zackiedawg

I promised I'd be back around these boards again. Can't guarantee it'll be on a regular or weekly basis yet as still dealing with a lot with bills, estate, legal, taxes, etc. But I'll try when I get a break to post some stuff, including the wildlife and birding outings The following were from Saturday, March 2: Black and white warbler: Black-necked stilt: Cattle egret, beginning to take on its breeding plumage colors: Great blue heron in flight: Gorgeous male wood duck in full breeding plumage: The female wood duck is less ornate, but still pretty: Male least bittern: Male common yellowthroat:

I still exist, people! I didn't shun the boards or anything - just been crazy busy dealing with all the paperwork and attorneys and filing and bills from my parents' deaths and trying to keep up with work and everything else. It's amazing how many things you have to change - the obvious things like property and utility bills are one thing - but transferring insurance, online accounts, credit cards, shopping accounts, subscriptions, and so on - it seems every month 5 more things pop up. I did get the chance to take a little break from it all last weekend - took a 4 day trip to Disney World just to decompress, meet up with a few friends, and not think about all the stuff to deal with at home for a spell. A few pics from the trip: Japan pavilion in Epcot on a beautiful day: Epcot is under construction - has been for the past 2 years and still another year to go - the latest section to open is the central hub area, which is like a park setting with lots of seating, trees, lighting, and garden tiers: The village of Harambe, in the Africa section of Animal Kingdom park - another beautiful day: Male lion, resting up on the kopi (rock), watching over his domain: This lowland gorilla walked right up to the edge of the moat and stared directly at me - very intensely...I think he felt I was a challenger to his alpha superiority - I didn't think I looked quite that hairy and threatening, but I am a big guy: If there was any doubt that he was challenging me, the next shot proves it - he leapt in the air, hammering his chest loudly and grunting at me: And then stared me down again threateningly...so I backed off and let him know he's the alpha in this area: The busses at Disney can run late from your resort sometimes, you can just miss one pulling out before you get there, and they can sometimes get full - lots of challenges getting the bus to the parks. But this was one of the stranger difficulties getting to the bus - a large male turkey displaying himself for his lady was standing right in the middle of the parking lot on the way to the bus stop - when I tried to pass, he'd run at me and challenge. What was it with all the animals thinking I'm challenging their manhood?: The last night, I ate over at Disney Springs, then walked back around the lake at dusk to my villa at Saratoga Springs - on one final lovely evening: (I'm going to try to pop in here more often - but it'll still be choppy as I am still working out all the legal stuff, the probate filing, etc. which will likely stretch through the year).

Thank you all kindly for the check in...I had been absent here for quite a while - and in general online. Most of the summer I haven't been able to get too much time to pop onto the boards as my stepfather had been in declining health and I was helping my mother take care of him as she couldn't pick him up or move him herself. He passed away in mid-August, and I was just trying to get things back to normal and back on track - planning cruises, etc - when my mother suffered a medical emergency and has been herself in the hospital the past 2 1/2 weeks - so now having to deal with that. So I'm still around - and eventually will get back on the boards again, but just a lot going on with family now and that plus work has kept me busy or otherwise occupied. I do still try to get out to the wetlands on a weekend day to catch a break from all this...and did make it up to Disney a few times, so I do still have photos to share...here are a few just to catch up a bit: A favorite from a summer trip to Disney - a lightning storm in the evening taken from my hotel balcony: And from the same balcony, late that AM, a SpaceX rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, along with the rising crescent moon: And some wetlands wildlife - a least bittern: And a pied-billed grebe adult with her chick close by: :

Woah! What happened? Hope all is OK with you. Glad to hear the sentiment 'life goes on'. All the best wishes sent your way.

