We have two adult bald eagles that live in the neighborhood. Despite shooting them extensively in Alaska and on the Hudson River over multiple winters, and with literally thousands of images in the files, its pretty hard to pass them by….
What have we here?
A new sandhill crane nest was recently built on the edge of a pond near the house. Today, it seems to be shocked that there is an egg in the nest. There are actually two eggs and by the next day, they had figured out to sit on them both. So far its been a couple of weeks and both eggs remain intact in the nest…
Strutting your stuff
The bird activity has picked up since Florida’s cold spell. This cattle egret was strutting its stuff..literally a real life copy of the breeding cattle egret drawing on pg 114 in The Sibley Guide to Birds……
South Dakota
While there may not be as many of them as when I was here a decade ago, they are still everywhere!
He’s always there
We have a favorite course we play in the early morning. Every time we play, we drive up to the second hole and there is our buddy behind the tee box making a racket on the dead tree trying to find breakfast….
Don’t Talk with Your Mouth Full
Morale of this story is be ready. Shooting with the Df and an 80-400mm during a round of golf in Western Florida, I came over a knoll to this wood stork. Camera was all set to go, so it was a straight forward click. Critters near golf courses are used to people so they tend to stay put. The fact that he had just caught breakfast was also occupying his attention….
Going back into the files
I have been on a quest (hence very little posting) to reorganize my files and make sure they are properly keyworded. Two recent covers were largely attributable to being able to find existing images fast and keywords can certainly aid in that process.
In going back over images, I have found a lot that bring back memories. This one is of a Greater Antillean Nightjar that I almost stepped on while touring some remote areas of the Bahamas several years ago. They basically just lay their eggs, no real nest as you can see from the second image. And it blends in really well as I never saw it until the last second. It never moved but I did. Then at a sufficient length away not to further disturb it, I shot the image below.
What do you mean its that time of year again!!!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Golf Course Wildlife III
Later that day, this Red-shouldered Hawk paid us no mind as we went by to hit a ball. As we finished he literally flew overhead up to the top of a pine tree to better reconnoiter the area. Two holes later, he was still hanging out on his perch….
Happy New Year!
Ah… a time of resolutions. A time to reflect on the past year. One constant resolution is to keep pushing the photography. Not always easy, but always a resolution.
2015…We had a lot of ice on the Hudson last year. Ice on the Hudson provides great opportunities to see the growing population of Bald Eagles that migrate in each year. The ice flows provide a nice rest stop for them after catching lunch. If you are patient and in the right spot, they will literally flow right by your location as they eat and protect their catch. I remember this day being zero to maybe 10 degrees but well worth it with all the activity. As you can tell, a Bald Eagle with a fish is a magnet for more eagles and this one is clearly ready to protect his meal…