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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Saharan dust

South Florida has settled into a rather boring but typical wet season pattern following the spate of tropical storms which culminated in Elsa. We are also in the middle of the Saharan dust season. Dry air masses laden with dust have been coursing over from the African continent. This has the welcome effect of reducing the intensity of the tropical storms which spawn cyclones in the eastern Atlantic ocean.

Visits to nearby Chapel Trail Nature Preserve were not very productive. The high water levels dilute out aquatic prey and wading birds are free to forage over a much greater expanse. 

Often I can find a dozen or more Gray-headed Swamphens, but this morning there was only one:

A pair of Northern Cardinals foraged on the boardwalk for the fallen fruit of an overhanging tree:

The male cardinal perched on the boardwalk railing near an interpretive sign:

A male Anhinga, partially hidden in the spike-rush, dried his wings:

A juvenile Red-bellied Woodpecker searched for food on the trunk of a small tree:

White-winged Doves nest along the boardwalk:

Swamp Lily:

Brown Basilisk:

The Sarahan dust is said to stabilize the weather, which has been rather monotonous, with warm days and nights along with intermittent "pop-up" showers. This past week's forecast was remarkable (32.2 to 25.5 Celsius):

The dust can produce very colorful sunrises and sunsets. Fifteen minutes before sunrise this past Saturday morning, the unseen sun was reflecting off a pink mass in the upper atmosphere:

Within minutes, sunlight had illuminated the expanse of the dust cloud:

While the sky directly overhead was otherwise clear, storm clouds were lined up along the Atlantic coast to the east. The shadows of the tops of the clouds broke the rays of the rising sun. The rays reflected off the dust layer and converged over the Everglades on the opposite (western) horizon. The anti-solar rays were creating a "false sunrise," so I hurried to the lake to catch the reflections on the still water:

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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

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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 June, 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.

It was a busy month, in which I processed almost 900 photos, beginning at our (then) second home in NE Illinois, returning to Florida for three weeks before going back to Illinois. 

My first subject was a rather common bird at Lippold Park in Kane County, a European Starling. It is a male, indicated by the depth of iridescent color and the blue at the base of his bill:



A Baltimore Oriole provided a last flash of color before we returned to Florida:



Lippold Park had undergone some improvements, including a pavilion overlooking a boardwalk which traversed the wetlands:





We returned to Florida on a rainy June 3. The next morning a Snowy Egret posed on our back lawn:



At the local rookery, a Green Heron gazed inquisitively:





At the Bald Eagle nest, the two eaglets, now about 120 days (17 weeks) old, had fledged in late April and early May. They continued to return to the nest to be fed as they gained hunting skills. We have observed this behavior to be common when there is more than one eaglet, as it is a more efficient way for the parents to feed and protect their brood. 

The younger (male) eaglet was resting on the nest on June 8...



...as his sister flew low over the area:



In our back yard, a White-winged  Dove roosted on a metal pole: 



A Loggerhead Shrike replaced the dove on the perch:



In nearby Weston, the Wood Stork colony was a busy place. Most of the birds were juveniles (distinguished by their feathered heads and light beaks) waiting for parents to bring in food:

 





Tricolored Herons had successfully raised many young, which clamored to be fed:







An adult rebuked an over-demanding fledgling:



A White-tailed Doe waded across the wet prairie in our neighborhood patch:



A Swamp Lily casts a nice reflection:



Then back in Illinois to finish the month, we visited Nelson Lake prairie:



We caught up with the Dickcissels, which had not arrived until early June. They are hard to pin down, but so photogenic:







Other prairie birds included the Grasshopper Sparrow...



...Savannah Sparrow...



... American Goldfinch female...



...and male:



Along the wooded border we saw an Indigo Bunting...



...and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak:



Common Buckeye:

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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
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