Once again, I am peering through the retrospectroscope at photos archived three years ago. It was a busy month, with 399 photos processed. As I peruse the collection I will try to locate favorite memes: critters of all kinds (especially birds), skies, reflections, fences, and images to depict the seasons as well as those which speak for themselves. A splendid sunrise over our back yard lake on November 5th: The last time I photographed the local pair of Bald Eagles was on October 30. We did not know it then, but that was the last time anyone saw Joy, the female. She was down deep in the nest, leading us to believe that she might already be broody and about to lay eggs. Her mate, Pride, was roosting above the nest to the right: Alone, Pride continued to return to the nest, bringing in sticks and arranging them: Pride often sat low as if possibly tending to eggs in the absence of a mate. If there had been any eggs, a single eagle would rarely be able to succeed in hatching them. By month's end we had no idea as to what had happened to Joy, but were convinced that she would never return. Here is Pride on November 28, ever watchful: A Black Vulture roosting at the local soccer park... ...reflected the landscape in its eye: On our local wetlands, a doe posed artfully with three older fawns, one a spike-buck: Still waters provided some nice reflections, of a Great Egret... ...and a Greater Yellowlegs: Back yard White Ibises: A buttermilk sky-- signs of a change in the weather as altocumulous clouds crowded the sky like a huge flock of sheep: The back gate to our wetlands separates two worlds:
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Each month I search my archives for images which match the themes of critters, fences, skies, flowers, macros and reflections. This is a peek through the retroscope at photos taken three years ago, in October, 2013. I am reminded of creatures and sights I might expect to see again at this time of year. Let's see how far I need to go into the month to find at least one for each meme. I accomplished this goal rather easily and have won the game twenty-two months in a row since starting in January, 2015. As usual, finding fences was my most difficult task, and for some reason very few of my photos included flowers.
After watching migration in Illinois, we spent the entire month of October at our home in south Florida. On October 3, storm clouds cut short our morning walk: Fall warblers were passing through, among them this Northern Waterthrush: Black-and-White Warbler: Prairie Warbler: Wood Storks were locally decreasing in number still relatively common visitors to our back yard lake. Since then, due to habitat loss and excessive rainfall, nearly all have moved northward to breed: Flock of Cattle Egrets with reflection of neighbor's fence on October 16: My only other reflections this month were cast by a Greater Yellowlegs... ...and, when the wind stopped blowing, that of a Little Blue Heron
A Lincoln's Sparrow appeared. An unusual winter visitor, this was the first one of this species ever reported as being seen in our county (Interestingly, I later photographed one again nearby in November, 2014): Limpkins nest locally but are also scarce in our birding patch. This was my first photo of one in our neighboring wetlands: Female Painted Bunting: Tricolored Heron coming in for a landing: Dark morph of Short-tailed Hawk: Brown Thrasher: Monarch on Ligustrum blossoms: Black-throated Blue Warbler: Cape May Warbler: White-tailed Deer -- doe and yearlings: White Peacock in our local wetlands: I captured nice views of both the top and undersides of this Cassius Blue butterfly:
By the end of the month, our local pair of Bald Eagles had begun to refurbish their nest. The female (Joy), on the right, is about 25% larger than her mate (Pride). On October 31, I closed out the month with one of my favorite photos, that of an Eastern Phoebe watching a male Julia butterfly: Intersecting contrails, in anticipation of the next day's trip to the Texas Panhandle and New Mexico: = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Linking to Misty's CAMERA CRITTERS,
Before leaving for our walk, I stepped out into the darkness of our back patio to capture the pre-dawn sky. Neighbors' homes (and their fences, if you look closely) cast reflections on the surface of the lake: Out in the wetlands just before sunrise, a Great Blue Heron was mirrored on the undisturbed surface of the lake: It was a great morning to find a Roseate Spoonbill! These magnificent birds rarely visit our local wetlands. I saw two at a great distance and the next day one of them showed up in a small pool of water which had been cut off from the lake as water levels receded. As the pool diminished in size it concentrated fish and other marine organisms, a protein-rich "soup" for waders. There was barely room for the foraging herons, ibises and a yellowlegs which joined the spoonbill. The spoonbill surprised me as it emerged from behind some vegetation. A Greater Yellowlegs waded alongside it: Like the spoonbill, the immature White Ibis next to it is also a tactile feeder, clamping down on any organism which touch its sensitive bill. The spoonbill sweeps the water in hopes of encountering its prey, while the ibis keeps its bill partially open as it walks along: Two Snowy Egrets hunt next to the spoonbill. Sight feeders, the egrets probably benefit when the spoonbill and ibis stir up the fish and frighten them out into the open: Roseate Spoonbills are a favorite subject. This one visited our birding patch in December, 2012: A large flock was present at a Stormwater Treatment Area (STA-5) in Hendry County in February, 2015: This was my first photo of a spoonbill, back in 2009, soon after I purchased my Canon 30D: Several Wood Storks flew over, a welcome sight which meant that water levels are once again favorable for their feeding habits: This stork had foraged in the same pool only days earlier: The spoonbills' first visit to our neighborhood provided a nice opportunity to record their feeding habits in a video. (I thought I had lost my New Jersey accent after all these years!) If the video fails to load, please click THIS LINK
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________________________________________________ Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display ________________________________________________
