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!

This and That...

How was your Christmas?

As usual, I'm glad it's over with,

But we did have a nice Christmas Day . . .

I haven't really been out taking photos

For several days, so now's a good time to

Post misc. photos...

One of the rest stops along I-75 in the Everglades

Is taken over by a bunch of black vultures...

Creepy, yes, but I managed to get a photo...

Speaking of creepy...

A real common sight

While visiting state parks or

Any nature area with a forest-like setting,

Are huge spider webs overhead,

With these golden orb-weaver spiders

Hanging out in their center...

From back leg tip to front leg tip,

A full grown GOW is about four inches long...

Did I mention that spiders

Are my least favorite creepy crawly?!

Moving along to prettier subjects,

The common primrose willow can be seen

Here and there...

Closer to home, about 3-4 blocks away in fact,

In a McD's parking lot...

I took photos of one of two cattle egret

That were trolling for scraps...

Of all the places

To finally see a cattle egret!

Even closer to home,

This little frog

Had to be rescued

More than once

From BIL Sam's pool...

There are many ducks in the 'hood

Thanks to the large ponds nearby...

They waddle by most days

Ru likes to give them

Bread scraps...

I did a post on my S Dakota Blog

Showing the pair of Eurasian collared doves

That were visiting the feeders...

These doves were first introduced to the U.S.

Here in Florida...

This one's on the street light out front...

We have mourning doves

In the backyard often...

The ibises are occasional visitors thru the 'hood...

We see a squirrel pretty much daily,

Skittering along the fence around the back yard...

And have put peanuts out for it...

The palm warblers are scarce visitors now...

 Boat-tailed grackles are super common...

But it was a unique sight when

A female grackle found a tiny snake

In the backyard near the pool.