Crops & Clips: Random clicks

 In the local wetlands, a Wood Stork flew in and landed along the lake:

Pied-billed Grebe:

Northern Cardinal:

A male American Kestrel took flight:

I thought I saw a wolf in the distance, but it was a neighbor's escaped Alaskan Husky, a beauty indeed:

He kept an eye on me:

Then, an orange tomcat squinted in the sunlight before running away. He looked too healthy to be living in the wild:

Snow Moon before sunrise in early March:

Waning gibbous Snow Moon:

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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

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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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Placid lake on a foggy morning

On a still and very humid morning, fog accumulated over the lake as predicted. It peaked just around sunrise, before lifting as the sun's rays penetrated and heated the surface of the water. 

A Great Egret descended, white feathers against white fog,...

...mirrored on the surface:

A Wood Stork arrived...

...and joined the egret:

With bubble-gum pink feet, the stork stirs the water to frighten fish into its beak:

A Mottled Duck looked on...

...and provided my favorite shot of the morning:

Another egret waded in the foggy wet prairie:

A female Belted Kingfisher perched at the edge of the prairie:

A pair of Pied-billed Grebes carved a wake on the lake's surface:

Before sunrise, the Wood Stork and Great Egret punctuated the landscape:

The Pine Bank was shrouded in fog as sunlight illuminated the foreground:

Moments later, rays of the sun reached the shore of the Pine Bank

Over the wetlands along the canal, fog persisted after sunrise:

There was no fog to spoil our view of the sunrise from our back yard on February 16th: 

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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: Morning Herons

We were out early as usual this week, about 25 minutes before sunrise. Also as usual, I was only halfway into the wetlands when Mary Lou passed by as she headed back out! It was good to see her walking fast and leaving me in her dust! The temperature was a mild 65 degrees F (18 C), the winds calm and the sky was clear.

Wisps of fog persisted on the far shore of the lake:



In the semi-darkness a Little Blue Heron flew in and settled to forage in a shallow area near shore:









At sunup the surface of the lake was like glass, and you may barely see the Great Blue Heron perched on a rock in the distance (click for enlarged view):



Our herons are not accustomed to the human presence. To take advantage of the increasing light, I planned to walk out on the peninsula to the far right of the above photo to get better views. Before leaving this vantage point I zoomed in a bit with my pocket camera (Canon PowerShot SX700 HS):

 

To my surprise, the heron did not fly off as often occurs when one even steps foot on the peninsula. Cautiously, I snapped a couple of nice reflection images:





The rising sun was shining in from the left and it accented the heron's plumage:





I crept up so close that the heron filled my viewfinder:



While I was photographing the heron, a single Pied-billed Grebe disturbed the surface of the lake:



Suddenly two Egyptian Geese flew low overhead, calling loudly:





On the walk back home, some colorful treats--

A retreating Northern Flicker:



A male Northern Cardinal...



...and his mate:



A couple of poor shots of an uncooperative male Painted Bunting:





An immature Red-shouldered Hawk flew from a utility box and then veered sharply to clear a fence:



 

Earlier this week, I photographed a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird, the first I have ever been able to attract to our back yard:



Maybe our blooming Red Pentas tempted her to try out our sugar-water feeder:



During my hummingbird photo-shoot a Palm Warbler posed in one of our Mango trees:





Our local Bald Eagles show signs that their first egg may have hatched. The female was sitting high as if "tenting" a newly hatched eaglet, and the male seemed to be in a protective mood as he roosted near the nest, staring at me intently. He usually ignores a photographer viewing from a safe (and legal) distance:

 

 


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Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to GOOD FENCES by Gosia

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

Linking to Today's Flowers Friday by Denise

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue

Linking to ALL SEASONS by Jesh

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

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