Last stroll through WWS of 2023

Barred Owl, December 29, 2023

A new year begins. May it be rich and meaningful!

As you might know about personal loss, the two months since Terry died have been full of grief with a particular loneliness and longing to talk to him about this remarkable dying experience. John O'Donohue knew of this when he said, "Lonesome for all the conversations we never had," and more. Conversations spontaneously arise in my mind as I wonder what Terry would think. 

When a wave of grief arose, I'd step outside and start walking. To be with the birds and trees. With nature. 

Poet Rainer Marie Rilke's recommendation for when things get turbulent and troublesome: stay close to nature. I have. So here are some things I noticed and photographed. 

I'll begin with the lucky sighting of a Barred Owl two days ago, around 4 PM, across the pond from the butterfly garden in Pineneedle near my place. I've heard it multiple times very early (3 - 5 AM), and then yesterday, I heard caterwauling, so it looks like a pair might nest nearby.

Cormorants on the big pond. Many of them! 

Wood Storks resting. Edge of big pond.

A female Eastern Grey Squirrel. Notice her teats - nesting in a Laurel Oak.

Mourning Dove taking a bath in a puddle.

A pair of Limpkins, north Wildewood. A Limpkin hanging out with juvenile Wood Storks, big pond.

Anhinga catches a fish.

Red-bellied Woodpecker. See the red belly?

Tri-colored Heron, north Wildewood pond near Pickle Ball courts.

Bluejay and Northern Cardinal

So many ducks in the ponds. This is an American Widgeon.

Monarchs finding nectar in Orchid tree blooms. Woodland Village.

European Honey Bee hive, north Wildewood Drive in a wooded area.

The Dombeya tree is blooming, and the bees are delighted!

A bird of a different sort - took a helicopter ride with a granddaughter. What fun! Saw the gulf from a bird's-eye view.

A diverse flock of ibis and heron and, look, a pair of Hooded Mergansers

On a windy, cold-for-me, day this week I headed to a nearby preserve: the Manatee Road entrance to Robinson Preserve. Walking briskly to warm up, I paused at a protected area and discovered a group of birds in the distant grasses: a Little Blue Heron flying in (blueish/grayish legs = little blue), White Ibis (notice their red-pink curved bills) and a Great Egret (right side of photograph; if you could see its legs, they would be black). 

But wait, what is that paddling duck-like bird? 

I took a few more photographs and used What's this bird? to help figure it out. I narrowed it down to Merganser, but what type? Here is another photograph.

They are both Hooded Mergansers. The lead is a first year male and the other is a female. Notice the golden eye and darker bill on the male. The female has more orange on its bill and a darker eye.

Male, golden eye and darker bill.

When that male Hooded Merganser matures, he'll look like this (a black head with a patch of white with that hood appearance).

Female Hooded Merganser (yellow-orange in bill, dark eye):

And now, in the foreground with the female Hooded Merganser, what about this pair of ducks? What type are they? 

They are Female Redheads! (I needed the group to help with the identification.)

On my drive home, I stopped on 53rd to get a photograph of hundreds of female and male Redheads. 

Redhead Ducks hanging out on the edge of the pond with Cormorants.

Though I photographed these birds at the preserve, I have seen them here in Wildewood Springs, too.

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