Three Kites

Last year, I was excited to observe 1-2 swallow-tailed kites soaring over the house a couple times. This year, in the past few days, I've seen 3 kites land in the pine tree by the front of our house and, today, there were two soaring above the maple tree in the back yard. I haven't seen them attack any smaller feeder birds, or eating one, but why else would they be hanging out? Pretty cool to see them, regardless.

A Rumble in the Rookery

A few days ago, while visiting a mini rookery that hubby had come across in the Flagler Beach area, near the Intracoastal Waterway, things started out innocently enough…

"Because we always eat in order of hatching, Harold, and I pierced the shell first….now Back Off!"

Hun-gree! Hun-gree! Hun-gree! Hun-gree! Hun-gree! Hun-gree!

"What fat juicy bug Maude? Heeeeeeyyyyy!"

"Okay, nex..." Sweet mother of God. Seriously?!

"Aack!! Holy craaa….."

"Right. I'm outie."

"Ma? Hello? Maude what's an obnoxious, ungrateful brat?"

Nearby, child-free Mildred sat quietly, alone on a branchless palm tree, relishing the solitude.

Another grateful rookery resident, this lone immature tri-colored heron. Managed to not get any sharp shots of it. Sigh.

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Meanwhile, back at the child-free cottage...

My only shot of an extremely shy female ruby-throated hummingbird. I've seen her 2-3 times but haven't seen her actually feed.

Big excitement ~ the female downy woodpecker! Have seen her a few times in the past week or so, for the first time. For the past two years, I'd always seen only the male before now.

A Round-About Trip to Jacksonville

Not long after the trip to St. Augustine's rookery, friend Karen and I took a trip up north to Jacksonville and Amelia Island, as it turned out…there are several birding sites along the way and we made several stops to check things out. Overall I'm sorry to say I was disappointed, but we did get an eyeful of nature…

Just no male painted buntings like I was hoping...

My favorite shot of the day was this laughing gull at Huguenot Memorial Park…

(Just look at that saucy red lipstick!)

A gulf fritillary …. uh, somewhere…

We saw this cottontail on the trail to Boneyard Beach on Big Talbot Island...

The beach had a lot of "driftwood"…more like dead trees, hence the name…not a common sight in FL…

(Decided to do this shot in B&W, didn't like the colors)….

Seeing jellyfish washed ashore isn't so rare, however…but then again, seeing one in one piece isn't so common, for me at least…

Also saw this interesting hollow tree….

On a path to Amelia Island Beach, we encountered this baby gopher tortoise…it was marching along, stopping briefly to eat along the way...

Meanwhile, closer to home…near Flagler Beach, we saw this pileated woodpecker near the boardwalk that goes to the Intra Coastal Waterway…might be the same one I saw last time I was there...

I'd never noticed fiddler crabs before, below the boardwalk in the marsh muck…Karen pointed them out to me. Don't think I'd ever seen a fiddler crab before! (If memory serves me right, which is highly debatable, I'm sorry to say.)

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Back at home, the avian nursery work has been in full swing…this pops was gathering grub around my hydrangea bush...

Mayme I canph stuff oneph phore fug in myph mouph...

The Rookery ~ Part 4

Ok, this is my final entry for my visit to the rookery at St. Augustine Alligator Farm…last but not least, the tri-colored heron…and some odds and ends…             

Ok, about those odds and ends...There were a few wood storks…they must've been exhausted, having to bring all those babies in, eh?  Wink-wink.

One interesting pair of residents (?) were these white-cheeked pintail ducks…Da whaa? You may ask blank-faced…this duck belongs in the Caribbean, S. America, and the Galapagos Islands…it's a vagrant (just look at that devious leer) to Florida…apparently it's called the lesser Bahama pintail in Florida and the Caribbean (an alias to go with its vagrancy)…the ducks were on a tiny "pond" near the alligator pit and there was a name plate for them, but they weren't actually caged in…guess they really like the security system on hand…(did I mention that "the pit" holds 42 gators? A few of them were roughly the size of a cruise ship…)

…There also happened to be a pair of "normal" (Northern) pintails on hand, also with their own name plate and also free to leave...

…I sheepishly admit that in the past two years in Florida, I kinda knew, kinda ignored the fact that the boat-tailed grackles aren't the only grackles in the state…but in S. Florida, where we lived our first six months here, the boat-tails were all I saw…and heard…if I ever saw the common grackle before this visit to the rookery, then I didn't realize it so technically this is a lifer…the commons are 4 inches smaller than the boat-tails, and they come in "purple" and "bronze".

The Rookery ~ Part 3

As you can see, this post is all about the Great Egret, in all its snow-white glory! To be honest, I'm rather annoyed with myself and my amateur ways with the camera, plus the fact that I arrived at the rookery too late in the day and the light was too harsh. Clearly these photos are lacking in color/light correct-ness…but you get the idea. The birds and hatchlings were impressive…

Preening even in the nursery…Looks like a wedding gown...

…Appears to be several expectant parents…

These nestlings appear to be checking themselves over…"Long neck, check!" "Long legs, check!"…
This was the best shot I got of the great egret babes...

Yep, we're okay…so, Mum! Hungry!

None of the hatchlings would cooperate for a photo shoot, but still…
Gotta love the fluff 'n fuzz!

…Lots of parents in the egret department...

The Rookery - Part 2

…But first, I have to announce that the swallow-tail kites are back for the summer! I've seen 3, but no photos yet…always seen soaring high overhead...

Ok, being able to see the spoonbills and their hatchlings may have been the icing on the cake for my visit to the St. Augustine rookery, but "the cake" would be getting home, cropping photos, and discovering that I'd been looking at a reddish egret - white morph, without realizing it! Easy to ID due to the pink base of the black bill...

Update: This is actually a snowy egret, darn it! I was corrected by someone on Facebook when I posted the photo there…I Googled images of the snowy and sure enough, this is most likely a snowy with breeding colors, though the pink can also be red or orange…the bill size makes me think snowy...

…There were a few little blue herons…this one has bright blue eggs in the nest in front of it...

…And there were some snowy egrets…these appeared to be two adults...

I was excited to see a few cattle egrets, but couldn't get any good photos…was esp. excited to be able to see them in breeding plumage at a closer range...

…More to come!