My weekly potpourri gathered from the archives features... a look back at this month, March, three years ago. Trying to find a photo from that month that fits the respective themes (critters, fences, skies and reflections). I will attempt to get two photos for each meme, but am putting no limit on this first category, as there were just too many critters around. This month I had to search until March 18 to get one photo for each group. Some bittersweet comparisons about what has changed CRITTER:
Our local pair of Bald Eagles started the month off very nicely, on March 1, 2012. As of March 1, 2015 the female (the bird at the top of this photo) had disappeared and the male has found a new companion, but she is probably too young and inexperienced to breed this year: is
A pair of Yellow-crowned Night-Herons displaying to each other on March 4, 2012. Sadly, there were none in the rookery area on March 1, 2015 and it may be abandoned due to herbicide treatment of the nest trees:
A pair of Common Ground-Doves on March 6, 2012 (do you detect a romantic sub-plot?):
A most unlikely pair, a Great Blue Heron roosting on a Mallard decoy, on March 2, 2012:
A pair of Purple Swamphens on March 9, 2012:
I can't resist throwing in this extra "pair" of delightful critters, a mom and calf along with a Cattle Egret, on March 9, 2012:
Least Bittern, March 18, 2012: Marsh Rabbit coming out of the water, March 23, 2012: The Night-Herons have eggs in their nests on March 27, 2012:
A storm brewing on March 10, 2012: Sunrise on March 16, 2012:
Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy ________________________________________________
REFLECTION:
Storm clouds reflecting on Harbour Lake wetlands, March 16, 2012: Blue-winged Teal, March 18, 2012:
Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James ________________________________________________
Also: Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart ________________________________________________ Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display ________________________________________________
Boat-tailed Grackles range along the northern Gulf and Atlantic coasts but seem to be everywhere in south Florida. These big blackbirds populate the parking lots of shopping centers, looking for handouts, and paint our cars with their droppings. We hear their persistent raucous calls from the rooftops and treetops. Their noises can only be described as a highly variable jumble of whistles, squeaks, crackles, rattles and non-vocal bill-snapping and rustling of wings. Although they are birds of the marshes and Everglades, Boat-tailed Grackles adapt well to the suburban environment and set up colonies of females dominated by a single male who may defend a "harem" of several dozen females, permitting only a few other older ranking males to mate with them. Dominance between the males is maintained by an elaborate display which involves confrontation, alternate vocalizing, fluttering and posturing. This seems to ward off most violent struggles. Eye color varies from dark brown or black in south Florida to yellowish or straw-colored to the north and along Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf coast.
This display took place on our south Florida lawn. The males each took turns calling and fluttering as the other froze in a bill-up posture: Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS: If VIDEO does not appear in the space below, VISIT THIS LINK
Female Boat-tailed Grackles are smaller and quite different in appearance from the males. For much of the year they gather in same-sex flocks away from the males, whose displays intensify as the breeding season approaches. Younger males and females often passively watch the competition between the dominant older males. Our local population is essentially non-migratory but in winter is supplemented by visitors from the north. At dawn and dusk we may see large flocks moving back and forth between communal roosts. They are opportunitic omnivores, seeming to eat anything from linsects and lizards on our lawns to seeds, grain and garbage. Their long legs are an adaptation to feeding in shallow water, where they capture small aquatic organisms by sight, almost like miniature herons. To the west, the similar Great-tailed Grackle species replaces the Boat-tailed. The former have bright yellow eyes. Great-tailed Grackle: Linking to GOOD FENCES: The smaller Common Grackle also has yellow eyes:
A winter gathering of a mixed flock of grackles against a gray sky, Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY :
Linking to SATURDAY'S CRITTERS ________________________________________________ Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display ________________________________________________
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