In Focus Daily

A pair of Northern Harriers is frequenting a marshy area along the Ferrari Pond Trail. Prior to 1982, Northern Harriers were called Marsh Hawks. In that year, the American Ornithologists Union decided to change the name officially to Northern Harrier. Marsh Hawk is the name I first knew for this bird because I had an out-dated edition of the Peterson Field Guide so that name usually comes to my mind first when I see one. Yesterday morning, I noticed the male sitting on a weathered fence post. After taking some shots while he preened, I was ready when he exploded into flight and captured a few flight images before he turned away, trying to avoid the attacks of a much smaller Red-winged Blackbird that was escorting him away from the Blackbird’s territory.

The Red-tailed Hawk that has been a consistent visitor to the Ferrari Pond Trail consumed what appeared to be a vole yesterday morning. The hawk was on a post close to the trail. It has become pretty acclimated to people walking along the trail and to the photographers who stop to photograph it when it is perched nearby or eating. Yesterday, we stopped and watched, then approached closer. The hawk was not bothered by our presence and although it stopped to look up as if to say, “don’t even think about it” (as if we might want to steal its prey) it continued eating, apparently unconcerned. Something fell off the stump into the grass below and the hawk jumped down to find it then flew to another nearby stump to finish what it found and we left it there, still eating.

Yesterday morning, while out on a bird walk with the local Birding Group, my friend Truman called to tell me that the Rufous Hummingbird, a photo of which he’d shared with me the day before, was visiting his backyard feeders. Most of the few birds we’d seen so far that morning were far away and even viewed through the spotting scope they were microdots. I excused myself from the group and drove to Truman’s house just a couple of miles away. Within the first ten minutes of arriving I’d photographed Western Bluebirds, White-crowned Sparrows, Lesser Goldfinches, Black Phoebes, Anna’s Hummingbirds, and Bewick’s Wrens. And, as if on schedule, not one, but two adult male Rufous Hummingbirds made their presence known, bullying the Anna’s Hummingbirds and claiming dominance over the feeders. One watched from a high perch near the feeders and one watched from a lower perch in a nearby Olive Tree. All in all, it was a great morning for birding.

The water looks like a tie-dyed tee shirt from the sixties and the Cinnamon Teal’s bright red eye makes it look like it might have dabbled in the psychedelic waters a little too long.

It looked to me like the Black-crowned Night Heron was drinking water from the pond at Angler’s Cove. I was wrong. It was bill vibrating, a type of behavior in which the heron opens and closes its beak beneath the surface of the water as a way to lure fish. The warm weather and bright sunshine here have helped the Azolla expand across the water obscuring what’s under the surface. I’m guessing that the Heron decided that bill vibrating would be the most effective way to get its breakfast when it was difficult to see what was beneath the surface because of the invasive plant floating on top.

One early morning on Lake Kissimmee in Florida last week, we watched a female Snail Kite snatching an Apple Snail from the shallow waters of the lake. She is almost a complete silhouette against the morning sunrise that turned the surface of the lake a shimmery silver. A trail of water cascades off the snail that she will soon consume.

Another turtle?? Saturday was my first day back after being gone for a week and the sun was just rising above the horizon, dissipating the tule fog the clung to the water’s surface when I got to the Salt Pond. I spotted a Coyote that crossed the pond and disappeared into the tall reeds. In a couple of minutes, a Coyote (not sure if it was the same one) emerged from the reeds clenching a turtle in its jaws. I found that to be fascinating as this is the second turtle I’d seen being consumed in just a couple of days. Just this past Thursday I watched a Snail Kite in Florida trying to consume a small turtle and now, this Coyote was carrying its prize off. Turtles seem to make hard work for whichever critter decides to take one on. I wonder if it’s worth the effort?

Sunshine on Lake Kissimmee was welcome on our last morning on the lake. Finally, I was able to capture Snail Kites hunting, in this case, a female Snail Kite. They glide slow and low over the shallow waters of the lake looking for Apple Snails.

An American Bittern stands still, a silent sentinel in the yellow pond lilies surrounding it on Lake Kissimmee. It took me a while to see it after everyone else on our airboat had focused their lenses on it. I would like to say that the Bittern’s excellent ability to camouflage as it stretches tall and sways with the reeds was what kept me from seeing it right next to our stopped airboat. Sadly for me, that was not the case and Moose went above and beyond, tapping me on the shoulder, and pointing numerous times in the direction of the bird when I continued to peer cluelessly into the lilies. If he lost patience with my inability to locate the bird, he didn’t show it. Rather, he persisted, losing his own precious shooting time to make sure I finally saw it. And, finally, I, too, got the shot! Thank you, Moose.

Snail Kites are an endangered species and their highly specialized diet consists exclusively of fresh water Apple Snails including both native Florida Apple Snails and a much larger, invasive Apple Snail species. At least I thought that was their exclusive diet until the other day. We encountered a female Snail Kite attempting to extricate a small freshwater turtle from its shell. She struggled with it for quite some time. It is fascinating to note that with the introduction of the large invasive snail, the slender, highly specialized bills of the Snail Kites have actually evolved in a couple of decades to enable them to consume the larger snails. The turtle and its shell are very different from the snail and the Kite was not having an easy time separating the turtle from its shell. I wonder if their bills will evolve again for this specialized meal. I hear it tastes like chicken.

