Late winter clicks & crops

Here in south Florida we have enjoyed clear, dry and sometimes cool weather the past couple of weeks. Dry conditions have lowered the water levels in the wetlands, concentrating aquatic prey and attracting long-legged waders, such as this Tricolored Heron:







Great Egret in early morning flight on March 1st:



Great Blue Heron fly-by the same morning:



Another Great Egret punctuated this view of the north shore:



Mottled Duck coming in for a landing:







Bald Eagle flyover:





The Scarlet Skimmer (Crocothemis servilia), native to east and southeast Asia and said to be the only established introduced dragonfly species, is now fairly common in south Florida: 

 

Julia butterflies became very scarce during the two years following Hurricane Irma in 2017, but this winter their numbers have rebounded. 

Male Julia heliconian:



The female Julia is brownish in color and has stripes which go entirely across its forewings:



Zebra heliconian, Florida's State Butterfly:



On the home front, a female Anhinga dried her wings on the goose decoy which serves as a float for the intake of our lawn irrigation system:

 

On March 7th, we had early routine dental appointments which caused us to be home for a particularly colorful back-yard sunrise:





The next day was cloudy. Overnight, the All Terrain Vehicle drivers had fun inscribing "donuts" on the gravel path. This one was almost a perfect circle:



Out an hour before sunrise, we heard the songs of the Eastern Whip-poor-wills, sometimes two or three at a time. This winter I first heard them in November and they finally departed on March 9. Click here for a link to a recording I made on March 4.

Then, on March 15 another Night-jar, the Chuck-wills-widow which breeds here, took up the predawn chorus. So far I have been unable to get a photo of these two nocturnal birds. Since 2009 I have recorded 178 species in this patch and taken pictures of nearly all of them on site.  Another local bird in my "heard but not photographed" category is the Great Horned Owl, although I have seen them at other  locations.

Great Horned Owl, (2018, Illinois):

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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

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

When I am out in the Wounded Wetlands of western Broward County, Florida, I do not have high expectations that some rare bird will suddenly brighten my day. 

Actually, working a "patch" might seem boring, yet I have recorded ("officially" per eBird) 171 bird species here since I started regularly posting trip reports in October, 2009. All but a handful were also photographed on-site. A number of species were seen rarely or sometimes only once.

An immature Reddish Egret appeared in the spring of 2011 and remained for only two weeks. This species prefers brackish estuaries and rarely wanders inland:



Another "one-off" species was actually represented by two captive-reared juvenile Whooping Cranes from Wisconsin which overshot their normal wintering grounds in northern Florida:



A flock of 15 American Goldfinches, a species which winters in south Florida irregularly, arrived once on December 9, 2015 and departed the same day:



To date I have submitted a total of 1,307  eBird checklists, of which 860 have been from my local patch, a hotspot officially known as the West Miramar Water Conservation Area (WCA). My eBird West Miramar WCA Life List

New additions to the list have decreased over time. I had seen a total of 80 species by the end of 2010, added 27 more in 2011, 13 in 2012, 14 in 2013.  8 in 2014, 15 in 2015, 6 in 2016, 3 in 2017, and only four species (Gray Kingbird, Royal Tern, Chipping Sparrow and Yellow-throated Vireo) this year to date. ADDENDUM (December 13) Only an hour after posting this I added a fifth new species at 6:30 AM, when we heard an  Eastern Whip-poor-will calling just as we started our walk!

Am I succumbing to the Law of Diminishing Returns? Is the "gain not worth the pain?" Time to quit and stop wasting energy?

Gray Kingbird (August 23, 2018):




Yellow-throated Vireo (November 23, 2018):



If my walks were only about counting birds I might certainly get bored. More importantly, they are a time to observe and enjoy the beauty and mystery of nature.

No two sunrises are alike... Pink clouds and fog on November 25, 2018:




An unsettled sky a half hour before sunrise on December 5, 2018:




Sun rising behind the east gate to our patch (November 29, 2018): 



Behaviors are interesting and sometimes unexpected. There is the thrill of the sudden appearance of a Bobcat, deer or even a Coyote...

Male Bobcat on November 19, 2018:

 

...and of finding beauty in the commonplace and the smallest of things.

Who would have known that there is a moth which resembles a wasp? Polka-Dot Wasp Moth-Syntomeida epilais:



The smallest of our dragonflies also imitates a wasp, waving its wings slowly in a very menacing manner.  Eastern Amberwing - Perithemis tenera:



I bumped into a wild pea plant with seed pods which rattled with a sound like pebbles rolling in a paper cup. I learned that is is quite poisonous. Flowers and fruit of Smooth Rattlebox, Crotalaria pallida:





Later I found an unusually beautiful red patterned moth which requires that same plant to host its larvae, which themselves are protected by the noxious substances they ingest. Bella or Rattlebox Tiger Moth -Utetheisa bella:



I admire the delicate beauty of the flowers of the Bent Alligator Flag, a plant related to members of the Arrowroot family: bananas, cannas and the Bird of Paradise. Their zig-zag stems reach up as high as 8 feet. 









Tiny insects are lured to their blossoms and are momentarily trapped and dabbed with pollen before being released so they may cross-fertilize other flowers. 

The insects attract Palm Warblers:

 

Purple Gallinules eat the flowers and seeds:






I learned that this plant serves as host to a particular butterfly species, the Brazilian Skipper, whose leaf-rolling caterpillars also  inflict great damage to cultivated cannas and other members of the Arrowroot family:




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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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Crops & Clips: Flashback to July, 2015

Once again, I am digging into the photo archives from three years ago, and finding images to depict my favorite memes: critters of all kinds, clouds, skies, reflections, fences, the seasons -- and scenes that speak for themselves. We started out the month at our condo in NE Illinois.

The creek in Glenwood Park, Batavia, on July 2:



Butterfly Weed at Lippold Park:



Yellow and gold adorned the prairie and its inhabitants.

American Goldfinch:





Common Yellowthroat:



Male Bobolink:



Female Bobolink:



Dickcissel:



Eastern Meadowlark:



Cedar Waxwing:



Black-eyed Susan:



Sunburst and clouds over Nelson Lake in Batavia:



We returned to Florida in mid-July, but found gold here as well, in this Needham's Skimmer:

.

A Great Egret reflected on the lake's still surface:



White Peacock:



A Wild Hibiscus bloomed at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge:



Smooth-billed Anis nested at Loxahatchee:



Close-up crop of the ani:



Buttermilk sky over the local Wounded Wetlands on July 30:



End-of-month Phaon Crescent:



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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

________________________________________________

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

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