"Like waves in an ocean everything changes; so I will accept what happens and make it my friend."
I think of that saying when it feels forever hot and humid without rain to clear the air or when I wake agitated and can't shake it. It reminds me that things change. That's a good thing. I know that morning agitation can soften and pass.
Here are a few ways I'm using that "everything changes" thought in birding.
I wondered if I'd ever see a Black-Crowned Night Heron close enough to share here. Then there it was in all its white-plume-head-feather glory! BCNH spends its days concealed by foliage and branches. But, before heading out to forage, it landed briefly on the pond bank. Long enough to get this photograph.
And other noticings.
The Yellow-Crowned Night Heron chicks are now juveniles who've begun exploring the habitat around them.
They found the pond. This is what curiosity looks like in a juvenile YCNH.
What was so interesting? These three. (Excuse the blurry photo! My concern had not yet changed to delight that this juvenile escaped being their lunch.)
The YCNH kids are lousy foragers so far (sticks and leaves). Notice the low pond level. This is normal for spring and drought in Florida.
But that's okay because they're still fed by an adult YCNH twice a day. A juvenile scanning the sky waiting for its meal.
Rain! The pond will fill. A parent of those 3 juveniles stands in the rain.
Storms in the Gulf bring the Magnificent Frigate inland. Here, two overhead. Did you know that they spend their days soaring endlessly over the ocean? Though they have webbed feet, unlike other seabirds, their wings are not waterproof. How do they get food? They steal from birds in midair!
Things change.
See the wood duck box that Steve says holds 13 eggs. Any day now the leap will happen. What leap? Well, it will look like this. Eggs to fluff ball-chicks. Maybe I'll see it to show you.
