One benefit of living on a lake in south Florida is that the shoreline serves as the stage for some wonderful performances. Here, the lake is calm as storm clouds gain strength in the northwest behind our home:
Tricolored Heron at Green Cay preserve, Boynton Beach, Florida:
Although they are slender, stand over 2 feet tall (60-70 cm) and have a three foot (91 cm) wingspan, Tricolored Herons weigh less than a pound (334-415 gm).
Warning: "Objects in your binoculars are much smaller than they look." This truism comes home to anyone who has picked up a window-killed warbler or released a banded chickadee. Birds are like puff-balls of feathers and fluff, skin and bones.
The warning changes to "Objects may not fit in your viewfinder" if you add the very long legs and the skinny snake-like neck of a Tricolored Heron.
Back yard view:
John James Audubon's herons stand out magnificently in his "Birds of America" double elephant folio. Since Audubon's bird paintings were all life-size, he contorted the images of herons in order to fit them within the dimensions of the portfolio's pages, which measured about 3 by 2 feet (0.9 by 0.6 meters) .
Here is his rendition of the "Louisiana Heron," now known as Tricolored Heron, from Biodiversity Heritage Library (FLICKR Creative Commons, some rights reserved)
Many of my heron photos were taken at close range in our Florida back yard. The subjects were often only about 50-60 feet away. Since I use a prime telephoto lens they commonly do not fit into the frame even if I back up against the back wall of our home. Unless the heron assumes an Audubon-like posture, my choice is to cut off either its legs or head!
A preening heron does fit the camera's frame:
An immature Tricolored Heron crouches for the kill:
Audubon usually painted from freshly collected specimens, often posturing them with wires. He introduced action and excitement into many of his works. Sometimes his herons seemed surrealistically expressive.
An immature Tricolored Heron sought (without success) to be fed by its parent, chasing it across the lake and to the near shore:
The contortions of the energetic young bird reminded me of the way the great painter arranged his subjects:
An immature Tricolored Heron is reflected in a flooded prairie:
A graceful landing:
Tricolored Heron feeding habits VIDEO:
(If it does not display CLICK HERE)
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Linking to Misty's CAMERA CRITTERS,
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Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James
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Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart
Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue
Linking to ALL SEASONS by Jesh
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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display
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Gray skies can sometimes be a blessing for bird photographers, as they produce less glare and fewer shadows:
On a foggy morning just after sunrise, two white herons foraged in our local wetlands:
One was a Great Egret, almost too far away and too dimly lit for a decent photo. I enhanced this image by layering three different exposures of the original RAW file to increase the dynamic range:
The other, an immature Little Blue Heron, lifted off gracefully:
In better light, another Great Egret posed at the edge of the wet prairie:
A female Julia heliconian sipped nectar from a Lantana flower:
The weather forecast discouraged us from venturing out one morning, and light rain began to fall. Mary Lou caught sight of a "bonus bird" that made up for our missing walk in the wild. A Great Blue Heron foraged along our back lawn at the edge of the lake:
It sighted something interesting:
It lunged, but came up empty...
...and ruffled its feathers:
It then strolled away, paying us no mind:
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Linking to Misty's CAMERA CRITTERS,
Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,
Linking to GOOD FENCES by Gosia
Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy
Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James
Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni
Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart
Linking to Today's Flowers Friday by Denise
Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue
Linking to ALL SEASONS by Jeannette
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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display
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We enjoyed rather temperate but stormy weather for a couple of weeks after we arrived in Illinois in late September. Clouds hung low one morning over the silo at Nelson Lake preserve:
Then, in mid-October, the weather turned cold. Temperatures dropped to near freezing and we had a hard frost overnight. The air was still and we could see our breath when we visited nearby Les Arends Forest Preserve on the Fox River in Batavia. A slight breeze distorted the reflections in this slough along the west side of the river:
A cluster of Sky Blue Asters (Symphyotrichum oolentangiense), sheltered in the undergrowth, had survived the cold, but their days were numbered:
A few White-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) were singing their distinctive lisping songs. They reminded me of the nights we spent in a little cabin deep in Denali National Park, Alaska. It was early June and the night sky remained deep blue all night. Around us, White-crowned Sparrows sang incessantly all night. As the light improved we watched them forage only inches away from our window screens.
