Birding on a murky morning

We awoke to dense fog yesterday morning. I wasn't sure whether I even wanted to walk in the wetlands. My camera and  binoculars had spent the night in air-conditioned comfort, so I knew I would face foggy lenses and fuzzy photos. 

The visibility was so poor up ahead towards the Everglades that I figured there would be nothing to see on the wetlands lake:



Two days earlier I obtained this photo as the fog lifted over the lake:



For a change, I walked south on the SW 196th Avenue levee that runs all the way to the Miami-Dade County line. I proceeded about a mile with the expectation that the 1/4 mile visibility would improve after sunrise, at 7:20 AM. Instead the fog clung to the waters of the canal. 



With the camera covered against the light mist that started falling as the upper level fog began to condense, I birded by ear. 

Spider webs were laden with dew. Using my little pocket camera (Canon SX 700 HS) I captured some of the still life. This is the view looking back to the north from the levee trail:



Dew dropped from the twigs:



An orb festooned with dewdrops reflected a rainbow:



Ahead, I approached the inlet between the canal and the "big lake" in our development:



Trying to see through the fog, I hoped to find an eagle that sometimes roosts on Lighthouse Island:



Back at the computer I gave a "painterly" treatment to a portion of the photo:



Over the course of almost two hours I recorded 23 bird species, almost all heard only, and photographed a single bird, this female Boat-tail Grackle, as she hunted for dragonflies at the water's edge:





Halloween Pennants were numerous:



As I walked along the trail one flew towards me and appeared to hover right in front of my eyes. It had been trapped by a single thread of spider silk. Within 4 minutes it was wrapped and carried off by the spider:









Since I have so little to show in the way of photos, here are a few from the past week. March 20 was also foggy, but I got this nice shot of the north shore of the wetlands lake just as the fog was dispersing:



As expected on the Vernal Equinox, the sun rose directly over the back gate of the Harbour Lakes subdivision. 



That day I fortunately got a second look at the two Black-necked Stilts that had visited a few days earlier. They did not wait for me, so this was a lucky shot between the blades of high grass in front of me. Happily, the blades did not cover the birds and they even added a bit of out-of-focus relief as the stilts coursed over a patch of rocks and lily pads in the lake:



A Muscovy Duck, an established feral species, flew overhead. They usually fly low, so this was a treat:



On March 17 I found only one pair of Yellow-crowned Night-Herons in the rookery. I fear it has been damaged so badly that they will not nest here this year, if ever again:



The male made a half-hearted display towards the female:



On the afternoon of March 16, a quick visit to the local Bald Eagle nest was very rewarding. I found the male on the nest, and he was soon joined by the larger new female, to the left in this photo:



The female flew up to roost just to the left of the nest. Note that her tail feathers still have dark tips. She just turned four years old and is entering the full fifth year adult plumage stage:



To balance the picture, the male flew up to the right...



... and the two rested for a while:



Then, both returned to the nest and rearranged a few sticks:



Unfortunately, a dump truck made a panic stop when the light turned red. Its jake brakes roared and the driver leaned on his air horn. This startled both eagles, and the male flew our to the left and the female exited to the rear of the nest:



On my next visit to the nest I saw no eagles, but a Carolina Wren scolded me:



He posed on a fence (just to please Tex):




Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa). 

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display

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