Randomness

I have fallen a bit behind in blogging these days as things have been quite busy around here. Here are a few photos of what I have managed to squeeze in over the past few weeks...

A beautiful sunrise over the Indian River Friday morning.

Osprey

An Osprey on a post near my home...what are you lookin' at???

Red-shouldered Hawk

One of the many Red-shouldered Hawks that hang out near my work. I don't usually take my camera to work...I'd be too tempted to go take pictures of the birds...but I did Wednesday as the plane carrying Space Shuttle Endeavour was going to be flying over head. I happened to pick the wrong side of the building to look for it and missed it.  Oh well, at least this hawk flew up next to me:)

Red Knot

This was one of the seven Red Knots that were foraging in the surf along the Atlantic when we made a visit to Jetty Park.

Laughing Gull

Did this Laughing Gull really catch a fish of its own...or did the gull confiscate it from a tern....

While in Lakeland a few weeks ago, I took a sunrise walk at Circle B Reserve. It is such a beautiful place to visit.

While we mostly saw waders and a few hawks, there were plenty of these spiders around. I was glad I didn't accidentally walk into on of these webs!

I saw this young male White-tailed Deer along the side of the road heading out to Moccasin Island on Friday. I'm thinking it might be the same one I saw and posted photos of on 9/8/12 as it was in the same location. Usually by this time of the morning you don't see the deer wandering near this road. I ave to wonder if something may be wrong with this fellow. We stopped a little ways up the road to watch him and take a few photos. He didn't seem to acknowledge our vehicle, but I figured with the first click of the shutter he would take notice, but he didn't seem to hear anything. Out of curiosity, I whistled to see if the deer would respond and it did not.

I know I'm really focused when I'm hungry...maybe that was the case.

Finally when we drove right past him, he looked at us, but did not run. I hope this beautiful boy is okay.

Great Egret

Not much happening at the wetlands. We did have fun watching a pair of Crested Caracara, but I'll save that for my next post.

American Bittern

We found this well hidden Bittern doing its best to blend right in.

Well, this has nothing to do with birds,but...a pair of Donkeys have appeared near our highway exit...we couldn't resist a visit. They are so sweet!!!

Have a great weekend!

A Few More Beach Birds

We spent another morning at Jetty Park on Friday. Not only did we enjoy a beautiful morning, but there were plenty of birds to enjoy as well! 

Black Skimmer

This Black Skimmer looked like some of us feel by Friday! While it looks like this Skimmer may have crashed and burned, it is actually just resting. That large bill gets heavy!

Black Skimmer

Black Skimmer

Last week there was quite a bit of skimming action going on, but this week, with the exception of a few joining the group, the Skimmers were all resting. I counted 32 of them with 8 being juveniles.

Willet

This lone Willet was practicing its one legged balancing skills.

Magnificent Frigatebird

This juvenile Magnificent Frigatebird took a brief break from soaring the high skies to make a low pass along the beach where the large group of Terns, Gulls, and Skimmers were resting.

After a quick check of the beach action, the Frigatebird was gone. This is the second Frigatebird I've seen at Cape Canaveral in past month.

Red Knot

This nonbreeding Red Knot was foraging in the swallow tide with two others. Other birds that we observed include Royal Terns, Sandwich Terns, Least Terns, one Long-billed Dowitcher, one Semipalmated Plover, and numerous Sanderlings.

A Few Peeps

While at the beach in Cape Canaveral this past weekend,  I came across a few peeps. This poor little one looked like it was as disgusted by the trash as I was.

These are Sanderlings (thank you Mia of http://www.onthewingphotography.com/wings/)

There were about ten Sanderlings, some in breeding colors, scattered in with the terns.

There was also this group of four larger shorebirds, which maybe nonbreeding Red Knots, Knot sure though,  keeping to themselves. One was banded with a red flag.

This little Sanderling was having some bill envy!

One tired peep!