Yesterday was our last day on Lake Kissimmee and what a day it was! For the first time this week we had a sunrise as we left the dock, and a gorgeous one at that. While the unexpected (for us) cool weather continued (I was glad I brought a pair of gloves and my down jacket) for the first time in our four days here we actually had some blue skies and sunshine. We had lots of opportunities to photograph the endangered Snail Kite while it was perched, while it hunted for snails from the air, and while it consumed snails (and in one case a small turtle) all from our airboat.

“Mine, all mine!” is what this male Snail Kite seems to be implying with the expression on his face. He had just snatched an Apple Snail from the shallow waters of Lake Kissimmee in Florida and had already shucked the shell. He was clamping the snail body tightly in his talons when he looked up and saw us. I’ve eaten escargot but I’m not a fan so he wasn’t in danger of losing his meal to us. Of course if I’d had a little dish of garlic butter with me, it might have been a different story.

A pair of Sandhill Crane Colts don’t really blend in with their surroundings. The bright green vegetation growing on the tussocks floating in Lake Kissimmee is dense but when the very young russet-colored Colts stretch up to see what is going on, they stand out instead of blending in. Their mother did not shield or hide them from us when we approached on our airboat, but she paced in front of them. The diagonal black line seen in the upper left of this image is Mom’s leg. We stopped only briefly to avoid putting stress on her and her colts.

The intense gaze from the deep red eyes of the endangered Snail Kite in Florida gets your attention. I’m back at Lake Kissimmee photographing these remarkable birds from an airboat guided by Captain Steve. This male Snail Kite had a busy morning searching for Apple Snails (its only food) and resting briefly between searches. He watched us as we watched him. Take a look at that beak. About twenty years ago, a much larger Apple Snail invaded the Snail Kite’s territory, overwhelming much of the native Apple Snail population. Since that time, scientists have discovered that Snail Kites’ beaks are growing larger to enable them to eat the invasive snail, and this evolution has taken place in just a couple of decades. What a remarkable story.

The Great Blue Herons were ahead of the Great Egrets at the Lincoln Rookery and they have already finished building nests and have laid eggs. I don’t think there are any chicks yet. One of the pair comes in for a landing at the nest site, presumably to take over incubation duties.

Great Egrets have an elegant side and a goofy side. I always think of the elegant side of Great Egrets with their elaborate, choreographed mating rituals featuring their aigrettes surrounding them like a veil. This view is usually a side view. Even when I see them flying, most of the time their long necks are outstretched in a lovely s-curve and, in breeding season, the aigrettes are flowing out behind them. If I see them head on, however, their goofy side takes over. This view is not at all the elegant creature I usually think of but rather I see a goofy but endearing bird coming at me.

The Great Egret nests at the Lincoln Rookery are under construction. It’s always a fascinating experience to watch the nest-building process at the rookery. Every time a Great Egret flies away from the nest site, he returns with a piece of building material. I’m never certain what, if any, criteria they consider when choosing a stick for the nest. Sometimes it’s a small, droopy stick; sometimes it’s a short stick with lots of twigs sprouting from it like this one; and sometimes it’s a big stick that seems to be twice the size of the nest site. The pair of egrets seem to manage to assemble the various twigs and sticks into a viable nest platform in which to raise their young. Hopefully there will be eggs soon and then chicks.

The Lincoln Rookery is filled with Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons building nests. Watching these birds building their nests is always fun and yesterday was my first visit to the rookery this year. The Great Egret nests in the rookery I visited in Florida a few weeks ago had eggs and even hatched chicks. It’s hard to tell if any of the nests in the Lincoln Rookery have eggs. Most of the birds seemed to be working on the construction phase of the nest yesterday. The male builds a platform from long sticks and twigs before pairing up with a female. The male attracts a mate in an elaborate display of his aigrettes, the long feathers that grow during breeding season. Once the male finds a mate, both birds work to complete the nest, but the male does most of the foraging for building materials. This Egret flew to a marshy area near the rookery trees and selected a small twiggy piece of vegetation instead of a large stick or small branch. I couldn’t track which nest he returned to so I’m not sure if he used this twig for support or decor.

Song Sparrows are denizens of Ingram Slough and I often see them in the reeds along the Ferrari Pond Trail, in the blackberry brambles, and even, as in this image, perched on the railing of the golf cart bridge that crosses Ferrari Pond. This sparrow’s beak shows evidence of a recent feast on the many wildflowers now in bloom in the meadow and along the edge of the ponds.

A crabapple tree along the Ferrari Pond Trail is in glorious full bloom. When I looked up, a White-crowned Sparrow was pulling on the bright pink petals and consuming them. As the sparrow shredded the pink petals, it occurred to me that since crabapples are a favorite food for many different kinds of sparrows, this destruction of the flowers before fruit has set could mean a smaller crop of crabapples to consume later. I’m sure that wasn’t on this sparrow’s mind and it certainly was enjoying the spring feast. And, since there appears to be an awful lot of blossom clusters on this one tree, it is likely that this early obliteration of a few blossoms won’t matter this summer when the crop ripens.