Wood Stork
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I find a unique beauty to this unusual, prehistoric-looking bird, the Wood Stork.
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Wood Stork foraging
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Wood Stork
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Wood Stork, foraging
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Not sure what the commotion was in the water, but there was a sudden, quick take-off while foraging.
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Wood Stork in flight
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Maybe it was the alligator I had spotted here earlier, who seemed to be eyeing a Snowy Egret at that time.
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Toothy Alligator eyeing Snowy Egret
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No worries for the little egret, I watched that scene play out, the Snowy walked away safely. 🙂
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Twisting Beauty
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Florida becomes a birder’s paradise as the migrations arrive to spend their winters here or pass through to go even further south. It’s been exciting the past couple weeks to see all the herons, egrets, storks, pelicans, and more!
I’m excited to share this series. It’s one of those shoots we dream of with bird photography….capturing one preening its feathers.
When I saw this stunning Tricolored Heron grooming at the top of a tree, my adrenaline started pumping. I quickly forgot what I was focused on, as it was all about the heron now.
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Tricolored Heron preening….
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One feather at a time….
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Each one to its full length….
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Quick check on surroundings….
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Back to preening….
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Of course, eventually I was ‘made’…..
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Tricolored Heron
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That was my sign. After that last photo, I bid adieu with a huge thank you to the heron, s/he made my day! After walking away, I looked back and was happy to see the heron continuing it’s late morning grooming.
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Things That Fly…..Or Not
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Finishing up Alabama with this post, so I can get to what I’ve been shooting in Florida in the next one. 🙂
Having less than a week in Alabama and then skedaddling out of there for an impending hurricane, I didn’t get much of a chance to explore for birds except from our camp site.
When we ventured out, we were on our bikes exploring Gulf State Park’s 28-mile complex pavement and boardwalk bike/pedestrian paths connected to our camp resort. Hard to photograph a bird going 5-6 mph!
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Gulf State Park paths
Gulf State Park paths
Gulf State Park paths
One path takes you to the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf State Park paths
Gulf State Park paths
Gulf State Park paths
Gulf State Park, Alabama
28 miles of entwining paths through 7 distinctive ecosystems
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I only carried my wide angle camera on the bike trips. Stopped one instance to wait for hubby and saw a Rough Green snake in the tree next to me. This is a heavy crop; I was standing back, way back!
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Rough Green snake (look for neon green ‘rope’)
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I came to a sudden stop when this Ribbon snake was laying across our bike path.
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Ribbon snake
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One other snake seen but no photo. More than gators to watch out for, huh?!! 😲
And now my ‘things that fly’ photos. There was an Osprey nearby, loved hearing it call out every day from the air or a tower, warning fly-bys to stay away.
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Osprey chasing below Bald Eagle away
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Immature Bald Eagle staying ahead of the Osprey
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Gulf Fritillary
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Killdeer
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Great Egret
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Osprey at Sunset
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Dragonfly in Flight
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This Common Green Darner kept buzzing around me, then it would hover about six feet from me. Then take off and come right back and hover.
Too tempting! Yes, I spent several minutes trying to photograph it. Out of oh-so many, I scored five photos of this large 3-5″ dragonfly.
I’m sharing all five, showing the different displays of its wings caught in the shots. Pretty cool!
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Hovering Green Darner (male) #01
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Hovering Green Darner (male) #02
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Hovering Green Darner (male) #03
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Hovering Green Darner (male) #04
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Hovering Green Darner (male) #05
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Perfect Pond Perch
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Give me a perfect perch at my site, and I am one happy camper!
Not only did I have a beautiful Great Blue Heron buddy visiting alongside me daily, there were other things to watch in the water and overhead.
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Of course, alligators lived in the pond. The camp host told me they had three alligators. After my week there, I know there were at least four.
When I hung out on the pier for any length of time, at least one of the gators would appear off in the distance and swim over to pass by me or literally stop and just stare at me.
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The pond was also stocked with five species of fish, for anyone’s fishing pleasure.
