Crops & Clips: November 2012 Meme Mashup

This month's potpourri gathered from the archives features the themes of critters, fences, skies, macros and reflections. This presented a particular challenge. It is a retrospective view of photos taken three years ago, in November, 2012.  As you will learn in a moment, events took an unexpected  turn.

At that time I did not seek to portray each of these memes, so it is to some extent a game of chance. Let's see how far I needed to go into the month to find at least one of each. If I can get them all I will have won the game eleven months in a row since starting in January, 2015. This month's flashback once again produced the required set of images, but not until November 26th

Unusually, we started out the month in NE Illinois, partly to celebrate a large Halloween party honoring our son-in-law. Nearly 200 guests attended and enjoyed a Cuban-style pig roast. In lieu of gifts the event benefited a volunteer agency that assists foster children and their court-appointed attorneys.   

Agramonte, one of two Tibetan Mastiffs in our daughter's household, welcomed the cold weather:

 

We discovered that the landscape surrounding our second home had been drastically changed in our absence. The cornfields that had been fallow for over 10 years and which produced a surprisingly rich habitat for prairie species were being "reclaimed." Within months we would be surrounded by new town-homes and lose our view of the horizon. These are not "good fences" except in the sense that they prevent construction debris from blowing about:

 


Migrating Sandhill Cranes, which usually stopped here, instead flew overhead against a gray sky:





We encountered birds that would not venture into south Florida, such as this Long-eared Owl...





...Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Juncos...





...Red Crossbills...






...American Tree Sparrows...



...and Lapland Longspurs:


 
One of the more impressive "critters" was this Red-tailed Hawk, displayed as a MACRO:



Bundled up against the cold, we birded with our local Kane County Audubon Society group, at nearby Nelson Lake/Dick Young Forest Preserve:






Winter weather on the Great Plains can be extreme, producing dramatic sunsets..

 


...and rainbows over the cornfields:






We had extended our stay to be with our daughter and two granddaughters while her husband was away on a hunting trip in North Carolina. Unfortunately, a deer stand collapsed under him and he broke both of his legs. Roly had to be transported back home for specialized treatment. We therefore remained through much of the month to help them out. Here he is after successful surgery, "walking" in his neighborhood with his daughters and other family members who flew in from Florida and Connecticut:





During our stay in Illinois I failed to capture a single reflection, and my only "fence' was a poor substitute for the real thing. Luckily, our return to Florida, on November 24, produced immediate results. Here is our home, not only including its reflection and that of a backyard egret, but also showing our neighbor's fence!


 
Finally I had a spate of more credible MACRO photos on November 25, unknowingly saving me from "future failure," including a Honeybee...





...and a Zebra heliconian:

 

For the first time over the eight years that we lived there, flocks of White Pelicans and Roseate Spoonbills appeared on the local wetlands! A spoonbill cast a lovely reflection on November 26:





They mixed with the pelicans:





The pelicans fed cooperatively, lining up to herd a school of fish to the lake's margin:





I captured this video of their feeding behavior,  American White Pelicans Feeding Cooperatively (turn the sound down to avoid hearing my New Jersey accent!) If the video fails to load in the space below, try THIS LINK:



https://youtu.be/t7XslbDgSPU



= = =  = = =  = = = =  = = = = =


Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa). 

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 I Heart Macro by Laura

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

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Waiting for the Warblers

Call me lazy, but I like to pick a shady spot and just wait for the birds. This technique works best during migration, when it is impossible to know exactly where a warbler might appear. So, it makes sense for me not to waste the energy looking for them and just let them come to me. Actually there is a rationale for this approach, as birds evolved to notice and react to every little movement in sight. If you stay in one spot they tend to settle down in a few minutes and go about business as usual.

This is exactly what I did this fall. After getting my aerobic walk into the wetlands I dropped behind Mary Lou and headed down along the levee that borders the "wild side" of the canal across from our subdivision. One cloudless morning the sky was bright about 15 minutes before sunrise. At first, only the mockingbirds and catbirds were active.

A Gray Catbird flew in and roosted on a small dead tree only about 20 feet in front of me:

 

Within minutes the first warbler showed up, a female Common Yellowthroat...



...followed by a feisty sub-adult male yellowthroat:



Slight movement in the bushes revealed a Black-throated Blue Warbler, which then stepped out into the first morning rays:



A female American Redstart (we call the females "yellowstarts") was very hard to follow as it scurried erratically between the branches, stopping, starting and changing direction every second:



The redstart's color seemed to change when I processed the photos for "warm" shade or "cool" sunlight:



A male redstart, wet either from a bath or showered by the morning dew that coated the leaves, flared its colorful tail as it foraged in the branches:





I caught a brief glimps (and only one photo) of a Yellow-throated Warbler:



A Palm Warbler captured a juicy dragonfly...



...and paused to enjoy the repast:



A Prairie Warbler looked like a little stuffed toy:


Northern Waterthrushes joined the other warbler species in the understory:



Another  streaked warbler species, the Ovenbird, foraged on the ground:



The Ovenbird was aware of my presence and periodically craned its neck to watch me...



...before returning to its task of turning over every leaf in sight:



A small flock of Magnolia Warblers passed by:



The Magnolias preferred to glean the topmost branches of a Live Oak:



Black-and-White Warblers searched for spiders in the bark crevices:



Black-throated Green Warblers were a "first" at our birding patch:







Northern Parulas have quiet ways and a subtle beauty:







Fall migration is not only about warblers, but I'll save the rest of the story for another post.

For this week's REFLECTION we saw a patch of mangroves reflecting in the bay at Fort Lauderdale:



Our front gate before sunrise provides a  SKY and a FENCE (or at least the beginning of one!) with the crescent Moon and, above it, Venus still visible:



On the opposite horizon, a "false sunrise" brightens the pre-dawn sky over the Everglades. The rays of the sun, broken by clouds over the Atlantic Ocean and converging to the west, reflect off moisture and dust in the cloudless atmosphere:



Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa). 

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 I Heart Macro by Laura

________________________________________________

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

________________________________________________