Red-winged Blackbird!
Red-winged Blackbird in full display at Orlando Wetlands Scenic Park in Christmas, Florida, USA. Orlando Wetlands is a municipal wetlands…a series of settlement ponds that has been converted to a park primarily for birders…but being only about 30 minutes from Orlando, it also attracts joggers, walkers, cyclists, and folks just wanting to get outside for the morning. It offers great sky and water views, and, of course, great birds at relatively close distances. This Red-winged Blackbird was holding court in the top of a bush right beside the dike trail and I said to my Point and Shoot Nature Photography class, “too bad there is not another male around so we could see them display…” and, of course, another male flew in and we got to see this. You can see a bit of motion blur in the epaulettes and the neck feathers as the bird was literally vibrating with passion as it vocally assaulted its rival. Red-wings are famous for it! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Purple Gallinule
There were more Purple Gallinules at Orlando Wetlands Scenic Park in Christmas, Florida, USA this year then I have ever seen before…or perhaps, because one of biggest ponds was dredged over the winter and has no vegetation, they are just all concentrated in the front ponds this year. This high-stepping specimen put on a good show, feeding and dancing on the water weed. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Cedar Waxwings among the frozen cherries (Bonus pic for today)
Suitable for framing! (or to make a 1000 piece puzzle 🙂 Three Cedar Waxwings among the frozen berries of an ornamental Cherry tree at Roger’s Pond Park in Kennebunk, Maine. Sony Rx10iv at 365mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Great Blue Heron in the rain.
Great Blue Heron in the rain at Orlando Wetlands Scenic Park, in Christmas, Florida, USA. I had a Point and Shoot Nature Photography Workshop at Orlando Wetlands one morning during the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. We spent the first hour waiting out the rain under the shelter at the entrance, but when it did let up enough for walking this was the wader we encountered. Still raining a bit, but there is nothing quite like the mixed textures of the plumage of a Great Blue Heron to catch the eye. Worth a look in any light. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Cedar Waxwing
Cedar Waxwing, Kennebunk, Maine, USA. A whole flock of Cedar Waxwings was working the ornamental Cherry Tree at Roger’s Pond Park in Kennebunk when I visited, looking for Eagles, just after noon yesterday. Though others found Eagles (I have seen the photos on Facebook) I did not…but the Waxwings were hard to miss. They were in and out of the cherry tree, very busy with the frozen fruit. I was able to work my way pretty close, and though they flew off to the the big Maples over the river, they quickly returned to their feast. Beautiful birds in a beautiful setting. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr. There is a poem.
A flock of twenty-seven Cedar
Waxwings work the frozen
berries of the ornamental
cherry tree at Roger’s Pond Park
just after noon today. Freezing
rain over night left each berry
encased in a shell of ice…
but the birds are avid, sometimes
fifteen in the tree at once,
picking the berries out of the
shells and popping them whole.
Perhaps, like Eiswein grapes,
the freeze concentrates the
sugars and makes the sour cherries
easier on Cedar Waxwing pallets…
or somehow more nutritious…
or maybe they are just on to
something we humans know
nothing about. I am almost tempted
to try a frozen cherry myself,
(though I know they are only
ornamental) to see what the
Cedar Waxwing fuss is all about.
Great Egret
Great Egret, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA. There are always great numbers of Great Egrets on the refuge in January, and this year was no exception. My first loop around the Drive was on an overcast day, which can be excellent light for Egrets. This one was high-stepping across on of the ponds. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Pied-billed Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA. There were more Pied-billed Grebes in Space Coast Florida this year then I have ever seen before…and they were groups of 15-30. Groups of Grebes is not something I remember. Generally I have seen them like this one, alone, feeding well away from any other Grebe. This one was in the channel along the Drive. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Glossy Ibis
Glossy Ibis, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Titusville, Florida, USA. The other Florida Ibis. This year at least there were many more Glossy than White Ibis. I saw flocks of a hundred or more in flight, and great numbers of birds feeding in the ponds and pools. The Glossy and White-faced Ibis have similar plumage…with those iridescent highlights of green and red. I always think of stained glass when I see them. This bird was on the back side of the loop, feeding almost too close to photograph at full zoom. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
White Ibis
White Ibis, Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge near Titusville, Florida (USA). It is amazing how close you can get to the larger waders at Merritt Island NWR. As you drive Black Point Wildlife Drive and the other dike roads of the refuge the birds are often right there, in the little canals and wetlands 20-50 feet from the road. This is an experience relatively unique to Florida. In my experience, you have to work much harder to photograph these birds anywhere else. Florida has both White and Glossy Ibis (with an occasional White-faced in the mix). Again, in my experience the Glossy outnumber the White, at least at Merritt Island, by at least a factor of 2, but both are among the most numerous waders in these waters. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Adult Little Blue Heron
Adult plumage Little Blue Heron. I featured a white plumage immature Little Blue Heron yesterday. This adult, in its full blue/purple finery, was at the other end of Black Point Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge near Titusville, Florida (USA) on the same day, high stepping through one of the ponds. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.