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Not sure what species, but it’s about 2 feet long
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And then there was this one creature that I spotted. It didn’t surface any more than shown in my photos below.
From the eyes to the end of its snout was about six inches long.
It wasn’t a gator. Was it a snake or turtle? A creature washed inland from the Gulf of Mexico during one of the previous recent hurricanes?
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Well, I knew one thing, it bugged me not knowing. So I contacted an Alabama reptile facebook page that helped with IDs.
No creature from the depths.
No snake, no gator.
Just one very big softshell turtle.
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Softshell Turtle
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The photo was a hit on their facebook page with the odd-looking photo, confirmations galore on ID, as well as guesses joking that it was a baby hippo.
Baby hippo? I see that! 😉
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Great Blue Buddy
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My last post of a sunset and cloud reflections also shared my daily late afternoon/evening visitor, a Great Blue Heron, hanging at the pond alongside our little fishing pier perch.
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My Great Blue Heron Buddy
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Foraging the water, snatching a frog
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“Look quick, take a photo!”
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“GULP”
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Boy, s/he really didn’t give me much time before the gulps! 😉
Golden hour shots…….
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Great Blue Heron at Golden Hour
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We both kept our eye out for the alligators hiding in the waters around us.
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Here he comes……
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King of the Pond
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“I see you, Mr Alligator”
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As the sun went down each evening, the barrage of bugs eventually forced me inside. I hoped my buddy continued to keep track of those alligators before leaving for its night’s sleeping grounds!
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Cloud Reflections
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Talk about arriving to an awesome RV site in Orange Beach, Alabama. Ours included a fishing pier over a small pond where I had the perfect perch with my camera.
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I know, ridiculous….but cool!
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One evening’s sunset afforded a spectacular light-up and reflection of the eastern clouds high in the sky.
Notice, if you will, someone else enjoying this view alongside me on my perch.
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Final minutes before sunset, Great Blue Heron
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seven minutes later, the sunset
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five more minutes
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seven more minutes
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Although we were to stay at this RV resort for several weeks, on our 5th day we had to pack back up and hit the road, to get out of the path of category 2 Hurricane Zeta. I have a few posts forthcoming to share from Alabama, and I still miss that fishing balcony perch!
Having relocated a week now in Port Charlotte, Florida, wouldn’t you know it, today we were issued the warning for Tropical Storm Eta. Because of its unpredictable wide cone path, we decided to stay put 15 miles inland and ride it out instead of trying to outrun and predict what it will do. Hoping we made the right decision.
Lesson learned for sure. No more scheduled coastal camping in the fall in the U.S. southeast!
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Great Blue Heron
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I headed down a dirt road trail on Bodie Island for the first time and passed an oncomin in tow. “Not much back there, just a Great Blue.”
I was okay with that. I hadn’t seen any Great Blue Herons except at a distance since arriving at the Outer Banks.
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A distant Great Blue Heron and Great Egret at Pea Island NWR
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So I continued on to the end, and there it was.
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Great Blue Heron fishing
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A fish strike is a miss…..
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And then I was spotted.
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Great Blue Heron closeup
Great Blue Heron on alert
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And with those last two shots, I gave a nice thank you and left, letting the heron get back to its peaceful fishing.
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A Willing Willet
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I had a fun time with this Willet as it ran the water’s edge, hunting for a crustacean in the wet sand to eat.
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“Willet On The Run”
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“Run Willet Run”
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“My Shadow”
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“Long Legs and Long Toes”
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“Smiling for the Camera”
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“Crustacean Down the Hatch”
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“A Perfect Pose”
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Always rewarding when you have a willing Willet performing a photo shoot!
Cool fact: Although both parents incubate the eggs, only the male Willet spends the night on the nest.
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Reflecting Pond At Golden Hour
This pond reflection was shot during the morning’s golden hour along Cape Hatteras National Seashore last month.
Sharing it in two compositions from two photos. 😊
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Morning’s Golden Hour
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Morning’s Golden Hour
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