There are several subspecies of White-crowned Sparrows. Those we saw in Alaska, such as this one, has white lores (the area in front of eye):
This is one of my favorite photos of this species, taken in Talkeetna, Alaska back in 2011:
This bird, photographed at Rio Grande Nature Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, also exhibits white lores:
Four subspecies of this rather large sparrow are recognized, and intermediate forms are found where their ranges overlap. They are distinguished by presence or absence of black in their lores, bill color and other subtle plumage variations.
Two of the most widespread subspecies are depicted above. Zonotrichia l. leucophrys breeds in the central and eastern portion of far northern Canada and along the Rocky Mountain chain into Northern New Mexico. It has a pink bill and black lores and spends the winter all across the southern US, more commonly to the east.
Zonotrichia l. gambelli breeds in the western part of far northern Canada and Alaska and has white lores and an orange or pinkish orange bill. In winter it usually migrates into the western US and central Mexico.
While most of the White-crowned Sparrows around our second home in northeastern Illinois have dark lores, this one, seen at Fabyan Forest Preserve in Geneva, Illinois exhibited white lores:
My best photos of this species have been taken from the comfort of the back yard deck at our daughter's home in Batava, Illinois. They maintain several feeders and the birds are quite tame, often perching on the railing or furniture. Note that this bird has dark lores:
This one peers through their back yard fence:
So far I have shown only adult birds. For the first year of its life the streaks on its head and behind the eye are reddish brown rather than black, and the central crown stripe and those over its eyes are light tan rather than white:
White-crowned Sparrows are quite rarely seen in the southern tip of Florida. I was lucky to find and photograph them there on two occasions, in mid and late October two years in a row. All were immature birds. This one appeared on October 23, 2013, a year after my first sighting on October 18, 2012:
This immature visited our daughter's back yard in October, 2014:
This past week the feeders in our daughter's back yard had run out but there was some seed scattered on the deck. Two immature White-crowned Sparrows flew in and perched on the deck railing at eye level only about 4 feet from where I was sitting (photographing a junco in nearby tree).
They were too close to focus and also more than filled the viewfinder of my telescopic lens system, so I cautiously switched on the macro setting. One bird flew but the other remained for a few seconds, enough for a burst of close-ups:
Here is the Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco which was the initial object of my attention:
I have had difficulties with Blogger fonts and formatting and finally needed to re-write this blog using a default template, hence the difference in appearance.
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Linking to Misty's CAMERA CRITTERS,
Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,
Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa).
Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy
Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James
Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni
Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart
Linking to Today's Flowers Friday by Denise
Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue
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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display
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Barely visible, an Anhinga is drying its spread wings in a tree past the far end of the boardwalk at Chapel Trail Nature Preserve in neighboring Pembroke Pines, Florida:
A pair of Anhingas appear to be in the early stages of courtship at the heron rookery in our local wetlands.
The male Anhinga sports a white crown as it transforms into breeding plumage:
The view of his back shows the corrugations in the central tail feathers as well as scapulars. Since it "flies" underwater to catch fish, these may act like "spoilers" on an aircraft to break down laminar flow and thus reduce drag:
The female of the pair has a buffy head, neck and chest:
MACRO of Male with green "goggles" at height of breeding season:
A female in breeding condition also has the green flesh around her eyes:
A male Anhinga at Corkscrew Swamp shows the feather corrugations as well as the oil gland at the base of its tail, which it uses to preen its feathers:
A young Anhinga preens on our back lawn. The immature plumage is dull brown:
This young Anhinga is drying its wings on a the post at the end of the boardwalk at Chapel Trail:
Anhinga on decoy in our back yard lake:
Anhinga casting a fine REFLECTION:
Anhinga feeding young:
This Anhinga seems to be admiring her reflection in the canal:
A closer look:
Slide show-- Anhinga eating a big fish:
If video does not display, click here-- https://youtu.be/nTkc3AfZHnQ
Short video-- Anhinga threat display:
If video does not appear, click here-- https://youtu.be/4G62BcJ_B8c
Excellent video by and property of Richard Kern, shared under terms of the Standard You Tube License. Especially watch for the male's magnificent breeding display. Its transformation reminds me of a Bird of Paradise:
If video does not display, click here-- https://youtu.be/EfoqPIcSQCQ
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Linking to Misty's CAMERA CRITTERS,
Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,
Linking to GOOD FENCES by Tex (Theresa).
Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy
Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James
Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni
Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart
________________________________________________
Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display
________________________________________________