Early Winter Visitor

This is the second year I have watched this little female Belted Kingfisher. Normally when I stop to get a shot she disappears into the brush. When she sits on the wire here she's watching for fish in the water below.

Fishing is good...

She worked this fish for quite a while...it seemed a bit big to me. I don't know if she managed to eat it or not because she flew back into the brush with it.

The bird looks dark in these pictures but she's actually a gray blue. I took these pictures with a lens doubler...about 40x zoom

Just above the Kingfisher is an Osprey platform. The Osprey live here year round and this nest is rebuilt every year. I don't know if this is an adult or one of the babies with separarion anxiety LOL This bird is here almost daily when I leave work.

I got this look when I was mimicing an Osprey call...Wonder what it was thinking? LOL

Probably thinking "Don't insult my intelligence ... you HUMAN!" ROTFLMAO What an incredible photo! Cool Kingfisher too :-). We've got some pretty nicely colored kingfishers here too (apparently) and I'm still hoping to see one. Not very likely to see one at my home though as we aren't anywhere near any water. LOL

-Julie

Wow Floridian, that look sure put you in your place didn't it!! :>) Great Pictures though.

I don't know what it was thinking, but with that look and those claws I would be making my get-away! LOL That is a wonderful picture.
Pati

Your female Kingfisher needs to have a chat with her hairdresser. lol
Great fish catching series... probably hid in the brush to keep from becoming dinner for someone/thing else while struggling to down her own.

The Osprey is saying: "You talking to Me? YOU talking to ME?"
IMHO - everbody else uses the quote why not another birdbrain?

Poor bird! Who knows what I might have been saying to him!! I forgot to say this is a male Osprey, he lacks the brown "necklace" the female has.

I can sit for hours watching the Osprey fish. One of our island parks has a lagoon formed by the receding tide...a great bird watching spot.

The canal below these birds is also home to this alligator, Alligator mississippiensis, although I'm sure that's only temporary. They move around a lot. I couldn't get above the fence for a better shot...he was easily 6 foot.

This message was edited Oct 29, 2004 6:19 PM

I got out of the car to try for a better picture but the gator slid into the water to hide from me...did a good job didn't he? LOL

These pictures were taken on 4 different days...

This is a female Anhinga. Anhinga are diving birds, very similar to Cormorant. Cormorant and duck are pretty much waterproof, the Anhinga isn't and gets waterlogged. They're often seen drying their wings, sitting on a piling or on the shore of a lake.

This poor bird has a fishing lure stuck to her beak. She seemed okay and had obviously been diving so hopefully the hooks will rust out and she'll be allright.

A closer view that shows the horrible lure...

She croaked at me and flew off down the canal when I tried to get closer. There'd have been no way to catch her to try to remove the lure

Great, just great. Poor darn bird. Hats off to the idiot who was too lazy and irresponsible to bother retrieving a lousy lure. What would it have taken??? All of a few minutes to reel in the lure as opposed to snipping it?

Great wildlife you got going there - appreciate the pics..

Wonderful photos as ever Stacey
That fish is certainly a full meal for the kingfisher!
Magnificent shots of the Osprey

The Anhinger is really beautiful. Hadn't heard of that one. What a striking pattern on the wings. They stretch out to dry off after fishing just like shags and cormorants then.....
Lets hope that lure soon disappears.

Unfortunately fishing gear and wild life meet up all too frequently. We have some wonderful rescue/rehabbers around the area...you call and they will send someone in their network to you or to the area where you've seen a problem. The referral network for all creatures in Florida is tremendous.

So Blooms, ya think that little kingfisher needs a trim? We've had some nice breezes lately. The Osprey's feathers are blown forward too...

Phi, what's a shag? Is it another diving bird like a cormorant?

Thanks for all the comments. I have so many pictures to share. My only problem is time! Where oh where does it go?? Ü

Yes, the european shag is very difficult to tell apart from our cormorant.
Here's a page from around the world - european shag is bottom left.
http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/Sampler5-Cormorants.htm

Mmmm, time just evaporates!

Stacey, I have thoroughly enjoyed all these beautiful pictures, which also revive a lot of memories for me. I enjoyed a few sightings of both Belted Kingfisher and Osprey, during the year we spent in Canada. It was amazing in one place to see an Osprey's nest on every second power pole along a long stretch of road. Ospreys were and still are extremely rare in Britain. They are also found in Australia, but mainly in the North. I have seen one or two up in Queensland. I have never had the opporutunity to photograph either species. The nearest I have been to seeing wild alligators is again in Queensland. We went on a boat trip along the Daintree River in North Queensland, specially to see Estuarine Crocodiles, We did see a few, but they were fairly small juveniles and were mostly half- submerged and never gave us a really clear look. The Anhinga is one of my favourite birds. I met it first in Pakistan, where they frequented the Panjnad Head Works, where the River Sutlej, joins the River Chenab, before flowing on together to connect to the Indus. When I saw them flying overhead, they seemed to have a prehistoric look, rather like seeing a Pterodactyl in flight. In Pakistan, and also here in Australia, they are known as Darters, or as Snake-birds. The name Snake-bird is particularly apposite as when swimming, their body is almost totally submerged, so that the only visible part is the long slender head and neck, giving the appearance that it is a snake that is swimming across the water-hole. The Darters are widespread in Australia, including this area, although they are not very common around here. Again I have never been able to get a picture, although I really cursed that I hadn't got my camera on one occasion recently when a darter was drying its wings like yours on the banks of the lake in our local Mathison Park and I stood and looked at it from well within photograph range. One should never go anywhere without a camera. You never know what unexpected chances may arise. A brief note on Shags and Cormorants. The Shag is an exclusively marine cormorant, whereas the Cormorant in Britain frequents fresh water as well as coastal seawater. That naming has been carried over to other areas so that here in Australia, our one exclusively marine cormorant is known as the Black-faced Shag, whereas the other four Australian Cormorants, which all frequent fresh water, all have cormorant as part of their name. Thanks again for the beautiful photos,

Great photos, Stacey.

Hey floridian.....you sure do get around. LTNS

Love the photos. My daughter that lives near Gainsville has a large pond behind her house and a half dozen year round Anhingas, called by all locals as Snake Birds. We have a lot of them in the salt water marshes near here, and in Galveston Bay.

Ken, that's why I always have my camera...I can take the jokes about it and just tell folks yes but I get my picture!! LOL
Your Black Faced Cormorant is sure a pretty bird, the European Shag looks much like our Cormorant, the Double Crested. Have you ever had the chance to see them from underwater? I was so surprised to see how fast they are

Trois, thanks...do you ever get to near Gainesville?? If you do get down this way drop us a line. We'd happily drive up there to say howdy!!

((Donut))
Weeds, what is LTNS??

Long Time No See!

LOL I should have figured that one out...LTNS - unfortunate but true!

Floridan, loved your bird photos. In this area we also have kingfishers, one of my favorite birds. There are several osprey platforms along the river. Platforms were put up to try to keep the osprey from building nests on power poles and either killing themselves and/or causing power outages. Donna

Rutholive, thanks. We also have raptor platforms on many of the power and phone poles. So many birds were being killed trying to nest that the companies decided to help them out. At first there were power employees that rode the cuts, in jeeps and on horseback, to count dead/dying birds. There were enough counted to warrant the platforms. The birds still get hurt occasionally but not like before the platforms went up. Osprey nesting season is amazing along the roadsides. We get to watch the nests being
(re)built, the adults sitting and the babies peeking out of the nests.

Outstanding photos, Stacey.