Crops & Clips: Flashback to February, 2016

This week I am refreshing memories of events three years ago, looking for favorite memes: critters of all kinds (especially birds), skies, reflections, fences, butterflies and flowers... and tranquil scenes which speak for themselves.

We began the month with a rather unusual sighting in our local south Florida Wounded Wetlands. An American White Pelican startled me as it flew in directly overhead:



This species usually travels in fairly large flocks, as they are cooperative feeders. Typically they swim in a line and circle in on schools of fish, herding them together in shallow water for a feast. This one settled on the lake, alone. It was present for one day only, on February 2:



That same morning, a roadside American Kestrel was grasping a prey item as it perched on the top shoot of a Royal Palm: 



I tried out my pocket camera, a Canon PowerShot SX700 HS, on a rather distant Merlin which was eating a little bird. With the optical zoom fully extended to 30X it produced a fairly decent image of the small falcon:



As if to help me round out my falcon images for the month, a Peregrine showed up:



Wispy pink clouds appeared over the wetlands:



I liked the glow of sunrise on the sheltered still water. Its reflection illuminated the Great Blue Heron against the lake, its surface stirred by waves which picked up the blue sky:



A male Northern Cardinal stood out against a gray sky:



A visit to Peaceful Waters Park wetlands in Wellington, Palm Beach County provided intimate views of Purple Gallinules...





...a Sandhill Crane at its nest...



...a Little Blue Heron on the prowl...



...and a Loggerhead Shrike:



At Wellington Environmental Preserve, Mary Lou walked along the marvelous boardwalk...



...with an American Alligator in open view...



...a well-hidden Limpkin...



...and a cluster of American Coots:



More images from the wild lands back home in south Florida; a light morph Short-tailed Hawk soared :



A female Anhinga showed off her "turkey tail:"



This male Anhinga developed a fancy "hairdo" as breeding season approached:



A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird sipped nectar from a Ligustrum flower:



Northern Flicker female:



Female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on our back yard Mahogany tree:



Most winters we are lucky to see even a single American Robin. This one appeared on February 11:



View from the lakeside marsh on a foggy February morning as the sun touched the Pine Bank:



Back yard sunrise on February 11:



Zebra heliconian on Balsam Pear:



Female Julia heliconian on Bidens alba (Shepherd's Nettle):



A "weed" with tiny yellow composite flowers:



= = =  = = =  = = = =  = = = = =

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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