Gulf breeze

TIERRA VERDE, FL - - This Double-crested Cormorant apparently couldn't decide whether to go back to work fishing or hang out on North Beach at Fort De Soto and catch the breeze.

Heron watch

TIERRA VERDE, FL - - Nothing beats searching and finding special shots out in the 'bush' of Fort De Soto. This Great Blue Heron was hiding way up in an Australian Pine. His spot was so good he was constantly making noise about it and, by walking around enough, I was able to spot the rascal.

Construction work

TERRE VERDE, FL - - It's construction time in the Heron household. In the top picture Mr. Heron is looking for building logs (twigs) while Mrs. Heron tends to the construction. Check out Lydia's blog (link below) for the rest of the story and her photos. We were very lucky to stumble upon these two working in a part of Fort DeSoto County Park where we are camping.

SEASONS GREETINGS

Happy Holidays to all

Reflections

DE LEON SPRINGS, FL

Could be a long winter

DE LEON SPRINGS, FL - - We returned to De Leon Springs today to see if we could catch some more action. The Immature Blue Heron I posted last week was there again. This time I noticed something different which may curtail this bird growing to a ripe old age. Note in the top picture that the bird is favoring a limp right leg.

In the photo below you can see that he also has a problem with keeping the leg alongside the other to streamline his flying. A problem like this could make it hard to hunt and, maybe, give other birds the opening to steal his food.

Will swim for pennies

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - These coy koi were spotted in a store front fish pond in
Fernandina Beach. These guys would not fit in a normal fishbowl.

Tough times

NEWS FLASH - - It appears santa's sleigh and eight reindeer have been forclosed upon. St. Nick has been photographed spreading cheer from a three-wheeled bicycle. This could make his trip on Christmas Eve a lot longer. Note: The PS sticker on the seat is the Polar Express logo. CHEERS.

Youngster stalking snacks

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - This youngster we encountered at De Leon Springs could easily cause a case of mistaken identity. What might look like a Snowy Egret on first glance is really an immature (young) Little Blue Heron. You can't seem them, but this guy has legs as green as the wetland area leaves he's stalking through. Once he gets older the plumage turns a darkish blue and the legs get more of a gray hue to them.

De Leon Springs

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Today we checked out De Leon Springs State Park. It was a bit overcast, but a large cast of characters was on hand to get their pictures takes. This has got to be the fattest turtle I've ever seen of the non-snapping turtle type. Think for a moment aboutA how he/she got up on this dead log...and check out the big feet. Yes, the pic is a bit 'soft.'
This double-crested cormorant had just taken off after landing a bit too close to the alligator giving us the evil-eye (below).

Soaring

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - This Brown Pelican was gliding on the wind above the Halifax River looking for 'snacks.' These birds have the ability to hover at up to 50' above the water before dive-bombing their unsuspecting prey.

Terns in the wind

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - These Terns were getting buffeted by the wind on a stretch of beach in Ponce Inlet, an area about 12 miles south of where we live. The group includes Royal Terns (orange bill) and Forster's Terns (black eye patch and black bill). The largest portion of the group belong to the "I'm hiding my face and bill in my feathers so you can't tell who/what I am" section of the Tern family.

Manatee or Momatee??

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - We took a trip to Blue Springs State Park near Orange City yesterday. When the weather turns cooler in the area where we live lots of West Indian manatees 'living' here head for Blue Springs. The natural aquafer flows at a steady 72-degrees...a bit cool for humans but like a hot tub for the manatees. These floating/swimming masses of blubber (above, with friends in the clear water) send out some signal and the race is on. Yesterday's unofficial count: 166 including twins among the 11 newborn calves on hand. "How do you know there are twins?" I asked. "There are two of them closely following one of the females instead of the usual one,' was the answer. Highly scientific thinking, that.

Here's looking at ya!

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Oh, yeah...I'm cool.

Car Show

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Last Saturday it was kayak races, this Saturday our nearby river park was host to a car show. The 51st Gaslight Parade Antique Car Show is a yearly tradition as owners of antique cars, custom cars and hot rods descend on our area for the annual Thanksgiving Weekend blow-out. There are parades, car shows, swap plus sell meets and plenty of informal gatherings which draw a cross generational crowd of car fans to show off their idea of 'the good old days.'

The picture above shows only a small amount of the cars on display at Fortunato Park on the Halifax. The stake-bed truck is a 1925 Ford. The oldest car in the photo is a 1911 Ford.

Time to eat

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - So, where did you eatThanksgiving Dinner?? You can't beat the atmosphere of a sunny day on the river and one of our local (relatively close by to OB) eateries. Of course, if you go to a place which serves fish 364 days a year and they say that the turkey dinner was specially cooked....order fish. We didn't but still enjoyed our time there.

