Crops & Clips: Flashback to December, 2017

As I do each month, I enjoyed looking back over my archived photos, taken three years previously, to remember how things were then and maybe get some idea of what to expect this year. Of course, the last month of 2020 finds us locked down because of the Coronavirus pandemic, as we are at higher risk. As usual, I searched for images which reflected favorite memes: critters of all kinds (especially birds), skies and clouds, reflections, flowers and fences, as well as scenes which speak for themselves. 

December began with the setting of a Red Cold SuperMoon. As the skies started brightening, a Great Egret was mirrored on the quiet façade of the lakeside marsh. The wind stirred up the surface of the lake beyond a line of boulders to create a pleasant  two-tone effect:

On December 3, clouds threatened to obscure the Moon...

...but they quickly cleared and the Moon was bright in the sky:

It traveled through a smoky layer as the Sun rose:

This was the last I saw of it:

In the rookery, a female Anhinga was fast asleep as I drew near, so I made a quiet "whissssh" sound to awaken her:

Awake and alarmed, she expanded her translucent throat pouch:

Breeding season was still three months away, but several Yellow-crowned Night-Herons staked out claims for favored nesting spots:

A few fragile flowers clung to life on a coral rock:

A Yellow-throated Warbler posed momentarily for a rare open shot:

We had more than our share of foggy mornings. Some creatures appeared mysteriously out of the mist...

...a young White-tailed doe...

...another youngster, a near-sighted Opossum...

...and a tree-hugging Raccoon:

An immature Purple Gallinule was a pastel study of contortionism as it struggled to harvest the flowers and fruits of the Alligator Flags (so named because it often surrounds alligator holes where it can keep its roots wet all through the dry season):

There was so much more to remember-- this Tricolored Heron...

,,,a foggy sunrise on December 23...

...and finally, fog over the north wet prairie on December 31:

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Linking to:

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: This week's clicks

Spring is here! As we walk into the local Wounded Wetlands in the predawn darkness, Northern Cardinals are already in full song. It is too dark for photos, but two hours later on the way back home, their clear whistles dominate the soundscape.

Cardinals prefer to to sing from a prominent perch.  A Pond Cypress, beginning to leaf out, provides a perfect podium:









A demure female occupies a branch lower down and sings a duet with her mate:





A rival male, not far away, asserts ownership of an adjacent territory:





His mate is more reclusive, hidden in the shrubs:





The Worm Moon, the third and final Super Moon of 2019, sets on a cloudy morning on the first day of Spring. This was the best photo I could take before it was totally obscured. If you look closely, you will see Mary Lou walking in with her flashlight at the very bottom of the photo:





The next morning the sun rises due east in a clear sky, as seen through the fence in "Sundial Alley:"

 

The Moon is much higher in the sky at sunrise on March 24...


 
 ...and it soon disappears into the haze and clouds:





On March 26 the waning gibbous Moon...



...is followed, on the opposite horizon, by a sunrise peeking out under a blanket of clouds:



Later in the day, a Great Egret casts its reflection in morning light:





Two Mottled Ducks fly by:



There has been a huge hatch of Halloween Pennants (Celithemis eponina). These colorful dragonflies help control the mosquitoes and midges and themselves are food for the birds, especially shrikes, kestrels and blackbirds, as well as orb-weaving spiders:



American Kestrel eats a Halloween Pennant, March 22, 2016:



A Tropical Orb Weaver spider dispatches a Halloween Pennant, March 23, 2014:



Along the path, Castor Oil Plants thrive. Their seeds are the source of ricin, a deadly poison:




Good news: We have been blessed by the birth of our third Great-Grandchild, our first Great Grand-Daughter, Kennedy Lee Schneider, whose name includes elements of those of both her parents, Kenneth and Danima Lee.

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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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The Super Blue Blood Moon eclipses the birds

To some, our early morning walks in the local "Wounded Wetlands" might seem to be a dreadful waste of time. We usually start out on the three mile route about a half hour before sunrise. Mary Lou and I walk together briskly the first half mile. It is too dark to see any birds, but I usually can identify a handful by their calls and songs-- mockingbirds, cardinals, catbirds, jays and doves.

The sky lightens up and I fall behind as Mary Lou continues her pace. I may hear the song of a Carolina Wren...



...or the calls of an Eastern Towhee:



However, on the morning of January 31, I covered the first half mile in quite a hurry, not wanting to repeat my experience only 2 moons ago on December 3, when I tarried and nearly missed the setting of the SuperMoon.

The night before, from our back yard, I had watched it rise over the lake:



The sky was dark but crystal clear. It was a perfect morning to see the third consecutive Super Moon and the second to appear in January-- a Blue Super Moon! But there is more-- it will also be in partial eclipse and its penumbra will turn red as it approaches the horizon-- a Blood Moon.

At 6:38 AM the deepening penumbra mostly involves  the upper left edge of the full Moon, and exhibits no color:



The Moon was scheduled to set at 7:06 AM, only one minute after sunrise. Half way to the lake, the sky was already lightening and the rays of the Moon were taking on a yellowish hue. My pace quickened:

 

The view from the lake shore:



By 6:59 AM the penumbra covered the Moon and the umbra had progressed to about 20%:



Bt 7:02 AM over a third of the Moon's surface was in darkness:



Within two minutes it sunk out of sight as the sun rose:





Later that morning I checked on the local Bald Eagle nest. Their first egg presumably hatched on January 11, based upon ground observations that it had been laid 35 days previously, on or about December 7.

The adults were seen feeding one or more eaglets over the next two weeks, but the rim of the nest is very high and one chick did not become visible until January 28. I watched the nest from about 9:00 AM until 9:45. When I arrived the female (Jewel) was sitting rather deep in the nest:



She never looked down to tend or feed any offspring. so I thought they had just been fed and were probably sleeping. After about 20 minutes I walked back to the car and was ready to attend to other chores. No sooner had I closed the car door when the male (Pride) flew in, carrying a large white bird (an adult White Ibis).

I reached for the camera but was too late to get a photo before he landed on the nest. Pride is on the right:



Jewel promptly flew up to roost just above the nest:



Pride got right to work, tearing at and "butchering" the prey. Very soon a curious little fuzzy "Bobble-head" appeared...



...and waited patiently to be fed something which does not appear to be a tasty morsel:



To date, the suspected second eaglet has not been seen, and I saw no evidence that another was being fed.

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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

________________________________________________

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

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