A Snowbird in Paradise

For some reason I love the huge birds in Florida.  For all of my life my parents' bird station, and then my own  in Michigan attracted wonderful little birds...LITTLE birds.  I knew about these large birds in Florida and saw an occasional one from afar in Michigan but some of these birds come right up to you with no fear.  I love taking their photos but love digitally scrapping them even more.

Here are this year's favorite bird photos so far.

Wood Stork

 This handsome fellow was the first bird I hand-fed eight years ago.  He was also the first bird I photographed with my new Canon Digital DSLR camera.  Yes, I can get very close to him without spooking him, but, no, I do not let him eat from my hand.  I am “respectful” of that long, sharp beak.  It could do some damage.

Florida White Pelican

White Ibis

 Usually, the past 8 years, we would see one or two Ibis mixed in with a flock of Cattle Birds but this year we have a flock that ranges from 10 to 25 Ibis and no Cattle Birds.  I started feeding the Ibis each morning and now they come knocking, or at least come close to the screen house.  I was surprised to hear their “grunt” when fighting for bits of food.  The fellow I photographed alone hangs back and just refuses to allow me to feed him.  We like keeping these birds around because they shove their bills into the sand/soil getting out all the insects.  The more they do that the better for us.

Great White Egret

A Sebastian friend posted to Facebook for all Sebastian folks to look out to the West.  This is what we all saw.  It went from this to deeper colors as the sun set further but also became darker and harder to get good photos.