Walks to be with the wild

Great Blue Heron at the water's edge.

I'm reading Our Wild Calling by Richard Louv. It's byline is "how connecting with animals can transform our lives (and save theirs)." I immediately understand the premise and relate to the many stories about connecting with wildlife.

Walks in our precious neighborhood settle my mind. My breath and heart beat slow. Nature soothes. These photographs hardly match seeing and hearing the first cardinal's morning call or noticing the silhouette of a Wood Stork high in a Slash Pine near the pond waiting for what comes next. Still, I take these photographs to remember and show you with a hope that our joy and appreciation leads to care of this extraordinary habitat we all call home.

So, in the last week or so, here are a few things I saw.

Just rounding the corner of Pineneedle, I saw a Red-Shouldered Hawk looking for breakfast.

Flocks of American Widgeons on the big pond. Two males are followed by a female.

This pair, a mixed duck breed and an almost Mallard partner, familiar now to so many of us. Hello old friends.

Lesser Scaups on the big pond.

Not in our neighborhood yet not far away, I drove by the utilities pond on 53rd and noticed hundreds of birds. 

I circled back to use my camera to get a closer look. Ducks, mostly Redhead, Shovelers, Scaup. And White Pelicans.

I was on my way home from an early beach walk where I had one of those incredible encounters - with a Brown Pelican.

I'm happy to have this memory. Terry took a photograph as I sat to enjoy Terns on Anna Maria Island near Pine Street.

Have you noticed the newly added limb to the Barred Owl Nesting box? I hear Barred Owls many mornings and hope so much they will find that spot just right to raise a family of owlets.

Last, a memory popped up on my screen. Last year at this time, a newly hatched small turtle at our front door. Grandson Gavin picked it up and took it to the pond.

August days, walking the beach

Juvenile Great Blue Heron, Longboat Key, FL 

The last few days have been windy. So I headed to the beach.

A pair of Willets walking the pier. 

Great Blue Heron, Paragliding Human, and Brown Pelican.

I've seen Blue Herons around the pond, too. Did you know that a source of food for them is vermin? So they're helping to balance our Wildewood ecosystem.

Tom and Jeanne Higbee recently took a photograph of a Great Blue Heron while at the beach. 

When the surf is rough, the lapping waves are foamy. A White Ibis.

Then, this! At first, I thought one Ghost Crab. No, two! I often see this semiterrestial crab running to hide when I walk the beach. Notice their elongated eyestalks? 

On the ride home, look! A flock of Cattle Egret at 53rd and El Conquistador Parkway. See why it has this name? Tropical herons, they forage at the feet of cattle or riding on its back looking for ticks. 

Connecting with neighbors and birds

Wood Stork, November 2019. The big pond. 

On a recent walk, I reconnected with Renee who lives in Oak Village. She asks, "What did you see today?" 

I tell then ask, "What birds have visited you recently?" 

"There is this Northern Cardinal that comes regularly. I sometimes think it is there to visit my parakeet."

This is a Northern Cardinal I photographed and now I wonder if it's the one that visits Renee's parakeet.

Later, I pass Faith who lives in Springlakes. She told me about a woman who has lived on a nearby street for fifty years (not in Wildewood or Springlakes) and remembers Wildewood Springs and Springlakes as a cow pasture. Plus, she raises monarchs. And then, Faith talked about the big pond and the birds we'll see. 

Here are the birds I photographed since my last post.

Happy Cormorants! A group of cormorants has many collective nouns, including a "flight", "gulp", "rookery", "sunning", and "swim" of cormorants.

These two juvenile Wood Storks sat at the edge of the pond. 

Then, ready to fish again, one stood up.

A Brown Pelican's gaze.

A Pied-bill Grebe catches a fish.

I eventually sat in an area of shade near the pond, though far enough away not to disturb the birds. Just like the birds, I took a breath and break. Soon, a rat-a-tat from above. A Pileated Woodpecker. I spotted this beauty by the flash of red. This is what I first saw.

I used a long-range lens to see how it twists and turns to find an insect lunch.

Busy, busy, busy. Seemingly hiding from my curiosity.

 And then. I caught an in-between hop up the trunk. 

Still busy.

And then, a pause. 

An Osprey.

A Belted Kingfisher. Oh, that rattle call thrills me. 

A Great Egret balances on a tree top.

On my walk home I see a Red-Shouldered Hawk in Wild Palm Village.

In front of the first Pineneedle entrance near the newly planted Blanket Flowers, a Downy Woodpecker pair. The male has red on the back of its neck.

A Tufted Titmouse. Can you find it?

There!

Hello to Tom and Jeanne and a Northern Mocking Bird gets a drink in Woodlawn's pool.

A Mourning Dove. I can hear its call just looking at this photograph.

And then, right on the driveway near the Pineneedle mailboxes and newly planted bougainvillea, a Palm Warbler. It's a challenge to photograph them in the tree canopy. I'll be darn, right in front of me on the ground. With a caterpillar. That's how it goes.

A walk before sunset to check a pond near Sherwood where I often find Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. Many whistlers amongst other duck pals.

Posted 11/29/19

Pre-Thanksgiving pond feast for birds

Tri-colored heron

Birds are feasting at the big pond!

A front passed through and it's breezy and cool. Here is the weather (from the forecast link in the sidebar). 

When this happens, birds visit the large pond in numbers. I heard their delighted calls before I saw them. 

Here is what made me pause. A Fish Crow's call.

And a lot of geese.

Then, the geese took flight. What is that about, I wondered. 

(Look at this Florida fall color.)

I scanned the sky.

This bird landed at the top of a Norfolk pine. An American Bald Eagle!

When the Eagle left, the birds settled. Time to eat. This Brown Pelican (with a Wood Stork) eats fish after fish.

Great Egrets

A Florida Southern Softback turtle poked its head up to check out the action.

Lesser Scaups were in the middle of the pond away from the other birds.

Pied Bill Grebe

So many feathered visitors today.

I watch them as they watch me.

Saturday, November 16, 2019