Call me lazy, but I like to finish my morning bird walk with a visit to my favorite "sit spot" just on the west side of the 196th Avenue levee, that runs along the canal across from our subdivision. These are views along the levee, looking to the south: The "sit spot"is too moist underfoot to actually sit, and during the wet season it is flooded to a foot or more, when I cannot descend all the way down the slope. Its advantage over other places is the open area in front, an unintended result of the "wreckreationalists" performing tight circles in the mud with their off-road vehicles. This provides greater sight distance than most places along the levee path, where lack of maintenance has allowed exotic elephant grass to form an opaque 8 foot wall. This is the sit spot as the water was receding in late September: Events in nature are subject to the laws of place, time and probability. We can control the where and when, and the better we understand the cycles of sun and season, the more likely our expectations will be realized. In my sit spot, depending upon the time of day and season, certain events are highly unlikely. Rather than trying to predict what I will see, I am open to anything. Such was the case this morning.
After a wait of several minutes to undo some of the disturbance I created by entering this quiet and shady place, it gradually came alive. Who knows how many eyes were fixed on me? Sixty feet away, in a space between the treetops, a Prairie Warbler appeared, looking very alert. Maybe he sees me: No. He is on a hunt. He sees the prey:
He seizes the prey: He squeezes the prey: He swallows the prey, a big juicy spider!
My weekly potpourri gathered from the archives features the themes of critters, fences, skies and reflections. CRITTERS: Our local Bald Eagle male (Pride) lost his mate (Joy) in late October. He set out to find a new one, and may have settled on this four year old sweetheart. She retains some of the dark streaks on her bill, head and tail characteristic of early fifth year (fully adult) plumage. They appear to still be in the process of establishing a pair bond and it may be too late in the season for them to start a family. Here in south Florida, most Bald Eagles lay their eggs by early December. Pride spends much time in the nest, hoping she will join him, which she did, if only briefly. Birding has been a bit slow, so my attention turns to subjects which are more easily seen and photographed, such as this Monarch on Ixora blossoms...
...a male Julia heliconian...
... a Gulf Fritillary...
...a Zebra heliconian...
...a male Queen (not a contradiction in terms)... ...and a White Peacock: Linking to Misty's CAMERA CRITTERS,
Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS, ________________________________________________
FENCE: This Great Blue Heron posed at the lake shore in front of our neighbor's fence. By edict of the homeowners association, all the fences must look the same as this. I must stray far from home to find any variety. Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa).
________________________________________________ SKYWATCH: An unsettled sky at sunrise over our local wetlands: Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy ________________________________________________
REFLECTION: Looking to the north at dawn we see the approaching storm clouds: Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James ________________________________________________ Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display ________________________________________________
The radar looked clear and there was no rain in the forecast, but there were quite a few clouds as we set out on the local wetlands about 10 minutes before sunrise this morning. The sun was just coming up when we reached the lake. A Great Blue Heron is barely visible in the above landscape, and my photo suffers from the poor light: The sky took on a threatening appearance and light rain began falling before I could get back to the house: The rain stopped just as I exited the road from the wetlands and entered the gate to our subdivision, so I checked out the lake from a small park located a few doors from our home. Two Wood Storks were following a Tricolored Heron along the opposite shore: The heron seemed to be spotting places where fish were disturbing the water, and it would wait for the storks to catch up. Perhaps both are benefiting by this association. The heron is finding prey and the storks are stirring the water to disperse them into its open jaws. The stork also shades the water with one wing, probably encouraging small fish to seek safety in the shadow: A Great Egret was wading along my side of the lake, to the east. The sun was behind it, causing its image to be in deep shadow, like a silouhette. Back-lighting sometimes enhaces the profile of white birds, but the photos must be carefully brightened. A third stork came into view from the right (east) end of the lake and caught up with the other two. Then it flew over close to me where the egret was fishing: The stork and egret stayed close together and I saw the stork catch one fairly large fish. One of the other storks then flew in, and the egret immediately flew away. (If video does not load in the space below, CLICK THIS LINK
As I resumed my walk home the skies were clearing over our back yard lake:A "painterly" view of our back yard:
My weekly potpourri gathered from the archives features... test photos all taken by my new pocket camera, a 16.1 mpx Canon PowerShot SX 700 HS with 30X optical zoom (450mm equivalent). I am seriously considering leaving my big heavy DSLR rig at home on my next travel experience. Most were hand-held, and a few used a monopod. As the moon photo demonstrates, the image stability feature is excellent. Wish me luck! To compare the images of the pocket camera with those of my DSLR Canon 60D with 420 mm f/5.6 lens, I rigged up this monopod so that both photos could be taken at nearly the same time and at the same distance. Not surprisingly, the DSLR produced sharper images, but I am pleased with the results and think the SX 700 will be my only camera (besides the iPhone) during our train trip through the Canadian Rockies. The pocket camera does great landscapes. CRITTER: Common Ground-Dove, at a range of 65 feet (about 20 meters, Monopod), December 28, 2014: Little blue Heron (Monopod), December 18, 2014: Northern Mockingbird (Hand-held) , December 18, 2014: Northern Mockingbird (Hand-held, December 21, 2014: Palm Warbler at 70 feet (21 meters, Monopod), December 21, 2014:
Double-crested Cormorant (Hand-held), December 26, 2014:
An example of the pocket camera's macro and image stabilization capabilities is this Monarch butterfly on an Ixora blossom at a range of about 12 inches (30 cm, Hand-held), January 6, 2015:
Not a critter, but I think this hand-held image of a dewdrop, less than 1 inch, only 2 cm from the front of the lens (AUTO setting) deserves honorable mention, December 16, 2014: Linking to Misty's CAMERA CRITTERS,
Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS, ________________________________________________
FENCE: Our subdivision's entrance gate (Hand-held, January 6, 2015): Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa).