Now, it you happen to be an osprey then crunching on a fresh caught sheepshead is as good as it gets. For the backstory on the bird and the fish click on the link to Lydia's blog for the info and more osprey pics.

Now the 'Cats' are racing

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Wednesday must have been catamaran day on the Halifax River. They were all heading south for the winter. The two 'cats' above led the 'cat' and the 'stubbie' below. The 'stubbie' (below below) was named "Fabulous 39" and was out of Annapolis, MD. Since neither Lydia or I fish, boat watching and seabird shooting, along with a cute swamp bunny or two, takes up a lot of our time.

Slow times

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - You know things are slow when you start posting 'cute' pics like the swamp bunny above. The Snowy Egret (below) spent plenty of time posing while the wind ruffled his/her feathers.

Speedy Happenings

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Here's how some folks spent their morning on the Saturday before Turkey Day...competing in the Pilgrim Paddle, a kayak race on the Halifax River. The stats at the 9am start: 60-degrees air temp with the water about the same and headed directly into a 15mph headwind.

Competition is in the air where we live as the history marker below attests to. This marker and three others are located at the Ormond Beach approach where the racers first entered onto the sand. The competition on the sands of Ormond and Daytona beach spawned another famous entity - - Daytona International Speedway, known as The World Center of Racing.
There are times when packing up and heading out with our SLRs is a bit much. These pics were taken with a Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS. I resisted the point-and-shoot for a long time, but the quality of the photos (8 megapixels) and the ease of having something small to stick in your pocket finally got to me. Lydia's Canon PowerShot S500 (5 megapixels) served her well for the past four summers and, when it finally broke down, she got the SD1100 IS as a replacement. I soon followed suit.

Endeavour, away

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - The space shuttle Endeavour blasted off from Cape Canaveral tonight. The trajectory of the flight path takes it (or at least it looks like it) right past our home in OB. Better yet, we have a park with a walkway out into the Halifax River just a block away where the angle for shuttle launch photos is pretty good. Lots of folks came out to, literally, cheer the Endeavour on.

Herons on gray day

ORMOND BEACH, FL - -It was overcast and pretty gray when we went out for our daily bird scouting walk. We spotted these two herons near private docks on our way to the riverside park nearby.

This Great Blue Heron posed in his best one-legged, punk rocker mode (above) and a more "I'm king of the hill/dock" (below).
The Blue Heron (below) was surprised by the waves from a passing boat's wake.

Fall colors

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Hibiscus and marigolds brighten up our area this fall.

Back to MINWR

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - The question wasn't "if" but "when" we would make back to Merritt Island National Wildlife Reserve. Trip one of our 2008-09 winter sojourn from OB was today...early today, like we were at Haulover Canal at 6:45am in time for sunrise. The clouds cooperated and so did a trio of dolphins seen in the middle of the pic.
I'm not sure if the water was really that cold, but the Great Egret (above, with black feet) and the Snowy Egret (below, with yellow feet) appear to afraid of getting wet. Actually, the Great is landing gracefully and the Snowy is taking off after dipping into the water from his perch on a nearby limb.

Quick Trip

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - I took a quick trip to Poughkeepsie, NY, this week to visit family and encountered some interesting things up there in the Northeast....like the 'devil squirrel,' above
A moose and a windmill.
Some folks who were very exhausted from watching election night coverage.
And some very colorful leaves on this Japanese Maple??

I've got my eye on you!

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - This majestic fellow has been hanging out in his 'special' vantage spot for a couple of years.

More Old Friends

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - First, a correction to yesterday's blog: the birds pictured are sand pipers, not skimmers. On Sunday, the flights of brown pelicans were quite numerous. Above, the leader and below, the followers.
Of course, if you are out walking on the beach you are sure to come across seashells. In some areas, the tides washed up more than in others.

We run into some friends at the beach

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Early Sunday morning we packed the cameras and headed out...to the beach. The beach is just over one mile from our house, but that parking area was full of vehicles from the surf crowd. One mile up the beach we found an almost empty parking area. There were three folks watching the sunrise. One, who was wielding a long lens, tipped us to wait a few minutes and the birds would arrive.

First up were The Three Skimmers: Moe, Larry and Curley. Below: A Snowy Egret wades in the outgoing surf...and forgets there's an incoming wave. Surprise!!

More Retro, circa 2005

Some days and places were just made for hiking. (Yoho National Park near Field, British Columbia, Canada). And the folks? you meet on the trail are quite friendly. (Hoary Marmot, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada). Both shots are from a trip we took in 2005.