Crops & Clips: Flashback to July, 2020

As I do on the first Thursday of each month, I enjoy looking back over my archived photos, taken three years previously, in July, 2020, to remember how things were then in south Florida as contrasted with events this year at our new home in Connecticut. As usual, I searched for images which reflected favorite memes: critters of all kinds (especially birds), skies and clouds, reflections, butterflies and scenes which speak for themselves. The blue skies are such a contrast with the gray and wet conditions we are now experiencing here.

Halfway through the first year of the Coronavirus epidemic, we were adjusting to a spring and now a summer without seeing our grandchildren or any outside visitors. We ordered groceries via Internet and parked at the grocery store for a masked employee to bring them to the auto. Daily walks in the local Wounded Wetlands and back yard window-watching provided a welcome respite.    

On July 3 I captured these images of an immature Red-shouldered Hawk, perched on a wire just in front of the Bald Eagle nest in Pembroke Pines, Florida.

Fledgling Bald Eagle:

Boat-tailed Grackle in front of the full Buck Moon (not a composite):

Yes, this one is a composite image:

The Common Ground Doves were nesting in deep cover along the trail:

"Where's Waldo?" Try to find the three Killdeer chicks huddled with two egg shells and an unhatched egg, on July 8, 2020:

This was the same nest two days earlier, on July 6. I had been monitoring it for about a week, as it was in a very exposed location. I feared it might be stepped on or run over by an ATV (not to mention predation by hungry Bobcats, Coyotes and crows)::

Here is an enlarged crop of the July 8 photo, to show the three chicks. One is partially hidden behind the chick to right. It has just emerged from the eggshell next to it and is still wet:

This male Northern Cardinal has shaggy tail feathers, but has not begun the post-breeding molt:

Female Northern Flicker in flight:

A Tricolored Heron steps lightly as it fishes lakeside:

 A Little Blue Heron rests on one of the "rock islands:"

This Great Egret is the epitome of grace as it balances on a slender treetop:

A Brown Basilisk ran across the sidewalk by the eagle nest:

Muscovy Duck with ducklings in our back yard lake:

She started with 15 but is now down to nine ducklings, victims of Largemouth Bass, hawks, gulls and sometimes killed by drakes anxious to mate with the female:

Bobcat Composite, July 22, 2020 (all are the same cat as it walked along):

White Peacock butterfly:

Buck Moon setting before sunrise on July 8:

Storm Brewing:

This week's header: Pond-apple and Red Maple, July 6, 2020

= = = =  = = =  = = = =  = = = = =

Linking to:

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Garden Affair

All Seasons

Image-in-ing

Nature Notes

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World
________________________________________________

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