Colors at the Farm

Pretty boy.  Male cattle egret styling in breeding colors

Mrs.cattle egret  gets to sit on the eggs

Scarlet macaw

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Thursday was a bright, sunny day so  naturally it was head to the Alligator Farm to check out the latest "family"  happenings. 
     The cattle egrets were making a showing. They are sort of dull most of the time but with breeding plumage and  colors they get to show off a bit.
     In another part of the park the sun was just right on a scarlet macaw who had no problem posing.
     

Fight time

Fighting for nesting space

Fighting...

...for...

...food

The battle to stay sane

Is this really my family??

The calm before:  "We're hungry mama"

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - The rookery at the Alligator Farm is in full madhouse mode.  Great egret couples are building nests while competing with lots of other egrets for prime space...wood storks are hard at work...and any bird which doesn't want to build will try to take over already built nests.  There are nests with eggs and nests with newly hatched little fuzzy inhabitants. 
  And in the case of the roseate spoonbill (above) a trio of hungry youngsters to take care of.  It's interesting to watch the activity until (as always) one hour after we've arrived.  Then, the AF is invaded by large groups of loud youngsters on a school tour.
     NOTE:  Check out the two previous blog posts

Round One!

Take no prisoners

And you thought we were fighting

Brave or foolish??

This guy could be in the wrong neighborhood....ya think??

Dew on the orange lily

No travel needed.  Just walk into the back yard.  Early morning dew on an orange lily.

Anyone know a good pick-up line???

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - These male snowy egrets with breeding plumage look pretty sharp because they are all on the look out for mrs. right.  The ladies have the upper hand (wing) and not any male will do as these would-be casanovas can attest. 
     It's breeding time at the Alligator Farm for the snowy egrets and wood storks and ibis and roseate spoonbills.  Some are sitting on nests others are still building a home for the family while others are waiting for a chance to get a nest without building it.
     So why do we keeps going back to the AF every two weeks or so??  For about another two months we are guaranteed birds, birds and more birds. 

Early morning at Viera Wetlands

American bittern

Rocky the racoon

Anhinga feeding time

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - 7am at Viera Wetlands and its breakfast time for plenty of the park's critters.  An American bittern was hiding in a swampy grass area waiting for a tasty morsel to fly by.  A racoon was searching the weeds at the waters edge for nests, eggs and anything else edible.  Meanwhile, the anhinga family was in an uproar waiting for mom to feed them.
     See the next post on how a great blue heron family is building a home.

Hard worker

It's nest building time...

...for the great blue herons in Viera Wetlands...

...and there's little rest for the male partner

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - A lot of the regular nesting palms in Viera Wetlands have been battered by last year's hurricanes and natures ways.  Still, there are trees where the birds are nest building.  It's pretty simple:  Mama is the construction fore-person and Dad is in charge of building materials.  The heron in photos 1-2  would land with his contribution; Mama would flap her wings (probably saying 'nice try now go get more') and the dejected male would be off again.
     Click on the photos for a larger format.
 

A gathering of herons at the Alligator Farm

This tricolor heron hung out on the alligator food dispencer.

Black heron doing his best not to crash.

The gang: one yellow-crowned heron and three black-crowned cousins.

This yellow-crowned NH looks like he belongs in a cartoon

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - We counted 12 herons hanging out at the Alligator Farm.  On a good day we might see three-four.  A dozen is a bonanza.  The cartoonish looking character in the bottom photo perched very close to us on two occasions...maybe he was looking for more company.

Looking for 'little green men'

Can you spot the alien?

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Roswell, New Mexico, is full of aliens..flying saucers hover .and there are alien trinkets, alien burgers at the local burger king, alien bar drinks and an alien research center.  We were on our way West in early 2010 to jobs in Yosemite NP when I figured a stop in Roswell (for 'historical' purposes) would be good.  The neat green t-shirt in the visitor center with a big alien character on it would be a 7 year old collectors item now if Lydia hadn't hustled me away from all the neat designs.
     The back story.  In July, 1947,  an object resembling a disc crashed outside Roswell.  The Air Force said it was a weather balloon.  Locals said it was a flying saucer.  And the legend of green men - -true or not - - started.

