Barb's beautiful view

Wood Stork, photograph by Barb Reis

Stunning Barb.

Today was special. Neighbor and friend Barb stopped by. Oh, how I love to talk to her. She's a birder. She dropped off a jump drive with a few photos to share with you. Let's take a moment to be with her, beginning with a few more photos she took of the stately Wood Stork. 

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Great Blue Heron

Breeding female Anhinga

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

A breeding Great Egret and its Brown Anole lunch. Its breeding plumage shows in the green around the eye, and though not in this photo, long feathery plumes grow from its back.

 

Last, the Brown Thrasher visits an area next to Barb's sliding glass door.

A Great Egret relaxation suggestion

Great Egret, 5.14.22

Like many of you probably, I have a meditation practice to relax my body and mind. Inspired by this Great Egret, we can shake our arms and upper body as a way to begin. Shaking helps release physical tension and gives our nervous system some regulation support. 

Egret's shaking was part of a soak and dip in the pond. The first photo looks like Egret is getting used to the water on its body.

There's something about watching birds that invites forgetting everything except the bird in front of me. After being with the entire soak, dip, and shake, I felt my breath slowing and intuitively looked up. I saw a Magnificent (female) Frigate! 

This is hardly a fair photo to see why magnificent is part of the Frigate's name. Learn more about this huge bird that spends most of its life aloft at Cornell's All About Birds.

A little luck - a Cardinal nest

Northern Cardinal, April 2022

Sometimes I feel super lucky. A Northern Cardinal pair chose the Dombeya in our inner courtyard to build a nest. What's a Dombeya (Florida Hydrangea)? You'll remember with this photo when it was in bloom. 

After blooming, the tree needs to be pruned back. So it looks like this now. Perfect for a nest, right?

Under the garden, a biodiverse selection of plants alive with color and insects, and water bath. 

So, just moments ago from the kitchen front window. I saw the male sitting in the Bottlebrush with a mouth full of seeds to bring to her. The process is like this. Sitting and sitting on that nest calling and calling as if saying "I'm hungry, I'm hungry." Oh my, she is devoted. And he, so serious about his responsibilities.

To create less disturbance, I often leave from the back door and walk through the butterfly garden. Looking out back has some luck in it, too. I saw this Great Egret in breeding plumage, pruning and posing as if knowing I'd show you.

And a Great Crested Flycatcher on the Wood Duck box.

A chilly day , nestled birds - and Marc's photos

Great Egret, breeding plumage, Saturday, January 29, 2022. 

Just before sunset, I stepped outside. I noticed a Great Egret in breeding plumage nestled in the foliage next to the pond. It's chilly. Tonight will be one of the cooler nights according to Dark Sky. 

I walked toward the pollinator garden and saw these two, a Wood Stork and another Great Egret also in breeding plumage. I wondered if it was the other's parter.

Marc Holtsberg had a fascinating birding day, too. He photographed, Great Horned Owlets in a nearby nest (not in Wildewood Springs). 

This is a pair of Red-Bellied Woodpeckers in Wildewood. Marc said the nest was destroyed in the winds.

I checked the Blue Heron nest today, late afternoon. The herons are probably very low in the nest.

Before I came inside from the backyard, Wood Stork gazed my way. Hello beautiful bird.

Wood Storks like most of the species of storks lack a syrinx, a vocal organ, and so, are mute. They clatter their bills against each other as a mode of communication in their colonies and nests. The clacks sound like this. Chicks though are loud in the nest. Their sound is nasally and sounds like a braying donkey.

Cooler temperatures and a little inversion

A Snowy Egret eyes cold-stunned fish, 10/18/21.

Delight! A cold front moved through last night and this morning the temperatures were cooler. As I do each morning, I stepped out the front door to look up and say hello to the sky. I circled around to the butterfly garden. Dawn's light made me gasp. So beautiful.

Hello red passionflower.

Then I noticed birds. White Ibis.

The difference between temps yesterday and today caused a slight pond inversion, which meant birds lined the shore for stunned and slow swimming fish. 

There were Great and Snowy Egrets.

Then many. 

A Great Egret wades in.

Eating was easier. The birds looked so happy!

Maybe its neighbor Betty we can thank for this incredible morning since just yesterday I hugged her "welcome back" and she said, "Susan, where are all the birds?" The birds may have heard her question.

