Yellow-crowned Night Heron on Wekiva River

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

This afternoon after work I took a kayak down the Wekiva River for about an hour to see what I could find for my June Challenge (finding as many birds as  you can in one county during the month of June).  It was really fun to find a Yellow-crowned Night Heron nest.  I saw one adult with two chicks (the photo below shows one pretty clearly and a bump for the second. Unfortunately, these are the best looks I was able to get of the birds--a somewhat cluttered background, but these are the first I've ever seen in Seminole County, so I thought I'd share.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Maryland Landscape

Trees with Rolling Hills

One of the things I miss the most about Maryland is the scenery. I love the rolling hills found throughout the state. This photo was taken on some farmland in northern Baltimore County. For this shot, I waited for the sun to strike the foreground trees while the clouds cast a shadow near the bottom of the background hill to help separate the two hills. Also, they're growing barley on the farm, so I also had some fun photographing some of the barley. These photos were taken with my point and shoot Canon PowerShot S100 HS.

Barley

Occoquan Bay NWR, 6/11/2013

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

I'm up in Virginia visiting my parents, and so my father and I decided to visit the Occoquan Bay NWR, which is a wonderful area to visit.  We walked a couple miles from the parking lot to the Potomac River and back, and saw some pretty fun things. We heard several Yellow-billed Cuckoos there, and we saw a couple of them. One in particular came out in the open a few times to give me my best photos of the species. We also heard an Acadian Flycatcher, and probably a couple of them, and one came out in the open long enough for a couple photos.

Acadian Flycatcher

Near the shore of the Potomac we found a couple Prothonotary Warblers, right in the same place I'd seen them here last July. These are one of my favorite warblers.  I love their "sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet" song.

Prothonotary Warbler

By the parking lot we found a couple Yellow-breasted Chats. They were here when we arrived, but it was too cloudy for presentable photos.  When we returned, though, the sun had come out and allowed for something, at least, even though I couldn't walk to where the sun was behind me.  I've seen these chats a few times before, but I've never  had the opportunity to take photos, so even though I couldn't get the sun behind me for this photo, I'm glad just to have this.

Yellow-breasted Chat

June Challenge Begins

Osprey
Central Winds Park

So June Challenge has begun.  If you're not a Florida birder, June Challenge is a friendly competition among birders.  You choose a county and find as many birds as you can in the county during the month of June.  June is hot, and migration is pretty much over.  I had some time go out yesterday, and a little time this morning.  Highlights so far are seeing a Chuck-Will's Widow and a Great Horned Owl at the Econ River Wilderness Area and also seeing a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Bachman's Sparrow at the Lower Wekiva River Preserve.  It was also fun to see a bat crawling up a tree.  I've never seen one outside during the daytime before. Ospreys and Great Blue Herons are common year-round here, but it's still fun to see them.

Great Blue Heron
Central Winds Park

Bachman's Sparrow
Lower Wekiwa River Preserve

Common Ground-Dove
Lower Wekiva River Preserve

Some Kind of Bat
Lower Wekiva River Preserve

Flora at Spring Hammock Preserve

Tropical White Morning Glory
Canon Powershot S100 HS

I've fallen behind.  I took these photos about 4 days ago when I visited Spring Hammock Preserve, and I'm just now uploading them.  Cabbage Palms are pretty; their radial patterns are really fun, and they seem to be more photogenic up close than other palms.  And these Morning Glories are also blooming.  This one is not in full bloom, but I kind of like the way they look when they're like this. Both of these were taken with my point and shoot camera. Hopefully I'll catch up soon.

Cabbage Palm
Canon Powershot S100 HS

Swallow-tailed Kites in Dade City, FL

Swallow-tailed Kite

This morning I drove out to Dade City to look for Mississippi Kites that were seen there yesterday. I got there around 8:30 am, and by around 9:30 am, the area was swarming with at least 40 Swallow-tailed Kites.  Then off in the distance, I saw my first Mississippi Kite.  It was very far away; one person with a scope was able to identify it, and one of my photos worked well enough as an ID shot, but it was just too far away for presentable photos.  But that was a lifer for me nonetheless.  The Swallow-tailed Kites were much more photogenic, and a couple  flew pretty close to us in search of prey.  I've never seen so many Swallow-tailed Kites in one place. Most were flying low over the grasses, allowing for some photos of the kites with green backgrounds.

Swallow-tailed Kite

 I'm always amazed at how well they use their tails. They can rotate them almost vertically as they're turning. After they capture their prey, you can often see them eating it while flying.

Swallow-tailed Kite

Swallow-tailed Kite

Swallow-tailed Kite

Swallow-tailed Kite

Eastern Towhee at the Econ River WA

Econ River Wilderness Area

This morning I got up early and went to the Econ River Wilderness Area, hoping to see or hear a Common Nighthawk.  No luck there, but the early morning foggy light was really nice, so I took the above photo of some trees in the fog.  And on the way back to the car, a singing Eastern Towhee became very photogenic.  For some reason, I get my best towhee pictures at the Econ River WA.

Eastern Towhee

Eastern Towhee

Eastern Towhee