Early morning birding Lagniappe

The excitement of spring migration and the drama surrounding the successful rescue of both the eaglets has subsided, but routine morning walks sometimes offer a little something extra.

An adult Loggerhead Shrike caught a dragonfly and fed it to a youngster:

The cute baby shrike:

A Red-winged Blackbird attacked a Fish Crow:

An Eastern Screech-Owl settled close by and posed nicely:

Out on the Bar Ditch Trail, a White-tailed buck with antlers in velvet watched me as I walked along at sunrise:

More than 50 White Ibises flew over in a loose "V" formation:

A Green Heron crouched low in the ditch as I passed by. If it had not moved a bit, I would never have seen it:

Common Ground Doves have been uncommon and even missing the past couple of months, but three suddenly showed up this week. Only one male posed for a photo:

Least Terns usually arrived in early April, courted and then brought their young to our lake, but none appeared this year. Many of the urban terns nest on flat gravel roofs such as that on the supermarket about a mile away. These roofs last about 30 years and many are being replaced with more modern technology involving insulated panels and an impermeable membrane, not friendly to the terns (as well as nighthawks, Killdeer and gulls)  This week I was surprised to briefly see my first and only Least Tern:

A Black-necked Stilt lingered at nearby Chapel Trail preserve:

A female Northern Cardinal carried sticks to a hidden nest:

A Tricolored Heron foraged at the edge of the lake in our back yard. They usually are very shy, but this one provided some nice views:

Water levels in the wetland lake have reached the season's low and the water is receding from the lakeside marsh. This photo was taken ten minutes before sunrise:

At sunrise, the sheltered water behind an old levee reflects a colorful sky:

The rainy season is starting early. The official start of hurricane season his being moved earlier, to May 15 instead of June 1.  On May 18, the sun rose behind storms moving in from The Bahamas:

Our children started school when we lived in New Orleans and learned about "Lagniappe"---  

A lagniappe (lan-Yap) is an old Louisiana tradition, especially in the French Quarter of New Orleans... The word lagniappe might be applied to any unexpected bonus that comes with something else. For example, if you bought a car and found a 50 dollar bill in the trunk, it would be a lagniappe (Wikipedia).

= = =  = = =  = = = =  = = = = =

Linking to:

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Camera Critters

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Natasha Musing

Our World Tuesday

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World

Timeless Thursday

________________________________________________

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

Crops & Clips: Flashback three years to April, 2018

At the beginning of the month I like to review images from three years back and  look for favorite themes and memes in the monthly collection-- critters of all kinds (especially birds), skies and reflections, flowers and fences as well as scenes which speak for themselves. 

We started the month of April, 2018 exploring the wonders of nature on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Mexico. Our Illinois children and grandchildren flew in and we spent several days with them on Sanibel Island.  

Instead of my trusted DSLR, I carried my new mirrorless camera (Olympus E-M10 Mkii) to Sanibel. It was straight out of the box and its features and controls were utterly different from those of my Canon. Therefore I learned how to use my new camera by trial and error (mostly error). 

Shorebirds at sunrise (Sanderling, Willet and a gull):

Sun rising over the beach:

Willet:

Panoramic iPhone view of the Gulf from the condo where we stayed:

We visited Ding Darling refuge and were entertained by the antics of foraging Reddish Egrets:

I was not pleased with the colors, as they were sometimes over-saturated and not true to life, as with this Little Blue Heron:

Marsh Rabbit:

Panorama (iPhone) of the estuary at Ding Darling:

On the way home we stopped briefly at Audubon's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, where we saw Roseate Spoonbills (which did not need the extra saturation to show off their magnificent plumage):

A Great Egret was badly overexposed, but I liked the composition:

Back home at the local Bald Eagle nest, their eaglet had fledged:

Wood Storks were raising their young at the rookery in Weston:

A Tricolored Heron guarded nestlings:

On our wetlands, Least Terns had migrated in to breed on shopping center rooftops:

A vine growing up in a tree in our local wetlands had these pretty little flowers (Clematis?):

Fog lifting on April 18:

We finished the month back in Illinois. We had decided to sell our condo there and live in Florida permanently. Our first visit was Jones Meadow Park near our condo. Recent heavy rains had flooded the trails:

It was a treat to see American Robins, as they are infrequent winter visitors in Florida:

 

Brown Creepers do not migrate into south Florida:

American White Pelicans had arrived at Nelson Lake:

Iconic twin oaks at Nelson Lake:

At Lippold Park, Canada Geese had a nest at the end of the boardwalk, with a fair warning as they will attack people who come too close:

Indeed, this goose, possibly the gander, was guarding the entrance to that part of the boardwalk:

Nearby. three male Mallards swam in precision as they approached a pair of Blue-winged Teal:

We could see the male Bald Eagle on its nest across the road:

A Red-winged Blackbird was singing:

Trout Lilies were in bloom:

Marsh Marigold bloomed along a muddy part of the trail:

= = =  = = =  = = = =  = = = = =

Linking to:

Garden Affair

Fences Around the World

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Camera Critters

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Natasha Musing

Our World Tuesday

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World

Timeless Thursday

________________________________________________

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