecting berries
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Red-bellied Woodpecker on a palm tree trunk peppered with
holes they create to suck out tree sap and also use for food storage
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Red-bellied Woodpecker (male) delivering a berry to the nest
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“A Brief Break”
Male Red-bellied Woodpecker
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These are taken along “The Broadway” where there are lots of Red-bellies and lots of berries. Needless to say, this is pretty awesome entertainment to watch and have fun trying to photograph! 😃
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Chasing Yellow
For the second day in a row, I received an e-Bird rare bird alert for a Cape May Warbler seen at the Everglades NP Gulf Coast Visitor Center, just two miles from me. A bird I’ve not captured, I decided to go see if I could find it. Heck, maybe someone else was there and could make it easy and show me!
The Cape May Warbler has a mossy green back, tiger-striped breast, chestnut cheek patch, and yellow underparts.
Well….no one else was there looking for it. And none of the Park Rangers set up in the outside tent for services were aware of it. (They are now, lol.)
So I watched the trees and walked the small nature trail, looking for a flash of yellow.
No luck with the Cape May Warbler. But that plan of mine to look for a flash of yellow paid off with two other yellow birds!
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Prairie Warbler
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Great Crested Flycatcher
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The Great Crested Flycatcher was flying back and forth from the tree to the ground, catching insects. I lucked out with one “on the ground” shot.
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Great Crested Flycatcher
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It was still a lucky, chasing yellow morning!
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Anhinga Perches on a Car
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I passed a female Anhinga perched on a branch within a mangrove.
Being very shy and skittish, I was shocked when she flew out of the mangrove, pass me, and then land before me on a car parked alongside the pond of water. 😲
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Anhinga (female) lands on a car
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With a leary eye on me, the female Anhinga then preceded to spread and dry her wings.
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“Excuse me please, while I dry off!”
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I’m very glad to say, it wasn’t my car! 😉
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Great Blue Heron in the Mangroves
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This Great Blue Heron was moving slowly through the dark waters, looking for fish at the roots within the shaded mangroves. A couple times s/he came into an opening where natural lighting filtered through, giving me two wonderful image opportunities.
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Great Blue Heron
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Great Blue Heron
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A Tricolored Heron’s Two Profiles
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I came upon this gorgeous Tricolored Heron standing in some cool spikey-looking grass.
A watchful red eye was already on me.
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Tricolored Heron – Profile #1
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After a couple photos, I did a slow, wide walk around the heron without looking it. When I got to a certain spot, I slowly turned around with my camera already raised and took the next photo.
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Tricolored Heron – Profile #2
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Hehe, is someone flirting with me? 😉
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