Great Blue Heron “Teenagers”
Great Blue Heron and Mini-Me
When the Great Blue Heron chicks start to resemble their parents, I call them “teenagers.” They’re awkward looking, gangly, yet beginning to show the graceful plumage of the adult.
“Teenager” trying out its wings
As you can see, this nest was conveniently located near the boardwalk at Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Boynton Beach, Florida. These birds court, mate, build nests, feed chicks, and fledge with binoculars and lenses recording it all. Read the rest of this entry »
Great Blue Heron Family
Great Blue Heron chick
Although I can’t be at Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Boynton Beach, or Viera Wetlands in Florida to watch the heron babies right now, I did take advantage of this involuntary down time to edit photos I took six years ago at “Wacky.”
The Great Blue Herons, as well as cormorants, anhingas, and others nest in close quarters on small shrub islands in this reclaimed wetlands. Obviously it’s a birder’s paradise! Read the rest of this entry »
Lake Kissimmee Sunsets
Montage of 3 photographs – Sandhill cranes and sunset at Lake Kissimmee, cypress trees at Lake Martin, Louisiana
The above image is one of my favorites. I visited the Joe Overstreet Landing on the shore of Florida’s Lake Kissimmee in 2008 and 2014. I know I’ve posted about this place before, but it’s one of the best spots on the Great Florida Birding Trail – particularly if you take an airboat ride to see snail kites, limpkins, bald eagles, American bitterns, and the like.
These sunset images are from the landing, where you can pitch a tent or park an RV for a very reasonable fee.
Day is done,
gone the sun,
from the lake, from the hills, from the sky;
All is well,
safely rest,
God is nigh.
– lyrics to “Taps”
These are the sandhill cranes used in the montage
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Website: CindyMcIntyre.com
Online gallery: Smugmug and Fine Art America
These photographs available here and here
Original hand-painted BW photographs for sale: Etsy
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Foggy Morning Near Lake Kissimmee
Fog transforms even the most mundane landscape into a place of mystery and poetry. Not much needs to be said about these images, done along Joe Overstreet Rd. leading to the shore of Lake Kissimmee, Florida.
Feel free to reblog or share
Website: CindyMcIntyre.com
Online gallery: Smugmug and Fine Art America
These photographs available here
Original hand-painted BW photographs for sale: Etsy
Join my Facebook Page
Contact: cindy at cindymcintyre.com
I’d Hate to Be an Anhinga
Anhinga baby with large fish in its throat
I don’t know about you, but this photo creeps me out. In addition to the anhinga chick being downright ugly in the face, the eye of the fish gaping from its throat is too unsettling. I had just watched this baby wrestle the fish out of the throat of its parent. And I mean WRESTLE.
Anhinga chick wrestling a fish from its parent’s throat
You see how far the chick has to dive into the father’s throat to retrieve its meal. Eeewwwww. And it really worked at it. I thought maybe the parent’s throat would be torn, as frenetic as the fishing expedition was. I know many birds, such as herons, feed their chicks like this. But this was just plain hard to watch. Read the rest of this entry »
Monk(ey) Parakeets
Monk Parakeet at feeder, Boynton Beach, Florida
Some folks love these loud, noisy exotics. Some people hate ’em. The Monk Parakeet is a pet shop escapee (or likely set free by owners who tired of them) and is now a staple in Florida and other states. It is also called the Quaker Parakeet or Monk Parrot.
They live and travel in flocks, and can be quite entertaining. They are also a nuisance when they build their nests in transmission power lines and cause electrical shorts. Read the rest of this entry »
Blue, Blue, My Love is Blue-Winged Teal
Male blue-winged teal flaunting his blue
Yeah, it’s an old song but I couldn’t help it. My two favorite bird photography sites are in Boynton Beach, Florida – Wakodahatchee and Green Cay Wetlands. Both are reclaimed wetlands and have attracted an amazing bounty of birds and reptiles – most close enough for a decent 400mm photograph.
I was fortunate to be able to return this January for images with my Nikon D600, but there are also images here from 2008. You see, I used to travel South to do art shows in the winter, and stayed with another artist friend there. I am still amazed that this highly developed area, with hundreds of gated communities and a block of shops on nearly every corner (or so it seems), is so hospitable to wildlife. Today I am highlighting the blue-winged teal. Read the rest of this entry »
Lovin’ the Limpkins
Mama Limpkin, Green Cay Nature Center
” Its screaming cry is unmistakable and evocative.” – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
My friend in Boynton Beach, Florida who is kept awake by the male limpkin’s territorial screech at night isn’t too compassionate that the species is considered of “special concern” due to habitat loss.
Limpkin calling
The limpkin thrives on native apple snails and freshwater clams. In the U.S. it only breeds in Florida, but they are common in Central and South America. Although limpkins resemble herons and ibises, they are more related to rails and cranes, and are in a taxonomic family of their own. Read the rest of this entry »
The Oddest Little Baby Birds I’ve Ever Seen
Common Gallinule newborn chick, Green Cay Nature Center, Boynton Beach, Fl
First off, I was fussed at by a snobby birder in the Everglades a few years ago when I called this bird a Common Gallinule, since by then the American Ornithological Union had changed the name to Common Moorhen. See, I learned my birds 50 years ago, and I still have a Peterson’s Guide with the original names. However, in 2011 the AOU changed the name back, to distinguish it from its European relative. So there, Miss Snobby Bird Lady.
Funny Duck with the Blue Bill
Male Ruddy Duck
The ruddy duck is a somewhat comical-looking bird, albeit a very handsome one. The big blue bill of the male in breeding finery doesn’t match the ruddy body feathers. Even the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website calls breeding males “cartoonishly bold.”
This photograph doesn’t show the long stiff tail held at a 45 degree angle which helps identify this bird from a distance. Read the rest of this entry »
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