It wasn't just herons and ibis. An Osprey in the tree above them!

There Osprey goes in for the dive.

Here is a photo of the same view, same month and time of day - 5 years ago!

A wonderful flock (ha!) of neighbors photograph wildlife in our neighborhood

Photo credit: Marc Holtsberg, male Pileated feeds a female, likely a juvenile; 

May 15, 2021

There are almost two handfuls of photographers capturing and sharing wildlife wonderment moments while walking in Wildewood Springs I and II and Springlakes*. 

One of the nicest treats is opening my inbox to see what others are discovering and willing to share with other neighbors. 

From Marc Holtsberg's lens - Pileated Woodpeckers.

While walking in the WWS neighborhood, Marc noticed four Pileateds. They were likely adults and fledges flitting and feeding. 

(Marc saw these Pileateds in a different nesting area from last year's nest - last year -one post; another; both 4/2020).

Marc also photographs adults and chicks in the Cooper's Hawk nest on Wildewood Drive. Here is a recent photo of an adult Cooper.

Beth Price's Wildewood Springs Bird eList is HERE. Oh the birds she has photographed! (Her family's place nicknamed "Priceless" is in Springdale.) Here is a photo of an American Robin Beth took in Springdale.

Thomas Couillard and Jeanne Higbee (Woodlawn) send regular updates about the 3 Yellow Crowned Night Heron nests. Thomas keeps track of the hatchings. How? By the egg shells the adults push over the nest side.

Jeanne shared this observation of activity around one of the YCNH nests. With the pair of Barred Owls around, it seems that there is an active negotiation of territory.

Something new tonight. There are now clearly hatchlings in both nests 1&2, which are only about 10 feet apart...Tonight all four parents stuck around after feeding time. Of course, we personify everything, so we decided that they were standing guard after the attention from the owls. But then a heron that is not fully an adult flew in and stayed nearby, too. The adults did nothing to drive it away as they would if it had been a full-grown adult. Then when one of the adults started collecting twigs to add to nest 1, the younger bird followed wherever it went. This went on for more than an hour and the young one was still there when we left. Our hypothesis was that it was one of the young from that tree last year..."

This is a photograph I took early one morning this week of one of the Yellow Crowned Night Herons sitting on the nest.

Betty Pander sent this short amazing video of a monarch emerging from its chrysalis behind her place.

Susan Herman (Pineneedle) recently shared photographs. She photographed an Anhinga, Peninsula Cooter, and White Ibis near her place.

And a Peninsula Cooter Turtle.

Earl Bodman (Sherwood) holding his sweet cat - they were on the way to the vet. When he introduced himself, I recognized his name from his photographs on the WWS I website. 

Earl's photo of a juvenile Bald Eagle from the WWS I website. 

Steve Rymph (Woodlawn) observes the bee box and Wood Duck boxes. He's also created a Butterfly garden near his place. An update in March was:

After clearing out the schefflera I could actually see a [Wood Duck] hen entering the second box...The hens used that nesting box as a "dump" for eggs they did not incubate last year, 15 eggs total. I cleaned the box and added new nesting material over a month ago so I dearly hope someone will settle in. My understanding is the hens will not incubate until they have laid a full clutch of eggs over several days. That way the eggs all hatch at the same time. 

Faith Buell sent updates on a Muscovy Duck nest in Springlakes. Can't place the Muscovy Duck? This is what it looks like.

The WWS I website includes many photographs from other neighbor photographers. To name a few: Earl, Beth Ramsey, Barb West, Tom Turnwald, and Michael Zinda. Michael took this photo of a Great Egret near one of the Wildewood Springs signs.

From my lens this past week, a Florida Soft Shell Turtle laying eggs!

NOTE

* Wildewood Springs is divided into two sections. Wildewood I and II, and includes a third section called Springlakes. There are 14 villages total. Wildewood I includes 558 condo units in Pinehurst, Sherwood, Springdale, Palm Tree, Lakeside, Woodlawn, Oakview, and Oak. These villages are part of the WWS Condo Association.

Wildewood II consists of Tidewater, Timberlake, Lakewood, Wild Palm, and Pineneedle. These villages as well as Springlakes have their own HOAs.