Circle Bar B Reserve

Great visit to Circle B last week.  Friends Larry and Sue Pals were visiting from Colorado and got a chance to see the real Florida.  We saw Storks, Cranes, Herons, Egrets, Bittern, Spoonbill, Owl and of course a few large gators.  I usually post only 3 or 4 pictures but couldn't narrow it down so will post 6 today.  Hope you enjoy.

Sandhill Crane on her nest with 2 eggs

Otter

Tricolored Heron

Roseate Spoonbill

Little Blue Heron

Barred Owl

We also visited the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine.  There is a large rookery there with nesting Great White Heron, Snowy Egrets, Spoonbills and Night Herons.  They are still in nest building mode but it was great to see the White Herons in their breeding plumage.  So look for my next post later this week with photos from St. Augustine.

Thanks for visiting.  David

Merritt Island Nat'l Wildlife Refuge

This week we visited Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Viera Wetlands.  You are able to drive through both locations, stopping for pictures.  Although windy and cool it was a good day with several new birds added to my picture library.  Probably the highlight of the trip was a large flock of Roseate Spoonbills that flew overhead.  We also saw Redish Egret, Northern Pintail, Ring-Necked Ducks, Northern Shovelers, White Pelicans, and the usual assortment of herons.  Here are a few pictures from this trip.

My first Red Egret

My first Northern Pintail

Juvenile Northern Shoveler

Mature Northern Shoveler

The final picture is from Bill Little who got several nice photos of the flock of Spoonbills as they flew overhead.  Good Job, Bill.

It was a great day and I hope to return soon.
Thanks for following my blog,  David

Alligators at Circle B

This post is for my non-Florida friends and those of you in Florida that still get a thrill seeing gators.  Sunday morning was warm and sunny and we weren't looking for gators but found several that we could not pass up photographing.  This first one was just off the trail keeping a keen eye on us as we snapped a few pictures.

This fellow was also along the trail and stopped to watch us pass by.

This is my favorite with mom keeping an eye on one of her babies.

Of course we were also looking for birds along the way.  Early on the hike we found this Purple Gallinule   brightly lit in the morning sun light.  Gallinules are somewhat rare so this was a welcome find.

Last is the Sora that we've seen for several weeks along Wading Bird Way.

All pictures in this post are made with my Canon 7D and Canon 500mm lens.  All shots are not cropped and only edited for exposure and tonal quality.

Thanks for looking.   David