Watch and wait

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - This is the same Osprey nest in Central Park as in last week's blog...but both parents were at home today. From the intensity of the watching maybe they think babies are delivered by the stork.

Still Life...with fishermen and wood stork

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Today's trip took us to Lake Woodruff, but the area was closed for a controlled brush burn. So, we wandered around and ended up outside De Land at a park on the St. John's river. People were fishing. You can tell how much action there was because the fisherman in the bottom photo is talking to the inquisitive wood stork.

Osprey art

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - This Osprey is heading home to the nest he/she is building. We noticed this bird last week but the sky was either gray or the light was bad. Today, the sky was blue and the light quite good. Still, I liked this action shot better than a number of 'static' ones on the nest even though I clipped off part of a wing.

The eyes have it

VIERA, FL - - An Anhinga showing breeding color around the eye(s) at Viera Wetlands.

Viera Wetlands color

VIERA, FL - - The Red Shouldered Hawk (above) and the Glossy Ibis (below) took advantage of the morning sun to show off their colors.

Renovations to the nest

VIERA, FL - - We found this pair of Great Blue Herons nest building a couple of weeks ago at Viera Wetlands. They have finished the nest and 'mom' has settled in....but would like a few renovations so 'dad' is still out fetching twigs and vines to finish the job.

Early morning at Lake Woodruff

De Leon Springs, FL - - Another morning at Lake Woodruff NWR. It was 30-degrees when we arrived, but the gang was all there. Otters were giving us the 'tail' when we tried to take photos; the buzzards tried to get picturesque; a red shouldered hawk gave us the 'cold' shoulder and there was some early mist to make things seem soft and fuzzy.

Off I go, now I'm back

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.)

Just ducky

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.

Trip time

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.

Cool kitties keep warm

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.

Nostalgia in the snow

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.

3 Herons

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.

Wrestle-mania

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.

And then there was the mud wrestling show...which didn't phase this egret's breakfast stroll. The two otters in the fore ground put on quite a long show...she was not happy with his advances; he wasn't giving up.

Central Park breakfast

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - This tri-color heron was more intent on finding breakfast than expanding the energy to fly away. He (or she) had just pulled back from stabbing at something with water droplets still in the air. (Click on the photo for a larger copy) Central Park, a wetlands area with three bodies of water inter connected by walking trails, is a favorite haunt for our birding expeditions. Sometimes we actually find something more exotic than regular egrets and herons.

A few more pics from our camping trip

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - The cold (for Florida) weather outside is a good excuse to look through the photos taken (and not posted) over our Christmas holiday camping visit to Fort De Soto. Sometimes simple is best as this greenery with sea shells decorating a stair railing in Pass-A-Grille shows. The feathered friends below include an elusive American Kestrel; a swooping sea gull and a cormorant (with freen eyes) drying his wings.

Don't laugh at my bill

TIERRA VERDE, FL - - Sure, having fancy pink feathers is pretty neat, but try scratching or feeding with a bill like mine. And it's not the most aerodynamic piece of equipment when you are flying. I think the other wading birds make fun of me. How would you like to be called 'spoonbill'??

Grouchy

"There won't b any holiday spirit if I don't get some shrimp real soon"....quoth the yellow-crowned night heron.

Tough love for Santa

TIERRA VERDE, FL - - This house in Pass-A-Grille apparently has plenty of Santa lovers....but they probably want him to work a bit to get into the chimney. The pelican wind vane got plenty of use during our time on the Gulf Coast as the wind never really stopped blowing.

Tampa Bay #2

TIERRA VERDE, FL - - OK, I did these posts backwards. Please read the previous post first and then things will make sense.

The Tampa Bay Pilots work with plenty of different ships and situations. There's the freighter (above)...big, but straightforward. And then there are boaters who either stray close to the shipping lane or run right across it in front of oncoming traffic as the individuals in the bottom photo. It probably wasn't as close as it looks in the photo...but then we weren't on this vessel trying to coax as much wind into the sail as possible.