My Patch list # 1-10

My health condition now (hopefully temporarily) prevents me from straying very far from home. Therefore I will take advantage of my forced leisure to reflect on the birds I have seen since moving from New Mexico to south Florida. This list only includes bird species seen in our back yard and the preserve adjacent to our home, the West Miramar Water Conservation Area in Broward County, Florida (AKA "Wounded Wetlands"). 

We moved to Florida in 2004, but I only started to report sightings on eBird late in 2008. I did not take up photography until 2008 and deemed two of my earlier sightings important enough to report retroactively. I  picked out a representative photo of each species, not necessarily the first one taken, but always one among many from the Wounded Wetlands. My checklist includes a total of 185 species to date for this location, most of which I eventually photographed here. 

# 1. American Flamingo, 12 Jul 2005

I was fishing in our back yard lake when I looked up in amazement as a flock of four long-legged, crooked-billed flamingos coursed from south to north right over in front of me. I was not sure at the time that this was a most unusual sighting, indeed the first flock reported locally in several years. I saw four again over the lake the next evening, flying almost the same course. 

Flamingos once roamed extensively over South Florida, but in recent years the only reliable sightings were of a flock at the southern tip of the peninsula at Snake Bight. Inquiries about all known captive flamingos confirmed that none had escaped. Here is a photo of those in the nearest flock, confined in Flamingo Gardens:

I put the word out on the Internet and others discovered them, a flock of "seven or eight or up to twenty" foraging in a wetland preserve adjacent to the north end of my Patch. I was not carrying a camera, but David Tringo, a neighbor, took this photo and kindly permitted me to publish it: 

# 2. Savannah Sparrow, 26 Dec 2008. This is a photo of one in November, 2018:

# 3. Rock Pigeon, 23 Oct 2009. That day I photographed a feral albino specimen, very likely an escapee from a wedding celebration or peace demonstration:

# 4. White-winged Dove, 23 Oct 2009. This one was looking for nesting materials on our driveway:

# 5. Mourning Dove. 23 Oct 2009. 

# 6. Killdeer, 23 Oct 2009

# 7. Anhinga, 23 Oct 2009

# 8. Double-crested Cormorant, 23 Oct 2009

# 9. Great Blue Heron, 23 Oct 2009

# 10. Great Egret, 23 Oct 2009

Our walks usually started out about an hour before sunrise, to take advantage of the cooler temperatures and listen to the owls and nightjars. The peninsula in the wetlands lake provided a wide open view over the Everglades to the west.   An advantage to being a stay-at-home birder is that I can see the sunrise on the eastern horizon, which is obscured by the trees out in the wetlands. 

The morning after I got home from the hospital this was the view of sunrise from our back patio:

A flock of White Ibises foraged on the lawn of a home across the lake:

Later in the day the overcast sky provided a shadow-less view of a Great Egret, which hurried along our lawn. It appeared to be intently watching a prey item along the shore:

It plunged and came up with a small Peacock Bass:

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Linking to:

Garden Affair

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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Crops & Clips: Flashback to July, 2017

At the beginning of each month I enjoy looking back at photos from three years previously, to refresh old memories and perhaps anticipate what beauty awaits this year. Especially, I look for favorite dreams, memes and themes-- critters of all kinds (especially birds and butterflies), flowers, clouds, skies, reflections, fences... and images which speak for themselves. This month's harvest makes me miss our summers in Illinois (or anywhere besides being locked down at home).