Well no real big easter connection for my shots - managed to get out on Friday and Saturday for some shooting, and here's what I got: A female painted bunting...think of it as a substitute for a painted easter egg: The largest woodpecker in N. America - a male pileated woodpecker. It lays eggs?: Closeup of a native Floridian - the green anole lizard. He's kind of candy-colored: A banded water snake, deciding which way to go. Well, there was a snake in the Bible, going back to the garden of Eden...not quite Easter-related: Eastern screech owl female, trying to nap. Don't ask me why, but "Easter owls" are actually a thing!: Chicks are always part of Easter - eggs hatch and fluffy bird chicks come out. Here are some freshly hatched green herons, just a few days old:

Many thanks on the photos. You might come to appreciate gators a little more when you see their nests hatching. For a cold-blooded reptile that looks like a brainless dinosaur, they are some of the best parents in the animal world. The mother nearly starves guarding her nest for 2 months, on alert for 24 hours a day...then as they start making their little 'ribbit' noises in the egg, she'll start helping dig them up, load the babies in her mouth as they hatch, bring them down to the water, then spend weeks with them swimming around her, climbing up on her back, and trying to keep an eye on them. Baby gators have an amazing number of predators and their odds of survival are tiny - as eggs, the snakes, raccoons, coyotes, etc will dig them up, when they hatch, they're eaten by egrets, herons, osprey, snakes, hawks, and turtles. They have to grow up fast - and out of a batch of 30-40 eggs, 10-15 might make it to hatching, and 2-3 may survive to adulthood. It's why I don't quite mind as much when alligators eat egrets, herons, and turtles...because they lost untold brothers and sisters to them - it's a fair turn of nature that the prey eventually turns the tables and becomes the predator! BTW - alligators are a lot less aggressive than crocodiles. I love all reptiles and I am comfortable being close to alligators, but even I'd exercise a lot of caution around the big salt water crocs of India, Africa, and Australia!

Saturday April 1st was a wetlands day again for me - it's getting sticky hot again around here with temps at 89 degrees and humidity hovering in the 80% range, with off-and-on rainshowers throughout the day (this is pretty much what it's going to be like for the next 7 months - but hotter!). Fortunately it's also pool weather, so after the wetlands visits, I can jump in the pool and cool off. Here's what I got: A male painted bunting, one of our more colorful little birds: A raccoon doing a little clean-up scavenging - no, it didn't kill the moorhen who's feathers and bits were littering the levee -a hawk had done that deed. But the raccoon decided to see if there were any meaty leftovers the hawk didn't want - like the head and legs that the hawk always leaves behind: A usually elusive bird lurking deep in the reeds - I've had a few shots of them over the past few threads - this one unusually had walked right up on the levee in the open - a Wilson's snipe: Like last week's thread, it's still the time of hatchlings and chicks all over the wetlands. This time, I heard a bunch of peeping, and saw a boat tailed grackle fly into a nearby tree, then fly out again - threading my lens through the leaves, I was able to sneak a long-zoom peek at a grackle chick: This ugly/cute/so ugly it's cute thing is a wood stork chick. I didn't need any fancy angles to get a shot of it - the nest is hanging directly over the walkway, enough that you have to walk AROUND the nest to avoid bumping into it. The wood stork parent, and the chicks inside the nest, are very non-chalant about people 2 feet away staring at them - they just stare right back!: This marsh rabbit doesn't mind wandering around in shallow water to get at all the tasty greenery to eat: In last week's thread I shared some shots of tricolored herons hatching from the egg. Well, here they are a week later - two of the siblings chilling together:

I assume the dates got copied wrong in the initial post - this should be Mar 20 - 26th, correct? I checked and week 11 was 13-19, so I'm going with some shots taken on the 25th around the local wetlands: It's the time of hatchlings everywhere now - all those nesting birds that have been sitting patiently on their eggs have paid off, and the wetlands are filled with thousands of chicks EVERYWHERE! All kinds of species have hatched, or are hatching. There are other things too - here's a mix: A great egret chick, just a few days old: Tricolored heron chicks, just an hour or so after popping out of their eggs: A wood stork, using its wing to shelter its new chicks from the hot sun: An alligator, enjoying the hot sunny day up on an island: A very rare sighting in my area - a lovely swallow-tailed kite passing overhead. We may get one week a year when they're passing through, so I'm lucky if I get a shot of one every 4-5 years: A reddish-morph eastern screech owl hanging out in the pine forest, on a palm tree. Looks like it might be choosing a spot to nest: A pied-billed grebe cruising past:

