Crops & Clips: Flashback to August, 2016

This month I am reviewing my photo archives from three years ago to look for scenes which depict favored memes: critters of all kinds (especially birds), skies and landscapes, reflections, flowers, fences and tranquil scenes which speak for themselves. 

We spent the entire month of August, 2016 at our permanent home in south Florida, a departure from our habit of retreating to Illinois during most of the summer.

This exercise helps me appreciate some of the changes which have taken place in our local Wounded Wetlands over the past three years. Hurricane Irma was to strike in late August the next year, greatly altering the habitat and restricting our access to some of the places which provided the setting for several of these photos.

Most bird species undergo a post-breeding molt. This Red-shouldered Hawk showed signs of feather loss and replacement in its wings and tail:



A Snowy Egret foraged in the lakeside marsh :



Some days were just too hot for trekking out with camera gear, so backyard birds received  quite a bit of attention. This Great Blue Heron was fishing from the edge of our lawn on August 4:

 

It captured an exotic Walking Catfish (Clarias batrachus). This species was introduced into the wilds of Florida in the 1960s when several escaped from a facility which was breeding them for the aquarium trade. It is named for its ability to travel over land, especially on rainy nights:





Not wanting to disturb the heron, I had to shoot through a  window to obtain a photo as the it struggled to swallow it:





After succeeding to swallow the catfish whole, the heron spent quite a bit of time drinking water:



A Tricolored Heron, its neck gracefully curved, strutted along our lake:





An immature Little Blue Heron stalked and caught a small fish:





We visited nearby Chapel Trail Nature Preserve:

 

A walk along the boardwalk yielded some nice views of a Great Egret:





Swamp Lily:



A young Marsh Rabbit:



As we walked westward into the Wounded Wetlands on August 19, we were greeted by an odd sight. Was the full Moon setting into a rising Sun? Impossible! Of course this is an illusion, caused by the convergence of rays from the sun which was rising behind us, a "mirrored sunrise:"



Later in the month, warblers began appearing. The Prairie Warbler breeds mostly in coastal mangroves and may simply move inland as autumn approaches. This was the first I saw, on August 20, in an area which would later be devastated by Hurricane Irma:



In the same small grove, also on August 20, I found a Yellow-throated Warbler...



...and a colorful female Northern Parula:



On August 22 the first American Redstart appeared:



Not to be overlooked among the "critters" this month, a Brown Basilisk...



...a Green Iguana...



...a Zebra heliconian, sipping the nectar of Firebush (Hamelia patens) flowers...



...and a Florida Box Turtle crossing the path:



I rendered this photo of the lake in the wetlands as an oil painting (click on photo to enlarge it):



A Great Egret closed out the month, walking past a neighbor's fence on August 31:



= = =  = = =  = = = =  = = = = =

Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Our World Tuesday by Lady Fi

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue

Linking to ALL SEASONS by Jesh

 Linking to Fences Around the World by Gosia

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


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