Florida is a glorious place to live if you are a nature lover! Florida has nearly 30 National Wildlife Refuges, many, many nature preserves, and countless parks.I’ve developed a special fondness for all the signs posted throughout these beautiful wild spaces. This yellow one above is one of my favorites ;-DSometimes, signs are posted at specific […]
I almost missed this beautiful Barn Owl . . . Just before we turned around to head out of the preserve before sundown, there he was overhead. What a special moment!
Osprey are so unique that they are are no longer considered to be one of the fish hawks, but rather their own distinct family (https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/osprey). We spied this Osprey sitting atop a dead tree and couldn’t resist stopping to watch him as he preened, fluffed himself up, and whistled – but he never left his perch. Osprey were […]
Although their range covers almost the entire southern half of North America, I had never seen a Loggerhead Shrike before last spring. Over the past two weeks, though, they seemed to be everywhere, sitting atop scrubby perches, surveying the landscape for some tasty prey. Also known as ‘Butcher Birds‘, Loggerhead Shrikes are unusual in that they […]
A graceful Cormorant luxuriates in the morning by the waters’ edge. . .
Green Herons are such characters, so fun to photograph! I decided to write this post in honor of my husband’s really cool Green Heron captures this week. He snapped the featured photo above of a heron peering out intently across the pond. . . When all of a sudden, his new Green Heron friend started […]
My goal this year is to learn more about the very small birds that come to our wetlands. Some, like the male Painted Bunting above at the preserve’s feeder, are easy – his brilliant multi-colored feathers are so distinctive that he’s hard to miss. The Ovenbird, the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and the Black & White Warbler were three new, distinctive little […]
Blue Jays are so common throughout the eastern and central United States and southern Canada that I tend to forget that not everyone is familiar with them. The Audubon site is a rich source of information about the history, behavior, and many varied calls of this showy and raucous bird. Blue Jays are known to be […]
Did you ever have one of those moments when something happens so quickly that you have no idea what settings you have on your camera – you just point and shoot?Well, this morning, I was chatting with some folks about a Wood Stork in the pond, when all of a sudden I spotted this Great […]
The mornings and evenings are a bit cooler and less humid these days, and some migrating birds have arrived in our area. But the wetland birds’ courting and breeding season that brings so many visitors has really not yet begun. Lots of marsh plants are still in bloom, including these delicate Fireflags dangling over the ponds, and […]