When I get around to processing my wildlife photos from this past weekend, I may have more to add here. But for now, I was still on my last night at Disney World on 3/13, and took a few evening shots around my resort villa... Paddlefish restaurant, at Disney Springs, as viewed from Saratoga Springs resort: I only had my 18-135mm lens on, but spotted this osprey with its large fish catch flying over the Disney Springs entertainment area: People taking an evening spin in an Amphicar in the lake by Disney Springs: This limpkin was feeding along the shore of the lake right in front of my villa - and didn't seem to mind me standing there 15 feet away - he waded in the water, grabbed a clam, walked up on shore to eat it, and did this over and over - at least 10 clams as I watched: The Rainforest Cafe erupting in the early evening:

Took me a while to get through the photos from my vacation to Disney, as when I got back I was playing catchup at work and going through photos. Finally got them up - the following shots were taken on 3/10 - 3/12 around Disney World... Raglan Road bar and restaurant at Disney Springs, blue hour handheld: Wilderness Lodge resort pool area and hotel: Main Street train station: Cinderella's Castle: The trains had been gone for a few years - first the pandemic, then construction of the Tron Lightcycle ride which extended right over the tracks...finally, the trains have resumed operations: Sunset over Bay Lake, with Magic Kingdom on the right and the Grand Floridian Resort straight ahead...taken from the Top of the World lounge deck at Bay Lake Tower, handheld: Nighttime view across to the Contemporary Resort, from the Bay Lake Tower roof deck, handheld: Nighttime view of Magic Kingdom from the roof deck of the Bay Lake Tower, handheld: Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival is being held, and the parks are filled with flowers, trees, and topiaries of Disney characters and movies, like this one of the Lion King: All the flowers also means butterflies - like this buckeye: Or this swallowtail: Sun setting behind the France pavilion:

I'm late in posting for this photo week - I was out on both Friday and Saturday in the wetlands as I had 3 friends in from up north, down here to see the wildlife. I took Friday off of work and took them out to 3 different wetlands in the area - two were down here last year from New York and New Jersey and liked it so much they came back again, and another friend from Maryland joined this year. Took a bit of time to sort the photos, and then I've been busy this week trying to make a hole for a 5-day weekend vacation to Disney starting tomorrow. Here are some of the highlights of the 2-day wildlife photo weekend with guests: First big surprise was this bird, who was around from October through January, then had disappeared most of last month - it's a rare sighting and I had bemoaned that they probably wouldn't get a chance to see one as it had disappeared. But lucky they were, as that very Friday was the first day the chuck-will's-widow was spotted again at the wetlands - and just 8 feet away!: The tricolored herons have all started their nests - most have laid their eggs now: A brown basilisk lizard up on a tree stump, watching us: A very upset snowy egret - it had just chased off another bird from its territory, and was still a little riled up: The beautiful male green winged teal, down here for winter: And the American wigeon, another wintering duck hanging around down here: And a more rare sight, but a nice one - the male lesser scaup was hanging around the western ponds - they are a winter bird for us, but I can go years between sightings: Among North American ducks, one of the most stunning to see is the male wood duck in its full breeding colors: A nice closeup of a juvenile Egyptian goose, resting on the levee - I had to shoot over the shoulder of a very protective poppa goose who faced off with me to make sure I wasn't going to get any closer to his family: The elegant lesser yellowlegs, walking along the levee next to the pond: Cattle egret flying past, with its beautiful breeding plumage: Double-crested cormorant flying this way just before sunset: Tricolored heron approaching head-on - also all colored up in its breeding plumage: A wood stork at sunset, arriving back to its nest with a nice big stick:

Another round of the Florida wetlands for me - we're right in the middle of 'BIF-palooza' - that time of year that stretches around the beginning of March to mid-April. At the end of each day, from around 4:30pm to sunset, there are so many birds in the air that you would hit one if you randomly tossed a ball up in the air...they fly way high up in the sky to right down on the water, and often buzz so close to you that they'll rustle your hair with the draft off their wings, and occasionally even whomp you on the head with the tip of a wing. They range from 10-inch wingspans of grackles to 6-7 foot wingspans of wood storks and great blue herons. Glossy ibis flying past while looking for a spot to land: Great egret feeling like it's going to bump into my lens - I had my 10-400mm lens pulled all the way back to 138mm: A boat-tailed grackle flying past me: The wood storks are hefty birds with big wings - so they are confident that they can haul back some pretty big bits of lumber for their nests. Sometimes they overestimate what they can easily haul - this one was having trouble getting enough altitude, so his giant branch was bouncing across the surface of the water as he flew: A tricolored heron flying low over the water in its breeding colors: Another look at a tricolored heron flying close by, showing the blue bill, red eye, and red legs of their breeding plumage: A great blue heron flying my way: A pair of black-bellied whistling ducks buzzing off:

