Waste Plant birds

Black neck stilt watching me.

A pair!

Young roseate spoonbill hanging out in the mangroves.

Cattle egret panting with a great egret behind him ignoring me.

Yes, across the street from where I work is a great big waste plant. Birds hang out where there's lots of trash. There are ditches that run along the side of the waste plant that occasionally attract interesting things. There's always alligators, turtles, moorhens, osprey and lots of different water birds. Recently, while I was out getting lunch, I noticed some black neck stilts around the ditches. The next day I brought my camera and went looking for them after work. I pulled off the side of the road and was able to get a few pictures of a couple that were staying close together. The stilts are very skittish and didn't stay close very long.  While I was there I noticed a few spoonbills and egrets hanging out in a small mangrove island in the middle of the pond. It looks like they were hunkering down to sleep there for the night. Most days I drive by there and don't see anything at all so it's a hit or miss kind of place. At least it's close by.

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Black necked stilts at the waste plant

I found a black necked stilt couple that's been hanging around the waste plant ditches in Pinellas county. I've seen them several times on my way to get lunch and finally one day last week I brought my camera to work and stopped off after work. They are very skittish birds so I stayed back pretty far. As I was walking around in the un-mowed grass, I noticed the below eggs pretty close to the stilt couple. The birds were both in the water looking for food. The below might be their eggs. I've seen other people's pictures of stilts with eggs and always thought "How did that big egg come out of that little body?" The eggs were sitting out in the open so I'm not sure what chance they have of surviving. That grass gets mowed a couple of times a year. Plus there are tons of alligators and other birds of prey hanging around. I'll go back next week and check on them.

Black necked stilts

I have only seen black-necked stilts a few times. They are a type of shorebird but I have not seen them on the shore (or beach as we call it in Florida). The ones I have seen were foraging in ditches and a lake. I found this bird all alone at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. They are very allusive and skittish birds. When they see a human coming they fly off quickly. I was able to snap a few pictures from far away before he saw me and flew off. They are very graceful walking with those long pink legs.

Rainy day wildlife

Night heron in the trees.


Great egret preening.

Spoonbill looking for food.

Black neck stilts and an oystercatcher looking out the window.

American crocodile yawning.

I finally have a day off and it's pouring outside. Where do you go to practice taking pictures of birds when it's raining? The Florida Aquarium. Yes, they have fish but fish are boring. They just swim around in circles. The aquarium has a wide variety of birds in the wetlands exhibit. You can get pretty close to them as they seem to be tame and use to all the noise and people around them. They just keep eating or preening.