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Thursday, August 1, 2019

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:

Red-shouldered Hawk 3-20160804

A Snowy Egret foraged in the lakeside marsh :

Snowy Egret 20160812

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:

 Great Blue Heron HDR 20160804

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:

GBH with Walking Catfish - Clarias batrachus HDR 20160804

Great Blue Heron with Walking Catfish 20160804

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

Great Blue Heron eating Walking Catfish 20160804

Great Blue Heron swallowing Walking Catfish 20160804

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

Great Blue Heron after eating Walking Catfish 20160804

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

Tricolored Heron 20160805

Tricolored Heron 2-20160805

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

Little Blue Heron immature 01-20160813

Little Blue Heron immature 04-20160813

We visited nearby Chapel Trail Nature Preserve:

 Chapel Trail boardwalk HDR  20160808

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

Great Egret HDR 04-20160808

Great Egret HDR 03-20160808

Swamp Lily:

Swamp Lily 20160808

A young Marsh Rabbit:

Marsh Rabbit young 02-20160808

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:"

Moon setting into mirrored sunrise 20160819

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:

Prairie Warbler 20160820

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

Yellow-throated Warbler 20160820

...and a colorful female Northern Parula:

Northern Parula 06-20160820

On August 22 the first American Redstart appeared:

American Redstart HDR 20160822

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

Brown Basilisk HDR 2-20160815

...a Green Iguana...

Green Iguana portrait HDR 20160815

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

Zebra Heliconian 2-20160813

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

Florida Box Turtle 3-20160810

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

View to west OIL 20160804

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

Great Egret in yard 43-20160831

= = =  = = =  = = = =  = = = = =

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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17 comments:

  1. Wonderful critters.

    How herons get that big a fish down, always amazes me.

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  2. Tolle Aufnahmen. Das Foto am Ende ist gigantisch!

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  3. Beautiful birds and critters - spectacular sunrise too!

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  4. What a fabulous selection of phots from way back, it is good to go through past photos from time to time. Have a good weekend, Diane

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  5. All wonderful photos. Yes, i would imagine it takes a lot of water to get a big fish like that down and digested.

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  6. As always, your photos are exquisite. The heron with the catfish is awesome.

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  7. It is a wonderful selection of wildlife images. I am glad to see the Great Blue Heron doing its part in controlling an invasive species. Looks like a sizable meal too!

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  8. That catfish sure is something to see and looks like a full meal! Love your photos! Happy weekend!

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  9. Hello Ken, these are wonderful photos, I love all the herons. That Catfish looks big. The poor Little Blue must be on a diet. Nice looking warblers and lizards. The sky and reflection is beautiful. Great post. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend. PS, thank for your visit and comment on my blog.

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  10. I've seen those white lilies, but did not know what they were...swamp lilies...now I know. That heron with fish series was exceptional. (And August temps...I know!)

    We all, at I'd Rather B Birdin', appreciate you sharing with us. Thanks!

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  11. Lovely photos, especially the heron and its catch.

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  12. Good to see the heron doing its bit to reduce invasive species!

    Great set of pictures.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  13. Swallowing that whole catfish - what a feat - I think I would need to drink a whole lot of water after that too, lol! Interesting that this catfish can travel over land! the yellow warbler is so fashionable (it's color). Your landscapes are always excellent, Ken! Many thanks for all these details of summer to share with All Seasons! Hope the weather is not so hot in FL!

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  14. Always, always beautiful photos here. So glad you link up at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2019/08/mmmmmmm.html each week. I look forward to seeing what you're sharing every time!

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  15. Your photo's are incredible!

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