That road is the one that runs through Lancaster and the high desert, right? So this is the 'back' side of the San Gabriels...Baldy to the left background? Didn't make it up there too often - once or twice when I lived out there. I more often went east to Joshua Tree and had a relative in Phelan. Another wetlands weekend for me - with the extended holiday weekend, I headed out on Saturday and Sunday, and then let Monday be my errand/shopping/relax day. A female red-winged blackbird (aka: prey) chasing a red-shouldered hawk (aka: predator) in a mixed up alternate universe: The plain dull cattle egrets are getting quite pretty as they turn up their breeding colors and plumage: Closeup of Mr. Alligator: Few birds put on quite the show that great egrets do for mating season. Fanning out their aigrette feathers, tarting up their faces with green lores, and then doing these intricate dance moves raising and dropping their necks and bodies: A zebrawing butterfly: Very close up with a great blue heron, too busy watching for fish to care about me standing 8 feet away: Common gallinule, aka moorhen, stretching: Boat-tailed grackle flying close-by: Wood stork flying home:

Well let's compare your Ohio temps to my Florida temps. Today is a very moderate 81, but by Friday we're forecast for 89 degrees! I wish I had your temps. For this warmer weekend, here's the wetlands selection I encountered: A Wilson's snipe looking around the wetlands: A grey catbird sneaking around the shadowy forest: Another wetland park this time...but also populated with Wilson's snipe! This one was just 10 feet away hiding under a pond apple tree: Shooting towards the low afternoon sun, I liked the backlight effect with this great blue heron: And just a few feet away, also backlit, was this green iguana up in a small pond apple tree: A basilisk lizard who had just run across the water and climbed up on this low limb: It's busy nest-building time for many birds here - this male anhinga was on a hardware store run with some new cypress limbs for his nest: A great egret flying past: And a great blue heron flying by in the clear blue sky: Big bird with a small stick - wood stork bringing back a little bit of cypress to patch a hole in his nest:

Honestly, the great blue herons are probably the leaders in the big fish department - I've seen wood storks get pretty good ones, and anhingas will spear decent sized ones - but no bird quite matches what the GBHs will pick up. And honestly, I've never seen one give up because it was too big! They either swallow it in a physics-defying act that makes you gag when you watch - or they walk it to the shore where they can lay it down in dry ground and then raise their head high and strike down with their bills with almighty force, over and over, until the fish is cleaved in two...then eat each half. Glad some knew who Mr. Bill was. And even have him! Every fish I've ever seen get speared by a bird has that expression on its face. And I don't blame them either.

Had a very rainy weekend - Saturday was light drizzle off and on with heavy grey overcast all day, and Sunday was heavy downpours interspersed with sunshine off and on all day. I decided to take a short trip out to the wetlands on the drizzly grey Saturday - poor light and a drizzle are better for the camera and lens than heavy downpours! A Wilson's snipe, usually hiding in tall grass, was more out in the open due to the weather and lack of people in the wetlands that day: A yellow-rumped warbler up close, saying hello: This marsh rabbit had found a little spot nestled under a pond apple tree where he could stay out of the drizzle - he looked very comfortable there: A black-and-white warbler popping through the trees didn't mind me there to watch: A great blue heron had snagged a nice large fish - and was just trying to figure out how to get it off his bill and eat it: I can't help but think of the phrase 'Oh No! Mr. Bill!' whenever I see fish about to become a bird's lunch - it's that fish mouth's shape! (if you're too young for that reference, Google it!): The bold and beautiful male American redstart staying high up in the trees:

