Small birds

So, I tried my hand at photographing small migratory birds today. I wasn’t very successful. It is a completely different beast than photographing larger birds. The small birds flit around constantly. By the time I would locate the bird being pointed out to me, it would have moved on. Looking at the photos on the back of my camera, I was certain I’d captured some of them. However, once I pulled them off the camera, most of them are grainy. I was going from bright light to low light and should have changed the ISO, but failed to do so in the moment. Maybe I’ll get another chance before they are gone.

This first one is a Red-eyed Vireo. These photos were a little less grainy.

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The one below is a Chestnut-sided Warbler. I was sure these were good photos, but they are just too grainy.

I could not catch this Indigo Bunting in the open. It kept hiding behind the leaves.

In contrast to the bright blue, is a pretty red Cardinal.

While waiting for little birds to show up, an orange dragonfly stopped in front of me for a moment.

One of the Bald Eagles stopped by the nest this morning for a while. I hope the nest makes it through the summer wind and rain. The nest is definitely leaning down on one side, though.

Happy Easter 2019

We’ve had a beautiful Easter weekend on Sanibel Island. A storm at the end of the week brought in some cooler weather for a couple of days. Yesterday, we took a walk on the Indigo Trail at Ding and had the chance to get several photos of nesting birds. We also saw this pretty Roseate Spoonbill as we crossed the boardwalk. I almost missed a river otter that came scooting by the spoonbill in the shallow water. I barely got one quick photo of him.

We watched these two Yellow-Crowned Night Herons working together to build their nest. I must have taken 150 photos of them. The nest was easy to see and they were fascinating.

One would leave for just a couple of minutes and come back with a twig and hand it over, then watch as the other one placed it just right. The process repeated several times. I really hope there is enough food now for the birds to produce viable eggs and healthy babies.

They seemed to be courting during the nest building process, fluffing up their pretty feathers for each other.

Searching for the perfect twig!

This young Yellow-Crowned Night Heron watched the nesting process, too.

I love that the male Anhinga is sitting on the nest as the female sits on a limb to the right.

I only had a glimpse of the Tri-Colored Heron below, so it’s not a great photo. But, I love the bright blue on the beak that is part of the mating plumage.

The only photo I was able to get on the drive through Ding is the River Otter below. I guess the birds were busy elsewhere!

On our walk through the Bailey Tract, we only saw a couple of Osprey, but they provided some nice photos.

Those talons and that beak look fierce.

This Osprey landed in the shallow water, then immediately took off and skimmed his talons along the water for a ways before lifting off. It was something I’d never seen them do before, almost like it was just having some fun.

We took a walk on the beach this morning. It was so nice and cool. The water was fairly churned up and the waves were pretty strong. It’s nice to see the uncrowded beaches, again.

These few shore birds were the only birds we saw when we were there.

Someone had left a couple of chairs on the beach, so the beach patrol left them a friendly warning. We are going into turtle season and there are some pretty strict rules for the beaches during turtle season. They’ve had a bad couple of years. Hoping for a great turtle season this year!

I guess if we have to leave the beach, at least we have a pretty path to walk to our car.

Then, back home to get photos of birds around our house.

Muscovy duck and Gallinule Chicks

The human snowbirds are starting to head north and the migratory birds seem to be heading out as well. Over the weekend, I took a few pics at Ding and the Bailey Tract, but I ended up getting some photos of more interesting birds back at home.

Do I look bigger when I do this?

I think these are honey bees on the thistle.

These two Ospreys have been hanging around this dead tree across from our house.

I was surprised to see a Muscovy Duck in the back yard. I’d never heard of them prior to my daughter telling me about them a couple of years ago. People seem to either love them or hate them. However you feel about them, they are not as pretty as other ducks, in my opinion.

There are a couple of mother Common Gallinules nesting near the lake behind our house. Between the two moms they have 7 or 8 chicks. They move so quickly, I wasn’t able to get a good count. The chicks already have the little candy corn nose of their parents!

This Pileated Woodpecker was hanging upside down and working very hard at finding the tasty critters hidden in this tree. I watched him tearing away parts of the tree for a long time.

We’ve seen the Eastern Screech Owl one more time. We hope it is making a nest!

Lots of birds . . . even an owl

A drive through Ding and then a walk through the Bailey Tract yielded several photos of birds today. Then, back home we found an eastern screech owl in the bird box that we hung a few years ago in our yard. All in all, it was a good day for bird photos.

Pssst! We’re getting ready to give the camera-clickers a thrill and fly this coop. Wanna join us?

The Roseate Spoonbills raise their bill to the sky, appearing to test the wind. Once they start doing that, they usually fly soon after.

The neon green on the beak of the Great White Egret is part of the breeding plumage.

The Black-necked Stilts have been seen for a while, but today was my first sighting during this season. They are just so cute with their long pink stilt legs.

The little juvenile Tri-colored Heron was at the Bailey Tract, again.

When we returned home, my husband saw an Eastern Screech Owl sitting in the bird box we had installed in our yard a few years ago. Several birds have checked it out, but other than woodpeckers chopping at the opening, this is the first time we’ve seen any bird sitting in it. Time will tell if it was resting or nesting! Either way, it was exciting!

Today was the first time I’d seen an eagle in the nest in quite a while. The nest is a little worse for wear. The wind has taken a toll on it. I hope they come back next season, strengthen it up, and nest again.