Always a lot of vultures on the trails here.
Tons of hawks too.
Many green herons.
Soon there will be more moorhens.
The usual glossy ibis, wood stork with a stick, a snowy egret and a juvenile night heron all hanging out in the marsh.
The sky is always full of osprey.
At Circle B Bar Reserve.
Great egrets and spoonbills were in the air and in the muck.
Bittern, limpkin, anhinga and wood stork on the trail.
A house wren hiding in the bushes.
Coot with cool feet.
A kingfisher actually sitting still.
Purple gallinule eating something yucky.
Lots of activity in late March at Circle B Bar Reserve but nothing unusual.
The anhingas are always along the trail striking a pose.
All of the usuals: green heron, wood stork, snowy egret and limpkin.
I’ve been seeing the purple gallinules on a regular basis in the same spot. The one with the tan face is a juvenile, not yet fully purple. Probably born last spring.
An uncommon blue headed vireo.
A few flying things on my walk at Circle B Bar Reserve in early February.
Scruffy looking baby egrets. I think these were snowy egrets.
Baby blue herons sticking close together.
Baby anhingas already grown up.
Tiny baby wood stork on the nest.
Baby great egrets in various stages of growing up.
I was watching this almost grown baby great egret exercising his wings. I don’t think he had fledged yet. He kept practicing flapping but never made it off the bush. He was probably gone in another day or so.
It’s fun watching the baby birds grow up in the bushes along the lake at Gatorland. The trip in late May provided babies from all stages of growing up.
Cattle egrets have their flirting makeup on.
The tricolored herons were showing off as well.
The snowy egrets were still in the early flirting stage.
The storks across the lake already had their babies.
This great blue heron was too busy stuffing his face to care about nesting.
I love the way the birds all change colors during the nesting season. Their feathers and faces get brighter. I didn’t make it to Gatorland in Orlando this year until early May. This was my 7th spring to visit the bird rookery there over the alligator lake. The great egrets nest first and most of those babies were already grown. Cattle egrets and snowy egrets were just having their babies. Tricolored herons were sitting on nests but didn’t have any babies yet. It’s always fun to see the birds all interacting together. And yes, I took a ton of pictures that morning so there’s more to come.
Great blue herons were all over the park. Including several sitting on nests.
A green heron was stalking something.
A sparrow hiding in the bushes.
The only black bellied whistling ducks I saw. The park use to be full of them. You could hear their whistling all over the park. I’m not sure why there are only a few now.
The robins were scrounging on the ground for bugs.
A lost royal tern. He should be at the beach.
A wood stork showing off. He was actually moving his foot around on the ground to stir up the bugs, frogs or snakes to eat.
A limpkin taking a break.
I caught a blue gray gnatcatcher being still for just a second.
A red shoulder hawk up high.
A marsh rabbit on Marsh Rabbit Run trail.
A few things I saw on my walk at Circle B Bar Reserve.
Lots of robins in the trees.
White pelicans were floating around.
Wood duck on a log. He didn’t have a tag on so I’m thinking he’s a wild one that is just hanging out here for the food.
Spoonbill shaking off.
It’s rare to be this close to an osprey. Especially when they are taking a bath. This one was in the big aviary.
This wood stork was missing part of its wing.
Both eagles are missing a wing.
A rare white morph great blue heron was in the main pond. I didn’t see a tag on him. He’s got a beautiful face.
I made my annual winter trip up to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park in mid-January. It was one of the first cold morning we have had. There was lots of bird activity at the park from injured birds that live there to the wild ones that fly in to visit. I took a ton of pictures so more on those to come.
I pass by this little pond coming home from work every day. It sits in front of an office building. Recently I was seeing spoonbills napping along the bank of the pond. A few weeks ago I was coming home from a park right before lunch and saw that they were still there. I pulled into the empty parking lot and got out and snapped a few pictures. I stayed in the parking lot and watched them napping for a few minutes. A few of them would look over at me but most of them kept napping. I sat down on the ground for a while and watched them sleeping. It was very quiet and peaceful. There a lot of young ones mixed in. They are still very pale pink. There were a few ibis hanging around as well. Then I started getting hungry so I headed out for lunch.
One lone wood stork was also with the spoonbills.
High up in the tree, the eagle sits.
So does the turkey vulture but he was showing off.
“Let’s see who has the biggest wings.”
Evan the male anhinga was showing off.
The cormorant said “I’m outta here.”
“Maybe she can’t see me behind this big leaf.” said the limpkin.
The “pretty”pied grebe.
A young wood stork was basking in the sun.
“Funny face”
All of the usual birds were at Circle B Bar Reserve in early March.
This was the first time I’ve seen hooded mergansers at Circle B Bar Reserve.
Tricolored heron reflection
Wood stork out in the marsh.
Baby great blue heron almost grown up, still on the nest.
Cattle egret fly-by.
White pelicans coming across the lake.
White pelicans flying over my head.
Not quite fully grown eagle flying high up.
An adult eagle flying over my head in circles.
It was a rare beautiful morning in late January. This winter seems to be the year of the icky weekends. I know, it could be worse. I could actually be living up north where it SNOWS so I can’t complain. There’s still hundreds of white pelicans at the park but they usually stay pretty far away, across the lake. You have to catch them flying high overhead. It was a quiet morning but a perfect morning for a long walk.
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