Tricolored Heron

Since my previous two posts have been about blue wading birds, I figured I would add a third (while I wait for Super Bowl XLII to resume play in the second half). I guess it is possible for the Tricolored Heron to get confused with either of the other two blue herons, but his white belly and the thin line of white up the front of his neck give him away. You can find Tricolored Heron pretty much all year long along the gulf coast and up the east coast to about North Carolina. I have seen them in eastern Virginia in the warmer months.

This photo is another from Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park, taken last month. While the line of white up his neck is not visible here, his white belly is obvious.

Little Blue Heron

The name Little Blue Heron makes that species sound like the little brother of the Great Blue Heron. If you are comparing the Little Blue to the Great Blue, then yes...it is true that the Little Blue is "little", but it is not really a small bird. And while both the Little Blue and the Great Blue do have blue coloration (most of the time), the Great Blue really seems more gray to me, and the Little Blue is leaning towards purple (or, maybe it is indigo).

Regardless of the idiosyncrasies of his common name, the Little Blue Heron is a beautiful bird. Here is a photo of an adult, in all his blue-ish glory, found near the Anhinga Trail within Everglades National Park. He appears to be very serious about finding his next meal.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Herons are pretty common birds. I can find them year round in Virginia, so seeing them in Florida is never really a priority. But they are such good subjects for photography. They are large, so you don't have to worry much about being too far away. And, they are usually very still or slow moving, so you don't have to fight to keep them in frame or focus.

I like this photo of a Great Blue Heron. He looks a bit wind blown, and that yellow eye makes him look a bit grumpy.

Tricolored Heron

Today I drove south and west from Lafayette. I ended up at the Sabine Pass Swing Bridge. While that description of my travels today may seem random, I meant to go there. There is a colony of swallows nesting on the underside of the bridge, something that I wanted to check out. I got zero pictures of swallows because they fly too fast for my current photography skills. On the other hand, this Tricolored Heron was grabbing an easy meal (the food was easy enough for him not to care too much about me), and not flying, so I snapped a couple of photos. He is all pretty in his breeding plumage. The third photo shows just how close to Texas I got today.

Green Heron

I am going to make this my last post related to my trip to Orlando. This is, I think, the last decent photo in the bunch. I may get some more photos in locally in the next couple of weeks, but the next big thing for me will be the 2007 ABA Convention in Lafayette Louisiana.

Back to this post. About halfway through the Black Point Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island NWR, I found this Green Heron perched on a drain looking for his lunch. I got a couple pictures of him before I spooked him to a nearby bush. Once in the bush, he still was very photogenic.

If you look at these pictures and wonder "Why is this bird called a 'Green' Heron?", then it would help you to know that there can be a patch of green on his back which you cannot see in these two pictures. In fact, they are sometimes called "Green Backed Heron". You may also see hints of green in his black cap and in his wings.

Sandhill Crane

After I finished with Split Oak Mitigation Forest, I grabbed some lunch and sat in Moss Park while I ate. In the park there were two Sandhill Cranes hanging around. Sandhill Cranes are large birds. They can be nearly 4 feet tall. And their call is a very loud trumpeting sound.

Three Waders

This is my last post containing pictures from my recent trip to Orlando Wetlands Park. The pictures are of three different wading birds: Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron and Great Egret (top to bottom).

I think I said it was cold

A few posts back, when I described the trip to Chincoteague, I think I said it was cold. If I didn't, then let me correct that misunderstanding. It was cold. And when the wind blew, it was a type of cold that requires the use of profanity to describe. Here are a few miscellaneous photos that include ice, just as a guide of the coldness of it all.

The first picture is of a piece of wood or stump that was sticking up out of the water. The wind was blowing hard enough to send a sheet of ice from one end of the pond to the other. When the ice encountered the piece of wood, the ice was thin enough for the wood to carve right through it, leaving that trail of broken ice to the right of the stump.



This picture shows a group of Tundra Swan trying to get to the other side of a sheet of ice. One of the group just took flight and flew over. These, however, decided it would be easier to climb up and walk over the ice.



Finally, here is a shot of what I presume to be a very cold Great Blue Heron. To be more precise: I do not presume that this is a Great Blue Heron, but I do presume he is cold. He is standing up to his feathers in water, right next to a section that is frozen on top. It is almost like a Great Blue Heron Popsicle.

Tricolored Heron

No caveats here. This is a Tricolored Heron, and was the only one of its species I saw today.

Great Egrets were everywhere

This year must have been a bumper crop for Great Egrets. They were everywhere. Here are a couple of pictures, each of a different flock of egrets. I wonder if there is a special word for "flock" when describing a gathering of egrets?

Foggy Morning

This picture captures the morning. You can see the fog, which rolled in quite suddenly the previous afternoon (while I was enjoying an ice cream cone...Cake Batter flavored ice cream is *awesome*). You can see one chunk of my photography gear. This stuff is so new, and I am so inexperienced with it, that I feel funny just saying "photography gear". And that vain Great Egret is in the scene, just about to fly away. He actually flew to the near bank, towards me, and posed some more.

Great Egret

I had a very cooperative Great Egret to take pictures of this morning. Even better, there was no wind, so the water was like a mirror.

Great Blue Heron

This is a Great Blue Heron. My friend Rich once told me that if you grabbed one by the bill, it would become very docile and could then be worn over your shoulders in the event you were chilly. Rich is never chilly.

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Only a few people were annoyed with me while I stopped traffic on the Chincoteague Wildlife Loop to take this picture from my car. This is a Black-crowned Night-Heron. He has cool eyes.

White-faced vs. Glossy Ibis

In the first picture there are three Ibis. The two on the right are Glossy Ibis. The one on the left is White-faced Ibis. Compare how far the white skin goes around the eye, the tone (gray vs. pink) of the skin between the eye and the bill, and the color of the legs. In the second picture, there is a White-faced Ibis all by his lonesome. Note the reddish eye.

Good Eats

There must be something pretty tasty in there. The white birds are Snowy Egrets. The dark birds are Glossy Ibis. There may be one White-faced Ibis in there (the right most dark bird), but its face is obscured, so it is hard to say for sure.

Tricolored Heron

This is a Tricolored Heron. Picture taken at Merritt Island NWR.