Osprey misses a fish - Skywatch Friday

I was at Chesnut Park recently and saw an osprey flying overhead. He seemed to be hovering in one spot. A few seconds later he flew down and went for the fish. He came up empty clawed. I was bummed. I'm sure he was too. I thought he would go for another try but after hovering again for a few minutes he flew off across the lake. Maybe it was peer pressure.

These are the first pictures I took with my new camera. I finally bought the new Nikon D7000. After breezing through the manual, I took off for the park. I made a mental list of things to look up when I got home and spent most of the Saturday afternoon studying it. I think I'm going to like this new camera. It takes up more space on a memory card. When I put a new 8g card in my old D90 it would tell me I could take almost 1,000 pictures with it. When I put in a new 8g with the D7000 it said I could take a little over 500. I'm really going to have to keep my files edited down on my laptop.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/.

Chesnut Park birds and animals.

I was walking along the boardwalk and heard a scream. I backed up thinking "that's a hawk close by". I look all around and found the above screaming right above my head.

All of a sudden he notices me. He looks at me like "where'd you come from" and took off.

I found this male anhinga posing on a stump. I like the way his white feathers stick out on his head.

I found this green heron poking around in the reeds.

My goal every time I go to Chesnut Park it to get pictures of the wild deer that live there. This is all I got. I saw it right as it was dashing under the boardwalk and ran deep in the woods. My husband said "Why do you keep taking pictures of deer butts?" Cause that's all I keep seeing. One of these days though...

This small alligator seemed to be smiling at me. Alligators are like dolphins in that they seem to both have a permanent smile on their faces.

Iced fish

Having a bad case of cabin fever, I just had to go out for a walk today. Don't know if it was the early onset of all the cold and snow or what, but for some reason this winter is seeming especially long.

The roads in the local state park are still snow covered and some are closed. I decided to go walk the beach down by the lake to see if anything was hiding out. It was very quiet. Every once in a while, the eerie creaking and snapping of the melting ice would pierce the silence.

The first birds that I noticed were the numerous Great Blue Herons fishing from the edges of the ice.

Great Blue Heron

As I made it down to the water's edge, I noticed a flocks of gulls standing on the ice. Some took flight at my appearance. An initial scan of the flock revealed only Ring-billed Gulls. I continued to walk the water's edge.

With a ruckus, a group of gulls took flight. I could notice that they were fighting over something as they flew overhead. I guess they felt that they had to share their find, as they dropped this right in front of me:

Catfish head

I continued on. I could hear a tapping sound behind me, so I turned around to find this Herring Gull pecking at a fish under the ice.

It managed to pull the fish from the ice. This got the attention of the nearby Ring-billed Gulls.

Hey buddy, this shad is mine!

I am always surprised at the response of local birders in reference to my seeing Herring Gulls in the winter. I have run into at least one in almost every trip here this winter so far.

Heading towards the car, I heard the birds giving a ruckus. I figured there must be a raptor close by and I was right. This Cooper's Hawk was staring right at me.

Cooper's Hawk

The sun only came out for a short time today while I was out, only to succumb to the gray clouds again. So it is I leave you with this picture of two male Canvasback ducks in the setting sun from the other day.

Canvasback

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More white pelicans before they leave

More white pelican pictures from my New Year's weekend trip at Circle B Bar Reserve. Their visit is such a short one that I've been taking a lot of pictures of them. They may leave as early as mid-February. Last year they were almost all gone by then due to the severe cold winter. They must have gone further south to find more food. Since my trip several weeks ago I've heard there are much fewer there now.

Go and check out more MyWorld images at the MyWorld Site!  http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Black bellied whistling ducks

Back in my pre-birder days, I thought all ducks looked alike. They were something that floated and quacked. But then I learned that not all ducks quack. Some whistle. Well, it's more like a wheezing noise. At Circle B Bar Reserve, you can hear them flying across the marsh by that distinct sound. The black bellied whistling ducks should win the duck fashion award (yes, I recently watch the Golden Globes) with their pink legs and feet and pink and orange beaks. The brown and creme wings make a nice pattern as well. 

There's a large quantity of them at Circle B right now. More than I've ever seen there at any one time. They were in small groups everywhere. It's funny to watch them stick their bright pink beaks deep into the mud and pull them out all wet and brown. I'm not sure if they nest in Florida. I hope to see some babies this spring.

