Crops & Clips: Flashback to February, 2021 #1095

As I do on the first Thursday of each month, I enjoy looking back over my archived photos, taken three years previously, in February, 2021, to remember how things were then 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, flowers and scenes which speak for themselves. We spent the entire month at home in Florida.

My strength had decreased over the past year and movements were limited by stiffness and pain eventually diagnosed as polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). Long term treatment with prednisone almost eliminated the pain and decreased stiffness, but I was unable to make frequent  observations of the local Bald Eagle nest and soon had to give up my volunteer position as coordinator of the South Florida Audubon Eagle Watch. My daily step count decreased from over 10,000 to less than 700 and I took fewer photos. 

A Northern Cardinal sang vigorously from a treetop:

A pair of Mottled Ducks glided in the still water. The male, to the left, has a yellowish bill and is larger than the female, whose bill is more orange:

Lift-off!

Female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Interestingly, this is the trunk of a mature exotic Australian Pine. It shows the patterns of sap holes drilled in previous seasons. I was surprised to learn that its sap is drinkable by humans and its cones and budding leaves  are edible. REF: Eat the Weeds:

Pied-billed Grebe in early morning light:

Male American Kestrel:

Anhinga preening in lakeside tree:

A Purple Gallinule seemed to "walk on water." Its long toes distributing its weight as it steps along on the lily pads:

A much larger exotic Gray-headed Swamphen walked in the shallows:

Near the shore, a Wood Stork and a Mottled Duck reflected nicely:

I just happened to look out the back window of our home to see this Osprey half-flying and half-swimming to the shore of our lake at the edge of the lawn. I grabbed my camera but it saw me when I was still far inside the house, so I shot through the window as the Osprey flew off very laboriously with a Largemouth Bass. 

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, the Bald Eagles had relocated their nest to a new position which the eagle watchers feared was far less secure than the original nest, which we had been watching since 2007. Behavioral monitoring by the watchers set the laying of the first egg as February 1, the day that the female persistently settled down deep. 

Female Bald Eagle incubating on February 2, eye and bill barely visible to upper right of center. Note that this nest straddles on a Y-shaped fork with no  supporting branches on either side:

This was the best view I obtained of the incubating female, on February 11:

Laura, an artist friend, obtained my permission to derive a painting from one of my photos, taken in the previous season at the original nest. It showed the male, Pride, on the left, with his mate Jewel. Laura was very attentive to features which distinguished the male from female. Pride is smaller and the gape of his bill only reaches back just short of his eye, while that of Jewel extends well under her eye. She also shows a more impressive hooked beak than the worn one of her mate, who was at least 10 years older.

Orchids growing in a neighbor's well-manicured front yard garden. Sadly, he came down with COVID and passed away only a few weeks later. The neglected garden went into disrepair:

Views of sunrise from our back patio on February 16:

This week's header: Fog at sunrise, February 10, 2021--

= = = =  = = =  = = = =  = = = = =

Linking to:

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

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
________________________________________________