We spent the entire month of July at our (then) second home in northeastern Illinois. We watched our favorite grassland birds, and mourned the continuing loss of  their habitat. A family of Sandhill Cranes climbed on a pile of dirt where their prairie home was being converted into a housing complex. An unruly blackbird added to their discomfort, but only the colt paid attention to the attacker:

 

A Lark Sparrow perched on a sign advertising a home site. These birds had not been verified as nesting in Kane County until MaryLou first sighted them and we saw their fledgling. Later the nest was discovered and photographed by others. This entire area was staked out for development:

 

Documentation photo of young Lark Sparrow being fed by parent:





We visited Nelson Lake preserve as often as possible. This is a path through the prairie:



Wildflowers were abundant. These are Purple Coneflowers:



That's MaryLou beyond the mass of wildflowers:



Cedar Waxwing on a sapling in the prairie at Nelson Lake preserve:



The diminutive Henslow's Sparrow finds refuge here, where controlled burns are rotated to provide its exacting habitat needs. It usually nests two years after a fire, in the layer of dry grass which is packed down by the second winter's snow. They have greenish heads and are tiny and elusive:





Other small sparrows which nest more widely at Nelson's Lake are the Grasshopper Sparrow...



...Savannah Sparrow...



...and the rather plain-looking Field Sparrow which has a pink bill:

 

Dickcissels were abundant. This pair were tending a nest and the female was waiting for me to depart before delivering a meal for their chick:



Male Dickcissel:



American Goldfinches brightened the scene:





Common Yellowthroats sang along the trail:



The boardwalk and pavilion at Lippold Park:



Mallards preening:



We checked the Bald Eagle nest near our condo. The two juveniles had fledged, and one flew by:



One of the parents stood guard:



Fox River floodplain:



Common Buckeye butterfly:



American Lady butterfly:



A Painted Lady "attacked" me:

Agramonte, our Granddaughters' beloved Tibetan Mastiff, now 13 1/2 years old, is not doing well this year. He can barely climb the stairs. The girls hold out hope but must face the fact that he is failing. Three years ago he was sleeping on the cool floor as usual:





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Linking to:

Fences Around the World

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Camera Critters

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

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 to January, 2017

I enjoy browsing through my photo archives from three years ago, to remember how it was and anticipate how it may be this January. As usual, we are looking for favorite subjects: critters (especially birds and butterflies), flowers, skies, reflections, fences... and scenes which need no captions and speak for themselves. 

We spent the entire month in South Florida, getting out into the local Wounded Wetlands early on the first day  of January. Winter sparrows were late arrivals, missing 2016 altogether, but a Savannah Sparrow was there to welcome in the new year:

  



Egyptian Geese first appeared in 2011, but their numbers quickly increased. A pair flew overhead, the female trumpeted loudly and the male uttered a coarse hissing sound:



On January 1 we saw the first Loggerhead Shrike of the year, and other early sightings included...



...a Long-tailed Skipper on Lantana blossoms,



...a female Soldier butterfly on Bidens alba (Florida's most productive native source of nectar),



,,,a White Peacock butterfly,



...a perky Gray Squirrel,



...a Sharp-shinned Hawk,



...and a sedate Great Blue Heron in early light:



Ligustrum blossoms attracted a Zebra heliconian:



Forgive me for emphasizing the butterflies, but I was to find few to none during the following January, thanks to Hurricane Irma which struck in October, 2017 and decimated their adults, eggs and caterpillars. The heavy use of insecticides to curb the Zika outbreak which followed Irma certainly contributed to their plight. This is a female Julia longwing, a species which was probably Irma's worst casualty:



The Ruby-throated hummingbird is a welcome winter visitor. This is a female:



A Great Egret comes in for a landing:



White-tailed Deer at the far end of the road:



Glossy and White Ibises:



Backyard Tricolored Heron:



On January 15, rain threatens...



...but not a drop falls. Walking home, sunbeams bathe the entrance to the wetlands:



A few doors from our home, the entrance gate, from inside the preserve:



The next morning, the end of a rainbow seems to be only steps away:



Parallel high clouds appear to converge to the north:



A motorized parachute frightens the wildlife, but I could not miss the photo opportunity as I anticipated a near collision--"Fly me to the Moon:"



On a sad note, our next door neighbor, a young energetic and athletic man with a fine wife and two great sons, developed pancreatic cancer and passed away within a few months of the diagnosis. His younger son paddles in our lake with his sweet Labradoodle:



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Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Our World Tuesday by Lady Fi

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue

Linking to ALL SEASONS by Jesh

 Linking to Fences Around the World by Gosia
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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display
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