ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Nest building is a joint project for this Blue Heron family in the Viera Wetlands. The female does the placement and weaving of the twigs and the male finds all the building supplies. He also takes orders on when to 'get his wings in motion and stop standing around.' (I know I chopped off a bit of his bill, but I felt that the clarity and sharpness negated a little bit of bill.)
ORMOND BEACH, FL - - One of our favorite 'birding' locations is the Viera Wetlands area about 85 miles south of OB. Not quite sure what this Northern Shoveler (a member of the duck family) was shoveling, but he sure got his bill mucky. Then there was this Snowy Egret in breeding plumeage facing a stiff breeze and the Little Blue Heron (at bottom) who posed in water plants.
ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Last week I took a trip 'home' to Poughkeepsie, NY to visit. Naturally, the weather cooperated - - three snow storms in 4 days. The above early morning scene is from Friday's storm which dropped another five-inches on top of the base snow/frozen slush from previous days. To change things around a bit, I took the train (Amtrack's Silver Meteor) from DeLand to NYC's Penn Station with a connection onward. It was an interesting 20-hour trip from DeLand to Penn Station each way. So, how do you beat terminal boredom - - an Ipod with enough tunes to not play the same song twice...counting trips both ways - - and a Kindle e-reader with a couple of recently downloaded new novels. The trip price was right with my 'geezer' discount and I'd do it again.
ORMOND BEACH, FL - - The cooler weather in OB brings out the 'keep warm' styles of the Queen and the Princess. The Queen prefers the coiled up and tuck everything in mode while Princess has her radar tuned in on the arrival of warm laundry. 
ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Stockbridge, MA, is a quaint New England community known for (formerly) Alice's Restaurant where "you can get anything you want" as Arlo Guthrie sang; a museum dedicated to Norman Rockwell and his uniquely all American art style and natures art in the form of ice and snow covered branches. The snow covered trees are in color....or lack there of.
DE LEON SPRINGS, FL - - There was an abundance of Great Blue Heron activity at Lake Woodruff NWR this morning. We found them hiding in plain sight; taking off and landing or on alert facing into the 15mph-plus breeze blowing.
DE LEON SPRINGS, FL - - Early Monday morning at Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Reserve proved to be quite entertaining although we had to wait awhile before the action started. There was a red-shouldered hawk who kept flying ahead of us once we got close until tiring of the game. The black vultures hanging out at Woodruff are ugly, no way around it. Although when lucky you can get an interesting picture.