________________________________________________ SKYWATCH: Wolf Moon rising (Hand-held), January 4, 2015: An example of a sunrise over the local wetlands, (Hand-held), January 3, 2015:
Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy ________________________________________________
REFLECTION:
Great Egret (Monopod) , December 28, 2014: Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James ________________________________________________ Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display ________________________________________________
To celebrate the American Birding Association' s selection of the Green Heron (Butorides virescens) as ABA Bird of the Year, I have updated my post of January 5, 2013, "Shape-shifting Green Heron." Sad to say, the repeated herbicide treatment of the nest trees in the local rookery may now make it unlikely that any herons will successfully nest this year. The post is documented with brief video clips which show interesting behaviors of this species in the first two weeks after hatching. Most remarkable is the protective instinct of the male parent when the nestlings are in danger of falling.
The first herbicide treatment occurred some time before the 2012 breeding season. This photo, taken on March 4, 2012 shows Yellow-crowned Night-Herons on nests exposed by the defoliation:
During the following year the shrubs, mostly Ligustrum and exotic Brazilian Pepper, had recovered somewhat The rookery, which I have been monitoring since the spring of 2011, contained at least 8 nests of Yellow-crowned Night-Herons and 3 Green Heron nests, mostly over the water and still fairly well-concealed, when this photo was taken on March 15, 2013:
This photo, on December 14, 2014, shows the devastating effects of a subsequent herbicide application, along with floating debris from nearby road construction: Most of the branches which extended over the water were defoliated and killed, as shown in this photo taken on January 15, 2015. Homes that were formerly hidden by the nest trees are now in plain view. During the spring of 2012, in the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron rookery along a canal at the north end of the wetlands birding patch next to our south Florida home, a pair of Green Herons selected a secluded spot for their nest. Unfortunately, this tree, which extends over the water, had been treated with herbicides by the agency that maintains the canals, and by the time the eggs hatched almost all the leaves had fallen off to expose the nest. These brief clips illustrate some interesting behaviors and are best viewed in HD, full screen size. Pardon the shakiness, as they are taken with my hand-held DSLR camera with a telescopic lens, from about 50 feet (15 meters) across the canal from the nest.
The Green Herons are excellent parents. Here a female feeds her tiny chicks, about 3-5 days old. At the time, we only counted three, as the youngest one was not yet visible (April 15, 2012).
The four chicks have grown quite a bit over the next 3 days. They are now 7-9 days old. Perhaps not unexpectedly in view of the flimsy perches, the smallest chick disappeared the next day, following a heavy thunderstorm (April 19, 2012).
Now on April 22, the chicks are 10-12 days old. This remarkable sequence shows the protective behavior of the male, who had fed the chicks just moments before I started this video. The female then flew in with more food, but the ravenous appetite of the chicks placed them in danger. The male, sensing their predicament, flew in to solve the problem. See how he did it.
The Green Heron can be described as a compact little neck-less ball of feathers... ...or a spindle-shaped pointed object: But where did that neck come from? Sometimes it looks like almost any other heron, though its legs are short and its neck is a bit thick: Then, extending its neck full length, it becomes almost snake-like... ...and raises a handsome crest: Their color-- How did they ever get the name of "Green?" Sometimes they look as dark as crows: The immature birds have streaked underparts and can be quite dark in color: Here is an adult. Why, I do see a bit of green in there! Usually a loner, it is unusual to see several in a flock. These are immature birds. perhaps some are siblings: Those wings-- they are surprisingly long and seem to have so many more feathers than expected: During breeding season, the male does have respectable plumes:
