Crops & Clips: Parting Potpourri

Since I will be traveling this week, I quickly compiled some recent images from our daily early morning walks.  

The first Solitary Sandpiper of the fall migration season appeared at the lake shore on August 28:



Frequent rains have raised the water level in the lake, discouraging the waders which prefer to explore the now-inundated mud flats along the shore. It has flooded into the wet prairie...



...and turned the "peninsula" into an "archipelago:"



Among the other fall arrivals was this female Prairie Warbler:

 

Another warbler, a less colorful Louisiana Waterthrush, was present for over a month:



We canceled our walk one morning becaues of this view from our back patio. Storms were approaching from the east a half hour before sunrise:



Part of a flock of six Egyptian Geese flying over the Wounded Wetlands:





Calm winds and still waters provided nice reflections of this Great Egret:



Although not an unusual sighting along the coast, these two Gray Kingbirds were the first I have ever seen in our local patch. They were engaged in a game of "king of the palm spire," competing for the highest roost along the path:



The kingbird ignores a Northern Mockingbird which also covets the perch:



Another challenger arrives, a second Gray Kingbird:



The confrontation (note the red crest of the attacker, usually hidden):



The king of the spire retreats, and a new victor occupies it:



While I was photographing the waterthrush around sunrise, a White-tailed buck wandered in, unaware of my presence:



When I raised my camera, he bolted off:



One day as I was walking back home, a female Bobcat strolled across the gravel road, saw me...



...and calmly retreated into the brush:



The path to the back gate of an adjacent subdivision is oriented exactly east-west. It serves as a convenient "sundial." The sun rises directly over the middle spire of the fence on the mornings of the equinoxes. It is gradually moving down from the left (north) to signal the beginning of autumn:



One evening the rays of the setting sun reflected on the clouds over our lake, seeming to turn the water blood red:



A view of three cruise ships docked at Port Everglades as we departed:



Downtown Fort Lauderdale:


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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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