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| I think these are cormorants? Correct me if I am wrong. |
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| A cute racoon way up in a tree. I would have missed him if not for T's eagle eye |
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| Red Shouldered Hawk |
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| The same hawk |
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| Blue Heron pretending it doesn't see me |
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| Interesting "stuff" left over from when this part of the lake was a farm |
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| An Anhinga on more of that interesting "stuff." I love seeing Nature take back her own |
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| A noble predator, per comment below it is an osprey |
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| Big old alligator, happily snoozing all covered with duckweed |
Such beautiful photos! The zoom lens is great. I think the noble predator may be an osprey.
ReplyDeleteYes - many thanks!
DeleteWow. A lot of wildlife for one ride. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteFlorida is downright primeval in those few parts not yet overdeveloped. I hope you are feeling better!
DeleteThe place we were biking is a large wildlife sanctuary. There are all sorts of birds, including bald eagles, blue heron, little green herons, tricolored herons, egret, ibis, common galinules, kingfishers, on and on and on. It is an unbelievable place. We occasionally see a bobcat. We always see alligators.
DeleteA lovely ride. I enjoy herons, enormously. I call them "heron and gone," they are such escape artists. I watched a hawk at my friend's house over Christmas. It sat on an old piece of farm equipment and surveyed the birds, feeding a hundred feet away. Eventually it left. The birds were not fussed.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it was thinking about eating one of them? I'm hoping to get a video one day of a heron taking off and flying away. They are so beautiful in flight.
DeleteIt's an osprey. Nice photos C.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks! On both accounts.
DeleteYou live close enough to alligators to take pictures of them? I guess that lake is not for swimming!
ReplyDeleteThat lake is one of the biggest in Florida, but no one swims in it. Alligators are one reason, Pollution is another. People swim in swimming pools in Florida, ha! And the pools are screened in to keep unwanted wildlife out. There are alligators in any body of water in this part of Florida, including the holding ponds in housing developments. FYI - I took that photo with a zoom lens. I stopped my bike to take the photo and didn't get off. I wanted to be able to make a quick getaway. They scare me.
DeleteNice lens and nice photos. I love raccoons, probably because we don't have them here so they don't wreck things for me. We met some when we were in the maritimes in September.
ReplyDeleteI have a cousin moving to Florida in May that I'm hoping to visit at some point. I want to see all the birds.
Florida has a generous number of state parks, trails, and nature reserves. Some are inland, some are on the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf Coast. They make a nice variety. You can check them out at https://www.floridastateparks.org/
DeleteI also love raccoons.
Great lens, worthy of your skill.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be a wildlife refuge out there. An apt reward for retirement.
Yes, it sure is. Beats the hell out of Disney World.
DeleteYou had a bountiful trip. I did not realize cormorants would perch in trees.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm not 100% sure they are cormorants. Could be anhingas. Or something else. I'm hoping someone tells me for sure. I'm still trying to figure out these Florida birds.
DeleteWhat an amazing bike ride! Great pictures Colette.
ReplyDeleteYour zoom lens worked very well, especially in taking a picture of the alligator. That is a creature that you would want some distance between you.
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed. That one was REALLY big, too.
DeleteAll that on one bike ride? Wonderful pics! I call the anhinga the Dirty Old man bird --- holding his raincoat open like that!
ReplyDeleteWell THAT made me laugh. I'll never see an anhinga in quite the same old way again!
DeleteGreat photos!
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteWe have a special love for raccoons, having fostered 3 over my birthday weekend almost 5 years ago! Bonnie, Clyde & Lucky, we named them. Lucky was the runt and the last one found (a day later) and he needed extra attention. Bonnie screamed like a banshee when she wanted to be fed. Clyde was Clyde. I miss them, even tho they were only part of our life for just a weekend (and it was hectic as it was the weekend of my Awesome 80's 40th Birthday Bash). When we rented a place in Ogden Dunes, we were smack dab in the middle of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. We had deer, fox, chipmunks, wild turkey ... you name it, outside our back doors! It was a magical year! And the only place I would move back to if we were headed back that way!
ReplyDeleteI haven't been to the Dunes since I was a teenager! Great place.
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