The young great horned owls are growing quickly. Last week we checked in on our favorite family and they are still doing great. On Friday we visited an eagle nest for the first time in several months and to our surprise, the eagles had been displaced by great horned owls. In fact, their lone owlet is close to leaving the nest. I’ll post updates as the youngsters grow up.
Last week I had the pleasure of joining a group of some of the top birders in Manatee County, Florida for a field trip to Port Manatee. The trip was hosted by the Army Corps of Engineers due to a number of highly restricted areas. The fields and ponds consist of silt dredged from the shipping canals in Tampa Bay. The silt must be drained before it can be used for fill dirt, so it doesn’t settle at the building site. It’s a very interesting process that creates several small shallow lakes. But the silt can be dangerous. It looks dried and cracked but just under the surface it is still wet and behaves like quicksand.
There are many species of ducks and shore birds that are attracted to the ponds. Ducks we saw included lesser scaup, redheads, ruddy ducks, buffleheads, northern shovelers, green-winged teal, blue-winged teal, ring-necked ducks, hooded mergansers and red-breasted mergansers.
We also saw several varieties of shore birds, but my favorite was an American avocet. It was my first time seeing an avocet. They are close relatives to the black-necked stilt. Like the stilts, they have very long legs and long bills to slide through the water sifting for small shrimp and snails. Most of the birds were beyond the range for good photos but just seeing so many different species made it a great day. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my good friend Art Nadelman for getting us connected with the group.
A few more pictures from this journey are featured below. For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.
Yesterday turned out to be a great day to capture some photos of a female great horned owl guarding her nest. Great horned owls usually find the absolute worst spot in a tree for a successful photograph. It seems like they always want to sit on the darkest branches facing away from the sun amongst the sticks and Spanish moss which means lousy photo opportunities. But yesterday we caught a break. A female was sitting outside her nest filled with two new chicks watching over the area. Best of all, she was out in the open with good lighting!
We watched her and her mate all summer but lost track of them a couple of months ago. Two weeks ago, we were trying to locate them and heard a call coming from a tree but simply couldn’t find them. As it turns out, she was calling from her nest which was located in a crotch of a pine tree and covered with Spanish moss. She was completely hidden from view. What a joy to finally see her and her two new babies.
I mentioned in my previous post that we found a very large flock of green-winged teal ducks on Thursday. Finding the green-wings completes the “teal trifecta” for me for 2021. There are 3 species of teal in North America – blue-winged, green-winged and cinnamon. Two weeks ago we found a cinnamon teal which is a rare sight this far east. There were blue-winged teal with the cinnamon teal. We see the blue-wings frequently. Although green-winged teal are fairly common in this area, they’re often tucked away on ponds or marshes that are inaccessible except by boat.
These were the first green-winged teal I’ve seen in over 30 years. They are beautiful little ducks. I’m hoping to get back out and attempt to get closer to them. If I’m successful, you’ll see the results right here.
One of my favorite places for nature photography in this area is Myakka River State Park in eastern Sarasota county. It is a huge park consisting of 37,000 acres with the Myakka River cutting through the center. Along the way, the river is dammed creating a large lake and vast wetlands. There is a wide variety of wildlife in the park. It’s common to see deer, eagles, ducks, spoonbills, wading birds, turkeys and plenty of alligators.
This past week was another great visit. In addition to seeing most of the wildlife listed above, we also came across a large flock of green-winged teal. More to follow in a separate post.
A few more pictures from this journey are featured below. For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.
I spent the last two days photographing a pair of bald eagles with their two new chicks. The nest is in the open, so photo opportunities are amazing. The parents stay busy. We watched them hunt for fish and today they brought back a whistling duck. When they’re not feeding the chicks, they fly off to grab clumps of Spanish moss to line the nest. Like people parents, they occasionally get to rest, sitting atop one of the trees next to the nest.
A few more pictures from this journey are featured below. For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.
This past weekend I had the opportunity to photograph a cinnamon teal. It’s a bird I have never seen in the wild. Cinnamon teal are seldom spotted east of the Mississippi River so finding one here in Florida was a real treat! They are beautiful birds, especially in flight where you can see their light blue wing patches and green speculums. Unfortunately, this cinnamon teal was feeding on a grass bed in the middle of a small lake which made photographing a challenge. These images are heavily cropped which sacrifices detail.
Cinnamon teal like to feed by skimming for plants right under the surface so most of the time their head is under water. When they come up for a breath, it’s only for a moment before they shove their head back down again to return to feeding. Thank goodness for digital cameras because I couldn’t afford the film and processing to capture this bird!
A few more pictures from this journey are featured below. For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.
The other day I posted about seeing several birds this season that are very uncommon in Florida. Black-chinned hummingbirds are typically found in the western states, most often across the rocky mountain region. While most migrate to western Mexico, there have been sightings across the gulf coast in recent years. We were fortunate to see two feeding on an orchid tree.
A few more pictures from this journey are featured below. For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.
I recently had the pleasure of capturing some fun birds in flight images with my neighbor and artist, Jerry Horine. We found an active area where wood storks were moving from their morning roosting spots. Storks are great targets because they tend to slowly glide a long way before landing. I also never realized how the edges of their wings had a green iridescence.
A few pictures from this journey are featured below. For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.
It seems each year we are seeing more birds that are seldom seen in Florida. Most of the birds are typically found much farther west. This year has been no exception. A few of the uncommon sightings include a black-chinned hummingbird, black scoter ducks, ash-throated flycatcher, scissor-tailed flycatcher and scaly-breasted munias. We even had a juvenile munia visit our millet feeder last week. Thanks to my good friend Art Nadelman for help with the identification!
2020 was a good year for at least one thing. I put my bird feeder up in late October and attracted a male painted bunting in full color in early November. To our delight, he has stayed with us since his initial visit. I have been on a mission to get a photo of him when he is NOT on the feeder. After almost 2 months, I finally succeeded!
For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.
It’s been a while since the last post. And there has been a lot happening. I’ll break out the specifics in separate posts, but I wanted to report that the migration is in full force. We have been seeing numerous visitors for several weeks including many species of ducks. The robins have been everywhere. Some of the migrants have continued south and will return in the spring. Like the snowbirds, others will stay here usually until March before heading back north.
A few more pictures from this journey are featured below. For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.