Sometime you just need to revisit locally common birds at a really great spot. Today we spent the morning with Tom and Kathi do just that, photographing birds, like this White Ibis.
The last time we were here I didn’t spend enough time photographing Pied-billed Grebes. Today I did.
The head feathers on this Great Blue Heron were quite attractive, the female herons probably were thinking the same thing. The Glossy Ibises were at every stop demanding some attention.
There were even some new plants flowering like this tropical milkweed.
At first look this photo looks like a poorly cropped shot of a large alligator. That should be plural, as the huge one is obvious but it’s small kids are not.
The big one is a presumed parent, and it was huge. The small one in the middle of the channel is one of the kids.
Here are four presumed siblings on shore in front of the parent. Yes, alligators will survive another year.
Near the alligators we found a juvenile Painted Bunting.
Down the road we watched a Peregrine Falcon watching the thousands of coots and ducks. It even took several flights and was unsuccessful at spooking any of the birds into flying.
Sometimes the sun does not help, but you can still capture and interesting silhouette, like this Glossy Ibis.
Rings-necked Ducks were particularly common today. This one is a female.
Boat-tailed Grackles are everywhere, but too many times we pay attention to the males, ignoring the equally attractive females.
I will never get my fill of Purple Gallinules, this one posed nicely right next to our car.
Catching the Northern Harrier gliding in front of us was a treat.
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks are always fun to photograph. There were hundreds along one dike.
Most of the Fulvous Whistling Ducks were in the water.
But we finally found some roosting with black-bellies.
More tomorrow…
Michael's Place 