Out to the wetlands on Saturday, Jan 28th to see what I could see... A yellow-rumped warbler after a bath: A male red-bellied woodpecker using those talons to hang down and check out the bottom of this branch: The beautiful yellow-bellied sapsucker - note the series of holes all in a row drilled into the cypress trunk...this bird will drill dozens of holes quickly, then go back to the first one and lap up the sap that oozes from the hole, going back one-by-one to each hole to suck the sap: Another yellow-rumped warbler, posing on a branch for me: Female anhinga, just chillin: The three tenors...three male boat-tailed grackles all displaying and calling together, to see who gets picked by the ladies nearby: A wood stork, starting to haul some branches back to build its nest: And the great egrets have returned and started their breeding plumage as they get ready to mate and nest:

I already posted shots here from the Monday holiday - but since I did also go out the following weekend on the 21st, and there were some nice encounters, I figured I'd pop in again with a few more for this thread before it fades away: The male common yellowthroat is much prettier than the name might imply: The hard to spot sora came out of the reeds for a moment - they don't like to be out in the open: A grey submarine approaching at the surface, cutting through the grey waters: And speaking of grey, here's the sneaky grey catbird peeking out of the forest: Cute alert! A baby raccoon seemed very curious about me: But its sibling was significantly more shy and cautious: If you followed my past weekly wildlife posts, you may recall back in late November I came across my first ever sighting of a Wilson's warbler. It was a female. Well in a different city this time, I spotted the male Wilson's warbler - only my second encounter with a Wilson's - not the greatest shot opportunity, but any bird that rare is worth even a junky shot: The great blue herons started nesting around Thanksgiving - and on this day, I spotted the first chick poking out of a nest:

Another three-day weekend means another opportunity to go out for some wildlife shooting on Monday - so again I can kick off another photo week thread while it's still the current week! MLK day, I got up to Peaceful Waters, a wetland farther north and west of me - figured there was a good chance activity was up there due to the cold weekend...then stopped by my local wetland before heading home. Wintering ducks are much more populous at the northern park. Here, an American wigeon: The roseate spoonbills are starting to get really nice, rich colors this time of year: Down south, we have tons of blue-winged teals, but the green-winged teals don't come our way too often anymore. But they're still up north - this is the lovely male green-winged teal: Ring-necked ducks really don't come down by me - they're quite rare anywhere in S. Florida - but the cold drove a few down to Peaceful Waters this winter. The male, as usual, is the more boldly marked: And like last time I was up here, the river otters were just being silly. This one jumped up on the levee to roll around and play in front of me: The levee was bordered by trees on one side, and the water on the other - about 10 feet wide. I tried to walk past the otter closer to the water, but it decided to block my way and lie down in front of me. When I tried going to the tree side, he waddled up there and laid down in front of me again. Another person came the other way on the levee so we were sandwiching him - but he continued the playful blocking maneuvers for another 5 minutes before finally splashing into the water: Back at the local wetlands, a red-shouldered hawk was off in a distant tree watching the wetlands - though I could get closer, I liked the perspective at 600mm from 250 feet away: A female red-winged blackbird - they're just starting to gather now, and wills tart breeding and nesting around March: A least bittern down by the water, doing some fishing:

If you want a challenge as a photographer, try shooting swallows in flight when they're hunting bugs! These little missiles buzz around at high speed, constantly banking and turning, in pursuit of tiny little bugs, especially over the water. They really come out in force on cold days here in Florida - the water tends to be warmer than the air, and this attracts the bugs who try to stay close to the water...that draws the swallows in to feast! Also had plenty of other birds to shoot Saturday - so here are a few: Tree swallows in flight: here, you can just see the small white blur of the bug that this tree swallow is about to...well, swallow!: A lovely least bittern, getting some sun on a cold Florida day (about 52 degrees in the afternoon): This was being widely claimed to be a Caspian tern - a more rare large tern for out area - but to me, that tufted black crown looks more typical for a royal tern: The lovely roseate spoonbill - standing just 10 feet from me, trying to blend in with a few dozen white ibis all around. It was like a very poorly made 'Where's Waldo' game - if all the people in the crowd were dressed in all white: Great blue heron arriving back to the nest, where the mate is waiting: A pair of ibis, practicing their synchronized flying: A red-shouldered hawk making its sunset flyover:

