Flight Time

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Yesterday afternoon the Yellow-crowned Night Herons were back in action despite the windy conditions.  Facing into the wind is fine if you can hold onto the rope railing on this pier.  When in doubt about strange people taking your picture, take flight...and show perfect form as you fly away.

Snake shake and fly away

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - The Yellow-crowned Night Herons are making an appearance in OB just when we thought they would bypass us this year.  This evening a short walk to our nearby fishing rewarded us with a 'food fight."
    This YCNH had captured a small snake.  The only problem was that he/she had is by the tail so it was harder to kill before consuming....unless you try beating it to death.  The furious activity alerted a nearby Snowy Egret who was a proponent of the "It is easier to steal a meal than find it' school of birding.  The egret stalked and the heron took off to save its meal.
    Go to Lydia's blog (see link) and then click on 'more pictures' which is he Flicker account for more  photos

Friendly, but wary, neighbor

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - This Siamese lives a few houses away with about 8 brothers and sisters...depending on the time of year. 

Back to Glacier NP

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Here's a view from my shuttle van at Logan Pass Visitor Center under blue skies and tall piles of snow on July 13, 2011.  We're headed back to the land of mountains and snow to work another summer as shuttle drivers on the Going to the Sun road in Glacier National Park.  They say this year's snow isn't as bad as last year.  We'll see. 
     We've started getting ready for the trip, but won't leave for a couple of weeks.  Stay tuned.

Duck tricks, Beach bunny & Squirrel tails

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Mr. Mallard can stick his bill in his armpit (wing pit?) and stand on one leg...can you?  The 'beach bunny' and this alert squirrel were waiting for breakfast to appear.  Obviously,  not a lot or action on this Sunday morning.

Ahoy!!

 ORMOND BEACH, FL - - There is a lot of traffic on the Halifax River in the Fall and Spring.  Folks heading to (or from) spending their winters in South Florida or maybe the Caribbean.  Sometimes,  the 'boat' is grand enough that you really wonder who owns it.
     In this case a Google search turned up some interesting info on the S.S. Sophie. This 80' Trumpy Motor Yacht was built in 1947.  It is all wood, diesel-powered and has a 19' beam.  Home base is in the Chesapeake Bay area and it can be found in the Clearwater (FL) area in the winter.
  S.S. normally stands for 'steam ship' in nautical-speak.  In this case it refers to a (deceased) Springer Spaniel named Sophie, a favorite of the yacht's owner Greta Van Susteren (Fox News, On the Record host) and husband John Coale, a Washington lawyer.
     

Thistle-licious

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - An early morning trip to Lake Woodruff NWR found us gloomed-in by overcast skies.  This honey bee didn't care.  There was plenty of nectar in this thistle flower.

Hiding and gliding

 VIERA, FL - - Most of today's subjects in Viera Wetlands were in survival mode.  The Limpkin (above) and this Great Blue Heron were using nature's camouflage to blend in. 

 This Osprey, in full landing mode, used this high perch to zero in on some Coots down below.  He tried dive-bombing them twice without success.  Since Osprey subsist mainly on fish they catch we wonder what the bird would have done if it had snatched at Coot.

Return to the Grand Canyon

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Grand Canyon vista (North Rim), circa summer 2010.

Alaska days

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Talkeetna, Alaska, is a bit like Key West...only with mountains nearby rather than the ocean.  The most notable nearby peak is Denali, at 20,320, the mountain is also known as Mt. McKinley, and is the tallest mountain in North America.  This photo is from May 5, 2007 and the climbing season was already under way.  Today, there are mountain climbers from all over the  world either in town or on the way hoping to add Denali to their list of accomplishments. The chances of reaching the top:  40% over the years are successful.  There were 7 deaths on the mountain in 2011.
      INTERESTING NOTE:  Denali lies at 62-degrees North latitude.  There are over 450 peaks higher.  Nearly all peaks over 20,000' lie within 30-degrees (north or south) of the equator.  Denali is an anomaly.    

Moose hang out

From the archives:  Mama Moose and a not very small youngster.  Along the Alaska Highway.  Late April 2007 on the way to Denali NP.

Go fly a kite

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - We spent Sunday and Monday camping out at Fort Clinch State Park.  Our section of the campground was near the beach which fronts the main drag leading to St. Marys (GA) submarine base.  No subs this time, but if you look closely in the middle picture you can see a large freighter... which looked HUGE when it passed us by.  (but I was in the shower at the time).  Anyway, this kite show (15 different styles including this long tail model; a cylinderical style and a horse and this parrot-like kite)  was a display by a local company taking advantage of a great, steady breeze.
     We also took our youngest cat along with us.  To get the full story about our adventure with Princess, click on the link to Lydia's blog on my site.

Sunrise at Sunrise Park

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Everything was just 'ducky' for Mr. & Mrs. Mallard just a few minutes after sunrise at Sunrise Park in nearby Holly Hill. 

Food Fight!

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Lydia And I headed to Merritt Island NWR and a new location this morning...Biolab Road, which runs a bay on one side and wetlands on the other.  It's late in the year for most of the migrating birds to still be around, but some were and there were plenty of locals.
     When the tide is low, the scramble for food is on and the species mingle.  This solitary Great Blue Heron wasn't sharing his meal of fresh caught snake...the GBH used it's powerful beak to make sure the snake was dead before swallowing it whole (See Lydia's Flicker account link for a sequence).  This group of American White Pelicans, one lonely Roseate Spoonbill and a couple of Ibis were taking the slow approach to food finding.  The early morning colors came together nicely for this solitary White Ibis in the final picture, but probably didn't help his hunt for tasty morsels.

Lily, dahling

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - The colors of the flowers, like this lily species, which just 'pop up' in our very natural back yard are sometimes very vivid.  No high end, high $$ camera used here.  Canon SD1100 IS point and shoot, set on macro for close-up photography.

Daylight Savings Time?

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - I lost an hour of sleep last night!  Guess I better go back to sleep and see if I can find it.

Breakfast splash

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Windy and rainy conditions  have turned this weekend into dismal photo conditions with our usual suspects hiding out somewhere.  Fortunately, last weekend's foray to a nearby park on the Halifax River provided plenty of action.  The Tricolored Heron in the shots above was splashing around the 'breakfast buffet' snatching tasty morsels with almost every strike.

Shapes and colors

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - The wind, rain and snow - - with some additional help from Mother Nature - - have sculpted these shapes in Bryce Canyon National Park.  (June 2010)

Falling water

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Digging deep into the archives, I came up with this pic from a trip to Canada in 2004.  Takaka Falls is located in Yoho National Park near Field, British Columbi, Canada.  Here, in OB, it's sunny; nearly 80-degrees and Speedweeks is over.

600th post

 ORMOND BEACH, FL - - For the 600th post of my blog, we have the Viera Wetlands Presidents Day edition of:  A Hooded merganser  staring; A Caracara eating breakfast road kill and a Great Blue Heron trying to manage the windy conditions.