Sandhill cranes at Circle B Bar Reserve

On my New Year's eve trip to Circle B, I found a few sandhill cranes out in an almost dry marsh. There seem to be 2 couples that had crossed paths. Normally, when I see them they are just gracefully grazing and ignore me if they see me. These sandhill cranes were strutting around and honking.  Maybe there was a territorial dispute or maybe they just didn't like each other. It's funny how the feathers on the back of the crane fluff up when they are strutting around. That's their "something's going on" strut. I've heard that one of the couples has now built a nest near the trail so I may have to head back to Circle B in the next couple of weeks. Last year, a couple had one baby that grew up there. I didn't see it until it was much older but it was still brown and fluffy.

Winter Wonderland 2011: Estero Lagoon

Well into winter now, it was a treat to have some warmer Florida weather conditions for a change.

The White Ibis above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

It had warmed up nicely to about 70 degrees at the time of my late afternoon visit to Estero Lagoon.

I have attempted to convince occasional visitor Frank Constantin of the preferred lighting conditions at the lagoon approaching sunset while Frank prefers its morning light.

The Reddish Egret juvenile above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

My experience has been that the birding action is more active later in the day as very early risers adjacent to the lagoon possibly scare the wildlife away in the low light conditions before I arrive.

I passed a photographer this week along the lagoon's western edge walking away from the possible action with what appeared to be a 70-300 zoom telling him that he was headed in the wrong direction.

The Willet above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

He replied that it was "martini time" as he was making a bee line for the Tiki Hut.

It is always tempting on afternoon visits to Estero Lagoon to walk south along the beach to the cut the tidal forces from the Gulf of Mexico has made in the beach for the vital regeneration of the south lagoon where the wading birds will congregate for easy pickings.

The Ring-billed Gull above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

I chose to stay at the north lagoon where something interesting always seems to happen as well.

An accommodating Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was a surprise at the spot I settled down at as on previous visits to the lagoon I typically see the species closer to the Holiday Inn and never before on the far side of the lagoon unlike this week.

The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

If you've never had the experience, Florida wading birds in particular may allow you surprisingly close to them while I recommend you simply allow them to come to you.

There were regrettably no successful flight shot opportunities this week although it was with great interest of mine to devote the time to observe the behavior of the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron again.

The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

The species will stalk its prey, always for small crabs in my observations, with almost motionless behavior until the time of the strike.

Once the bird has its attention focused, it will seemingly not be deterred until it gets its meal.

The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

The species often appears oblivious to its surroundings although was distracted with a cracked branch under my feet on one occasion when I wasn't so careful.

This week's visit to the lagoon was with the intent to experiment with a high ISO equivalent setting of the camera while also using flash on occasion.

The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

I found in review of the shots taken a personal preference for several significantly overexposed images, and will attempt to use the technique more in the future.

I'm intrigued by a computer program you might have an interest in, recommended by Kim Komando this week, that is free.

The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

The program allows the viewing of EXIF data (camera settings, time, date, etc.) of a JPEG image which I thought a neat idea.

It is not necessary when viewing my images at pbase as I let you see all that information if it interests you.

The Black-bellied Plover above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

I think a side benefit of the program which can be downloaded by clicking here allows you to keep EXIF data hidden which should be the right of the photographer.

The only information I think might best be discrete is that of the location of a shot to protect the subject.

The Snowy Egret juvenile above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

If a fellow photographer at pbase doesn't divulge their EXIF information, I typically won't review their work as I see half the enjoyment of an image in having a basic understanding of the creation of the shot before any post processing work.

The location of the shot should at least be generally noted for added interest of a wildlife image.

The White Ibis above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

GPS information in metadata is certainly not something to be overlooked if incorporated while a reviewer of the "snoop" program describes it as "great tool to inspect JPEG image[s]."

Back at the lagoon, it was fun to hear the call of a Great Blue Heron (not the most appealing of bird song) that is fairly uncommon to hear as are the calls of other larger birds in the area.

The Great Blue Heron above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

The use of flash had no obvious impact on the behavior of the heron whatever nor has it on any bird I've photographed I'm quite sure.

I note this because of commentary I've heard that flash is frowned upon in bird photography.

The Little Blue Heron above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

The story told to me which I mentioned not too many posts ago seems anomalous.

It was fun as well to observe a juvenile Reddish Egret show nesting behavior with vegetation picked out of the water and toyed with for about 30 seconds.

The Little Blue Heron above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

As the sun disappeared below the horizon, I was greeted with the moon rising toward the east with Roseate Spoonbill observed as a pair in flight in near darkness.

I had little trouble with reflection from the buildings which I recall Frank noting as a concern of his during afternoon photography at Estero Lagoon.

The moonrise above was photographed at Estero Lagoon in January 2011.

A visit to Estero Lagoon has always been rewarding at any time in my experience.