You never know when you’ll be lucky enough to spot a Florida Scrub Jay. When I was at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge this afternoon, I hoped to catch a glimpse of one. Imagine my delight when two Scrub Jays appeared just as I walked along the trail. They entertained me for 10 minutes, flying […]
Category Archives: Birds
A Painting Bunting couple enjoying breakfast in the morning shade.
These charming little Atala caterpillars are part of a wonderful success story! The Atala butterfly was abundant in Florida in the late 1800’s, when its native host, the Coontie, was a prolific starchy food plant widely used by the Seminoles. With the arrival of settlers in the region, the Coontie eventually became severely over-harvested in […]
I never really thought of Anhingas as soft and cuddly . . . till I saw this one this morning 😌
When I tell visitors to our wetlands that this coy little bird is a Green Heron, they almost always ask why it’s called a Green Heron, since “it isn’t green”. Truthfully, until today, it always appeared quite grayish-blue, chestnut, and white to me, and in the shadows looked even darker. The Smithsonian Birds of Florida […]
This buff-colored juvenile Purple Gallinule with the wet head feathers is enjoying his freshwater environment of pickerelweed and other aquatic vegetation. He’s just beginning to show the Purple Gallinule‘s characteristic blue shield above his beak, and a faint bluish hue is beginning to appear in his wing feathers. Before long our young bird will begin […]
Anhingas are often seen diving into ponds and open water, as underwater fishing is their specialty. But this fellow looked a little awkward, leaning WAY over the railing, apparently peering at something tasty among these densely growing emergent plants in very shallow water. We frequently see Anhingas dive into open water, swim around, and then […]
Mid-August to mid-September hasn’t been much of a birding month for me this year. It’s been – and still is – very HOT 🥵 here in Southeast Florida, and the birds don’t seem to like it any more than the humans. But the Double-crested Cormorants are always out and about, no matter what the weather. […]
I remember the lovely morning back in early May when I saw these two fellows. But I lost track of them over the busy birding spring, and just re-discovered them today on a VERY HOT August afternoon 🥵. The sweet bird above is one of the many adorable Great Egret fledglings growing up in our […]
It’s summer in Florida, time for those adorable Black-bellied Whistling Ducklings. Last month I spotted the little fellows above huddling close to Mom (or Dad?) as s/he herded them toward the water. Last week we encountered lots of noisy adult Black-bellied Whistling Ducks circling loudly overhead, and hovering like sentinels as they landed on the […]
Birder's Journey 