Old friends, new poses

Roseate spoonbill reflections

This ring-tailed lemur likes to warm both sides

The wood duck armada or synchronized swimming

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Lots of the same old characters at the Alligator Farm on Thursday.  More pics in previous blog.

Great white egret landing styles in B&W

Landing on a thin limb...

...or a bunch of them...

...takes plenty of spot on finesse

Traffic control

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Thursday, Feb.1, at the Alligator Farm

Ride this train

The train between Durango and Silverton, CO

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - It's May 4, 2010 and we're on the (tourist) train running between Durango and Silverton, CO.  This is another entry in the "How we get photos" primer.  We're slowly chugging along from 6,512' (Durango) toward Silverton at 9,318'.  You might think there ought to be snow in Silverton.  You're right.  The ride went a bit over half way; stopped (for a lunch break) and we rolled back downhill.

Viera 1/25

Sandhill cranes

Black ibis on a breakfast stroll

VIERA, FL - - Two more less frequent visitors popped up on our Thursday morning visit to Viera Wetlands.  See previous post for the rest of the story...and more feathered friends.

Viera Wetlands 1/24

Shhh, I'm hiding.  Stealth Limpkin

Female anhinga shows off

Can turtles get a suntan?  They try

VIERA, FL - - It's the weekend of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival.  So we headed south on Wednesday mainly to beat the bird photography tours which run to our most favorite areas.  We've noticed over the past few years there have been fewer and fewer birds making an annual stopover on their way to their summer homes.  So far this year has proved no different.

River rest area

American white pelicans hanging out

This hooded merganser also shower up

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Sometimes the birds you've been looking for show up literally in your backyard.  OK so maybe a block away.  We live one block from the Halifax river and while we have flocks of seagulls and lots of brown pelicans plus egrets and herons we don't see much more variety.  So imagine my surprise on a late morning (Tuesday) walk when I spotted a huge (for white pelicans) group of about 30 on a mid-river gravel bar.  And then a merganser popped up.
     The pelicans were spread out in groups and the merganser was alone.  They were still there after I hustled back to the house for my camera and a long lens. In bird photography we've found you can be good, but being lucky helps out a whole lot.

Cold storage

Braving the chill to get the news

The roseate spoonbills played 'hide the bill'

The lights (a heat lamp) were on in the lemur home

The black-crowned night heron had nowhere to go

The ibis seek food in any whether

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - It was sunny and breezy on Saturday in OB when we set out for the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine  And it was overcast and breezier when we arrived.  50-degrees with a 10mph wind cuts right through.  Consequently, nearly all the attraction's residents were trying to keep warm.
     The big and very slow moving Galapagos tortoise were hustled into sheltered quarters.  The information sign began with "Brrrrr...
     Other residents scrunched up and looked like one-legged feather lumps or had the keepers place heat lamps in their exhibit shelters.  Some, who call Florida, etc. 'home' just waited for warmer weather.

The breakfast watch

Just hanging out

I'm leaving

Checking out a new location

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Although the cold and windy conditions of the past few days hasn't been conducive to finding many of our local feathered friends, Sunday morning was got lucky. 
     The eagles are back.  Recent hurricanes had trashed their home of the past few years but today we spotted and adult white head at the edge of a newly fabricated nest on the old location. 
     Sunrise Park has also been way, way down on birds which we normally see at this time of year.  However, a great blue heron and a little blue heron decided to hang out near each other with each looking in a different direction - - probably not to acknowledge each other.  After a while great blue winged off for a destination up river.  The little guy decided he would also try his luck elsewhere, but didn't go far.