December Birds

We finally saw several white pelicans at Ding, along with a few other birds.

I love when the light is right and a beautiful Little Blue Heron poses perfectly for me!

We watched a Great Egret and a Great Blue Heron have a standoff with a gator at the Bailey Tract. The gator made a couple of advances, but then gave up and went on to search for an easier meal. The birds landed just a few feet from the gator and watched him closely until he left.

Notice the gator at the bottom of the photo.

I had a chance to get a few pics around our home over the last couple of days. There was a pretty little American Kestrel in a tree behind our house. I just found out that the American Kestrel is actually a small falcon. I love the colors and patterns.

On the opposite side of the lake, this Osprey was watching while I took photos of the Kestrel.

At mid-day on a very bright day last week, I saw an eagle in a tree. These photos aren’t great due to the extreme glare, but it was fun to watch. He sat for a minute, then took off and flew around overhead chasing away a buzzard that was too close to their nest.

At the end of my walk one morning this week, this large flock of white pelicans flew by overhead. I only had a minute to run into the house, grab my camera, and get a quick pic.

Happy Thanksgiving 2018

For the most part, we had a cool, overcast Thanksgiving day on the island. We took a trip through Ding this morning for the full moon low tide. Once again, we saw only a couple of birds. It makes me wonder if the fish population was so decimated during the red tide that they have gone elsewhere to find food.

We did get to see a male Anhinga on one side of Wildlife Drive and a female on the other.

In the early morning light, my husband saw this Great Crested Flycatcher at a distance.

We met four very nice ladies who were visiting from Wisconsin. We stopped to see what they were looking at through the trees. It was a Yellow-crowned Night Heron. He looked a bit grumpy. Maybe it was the wind or maybe it was the lack of breakfast food?

We stopped by the Bailey Tract and saw a Little Blue heron in the white phase.

And we saw this Osprey at the Bailey Tract.

Yesterday, i watched four Ospreys overhead at our home. They seemed to be upset over something. Maybe they were trying to claim territory over the nest in our neighbor’s backyard?

We were outside at dusk as the moon rose on the horizon yesterday evening. What a beautiful full moon!

I’ve been watching the eagle’s nest. I think they are incubating an egg. For the last few weeks, they were constantly sitting on the edge of the nest or in the tree. Now, one of them is always hunkered down in the nest and you can barely see the white head and yellow beak. Look for the white head in the photo below, just to the right of center of the nest. Maybe in about 5 weeks, we will see them bringing food to the nest for their baby! Fingers crossed!

First cool Saturday morning of the season

The temp was in the low 50’s this morning, so it was a great morning to be out taking photos. Between Ding Refuge and the Bailey Tract, we saw a couple of White Pelicans, several Tri-colored Herons, an Anhinga and a pretty little Killdeer.

Veteran's Day weekend

We didn’t see many birds this weekend, but we saw a gator camped out at the Bailey Tract. It was probably 5 to 6 ft. long.

To be as big as this gator is, he has surprisingly white teeth! Regular trips to the dentist help!

Back in our neighborhood, I snapped a photo of a hawk and an osprey.

And a quick photo of the eagle’s nest. Surely wish I could get closer! But, at least I can photograph it from a distance.