Well I actually shot on one of the first days of the week for a change, but as usual, the weekends are when I get out to the wetlands - so I can bookend this week with shots I took on Saturday, January 7th: Drying anhinga: Relaxed looking wood stork, just hanging out: Great blue heron, all stretched out to land: Wood stork, coming in on final approach: Osprey. with a chunk of fish: Closeup of a female anhinga, just starting to get her breeding colors: At sunset, the black-bellied whistling ducks heading off to their nighttime spot: At the same time, dozens of glossy ibis are streaming in from elsewhere, as this wetland is THEIR chosen nighttime roost:

Usually I don't get around to photos in a 'week' thread until after that week passed, since most of my shooting would fall on the weekend. But given Monday was a holiday from work, I managed to hit the wetlands on Jan 2, 2023. Starting out with a well hidden Wilson's snipe, shooting into the sun. I was lucky and got him raising his head to look around - otherwise, it just looked like a rock in the grass: A pied-billed grebe - this time a peaceful one just hanging out in the shallows: A ruby-throated hummingbird enjoying the firebush selection: A male red-bellied woodpecker in perfect light: A black-and-white warbler hunting around the trees for bugs: Purple gallinule with those giant legs and feet to climb around the reeds: Anhinga, in the classic drying pose: Big male green iguana, in orange mating colors, having just run off another male:

Made it out to the local wetlands on Saturday, New Year's Eve, 12/31/2022...some of the action found: A pied-billed grebe, normally a cute, fluffy little water bird, angrily chasing another grebe out of its territory: Here's what the little grebe is supposed to look, all peaceful and fluffy: An osprey, coming up from a failed dive without a fish: A marsh rabbit, out on the grassy levee: A great blue heron, just landed next to its mate at their nesting spot: Alligator, cruising the waters in the golden hour, before sunset: An ibis flying by, giving me the eye, just before sunset: A double-crested cormorant banking around as it approaches the island of trees it intends to land on: A red-shouldered hawk, catching the warm low light as I shoot into the setting sun: A trio of black-bellied whistling ducks flying past, sun at my back, as they head off to their nighttime roosting spot:

I was thrilled to learn we'd have our coldest Christmas likely in forever, at least in the last 30 years...don't get too many chances to enjoy cold down here in S. Florida. Christmas Eve was overcast and grey, so not the best light, but with a high temp of 54 I had a wonderful 8 mile walk through the levees of the western Wellington wetlands spots, then over to my local wetlands grounds - so amazing to walk 10 miles and come home without a drop of sweat! Unfortunately, Christmas Day which had an even-lower high temp of only 47, was constant drizzle and rain, as was the Monday holiday at 52 and constant, all-day rain - so Christmas Eve was the only day I was able to get out and shoot: A usually very secretive bird, this sora came out in the open as I passed by: Dozens of these little cruise missiles were buzzing just above the water, catching bugs...the tree swallows are incredibly difficult to pan with as they fly really fast and erratic: The river otters seemed to genuinely love the cold - they were hopping and playing and rolling around on the levees and jumping in and out of the water: Unfortunately, they'd run quite suddenly and I didn't always have the right shutter speeds to freeze them: Something seemed very interesting to this group of ring-necked ducks - they were all watching intently. I've only seen ring-necked ducks 2 other times: The long-billed northern shovelers were also hanging around, like this female: A great blue heron flying by, showing off his wingspan: Another sneaky little bird that let me get pretty close without running and hiding - a male least bittern:

Back to the wetlands after missing a week up at Disney! Visited on Sunday, as Saturday was a rainout and spent wrapping Christmas gifts. The strange and alien chuck-will's-widow was still hanging around: A great egret coming in for a somewhat messy landing: A glossy ibis about to land, showing some of those iridescent brown feathers that give them the name: A great blue heron walking across the levee: A grey-headed swamphen wading through deeper water than it expected: A red-shouldered hawk flying over me near sunset: A wood stork all spread out in the last of daylight skies: By 5pm, the sun has dropped below the treeline and the wetlands fall into dusk - the last shot I could manage was this great egret flying in to roost at dusk - ISO 6,400 needed at this point!: