Some Florida wildflowers

Pied Billed Grebe

This pretty little duck escaped many times from me. I found him at the Gemini Springs park in Debary, Florida. It is a very nice place to find Ospreys, Red Shouldered, Red Tailed and Cooper Hawks, Cormorants, Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Herons, Swallow Tail Kite, Tri-Colored Herons, Bald Eagles, American Bittern, Anhingas, Bobwhite Quails, Least Flycatchers, Tufted Titmouse, Cardinals, Palm and yellow rumped, Warblers, Great, Cattle and Snowy Egrets, White and Glossy Ibis, Belted Kingfishers, Barred and Great Horned Owls and many more. There are also many types of butterflies and dragonflies.

AMERICAN BITTERN

PICTURE OF THE AMERICAN BITTERN CAPTURED AT THE GEMINI SPRINGS PARK IN DEBARY FLORIDA

Butterfly Dream

Wilson's Plover

Wilson's plover at Ponce Inlet beach in Florida














The Wilson's Plover eats worms,shrimps, insects, small crabs. The Wilson's Plover builds their nest on the beach just out of reach of high tide. They can be seen along the Florida peninsula.

Roseate Spoonbill

Rose-breasted Grosbeak: Large finch, black head, back, bright red breast, and white rump, sides, belly. The wings are black with white patches above and red, white, black below. Long, slightly notched black tail with white patches. Eats seeds, caterpillars, insects, tree flowers, fruits and berries.

Blue Winged Teal

Blue-winged Teal: Small dabbling duck, purple-gray head, distinct white crescent on face. Upperparts are scaled buff, dark brown; underparts are pale brown with numerous dark spots. Wings have green speculum, pale blue shoulder patch visible in flight. Fast direct flight with steady wing beats.

Black-necked stilt

Black-necked Stilt: Large shorebird with sharply contrasting black upperparts and white underparts. Long, thin, upcurved bill. Red eyes with white eye-rings, and white patch above. Legs are extremely long and red-pink. Feeds on insects, fish, worms, small crustaceans and seeds. Swift direct flight.

Cattle Egret

The Cattle Egret did not exist outside of Africa until the late 19th century. They likely flew from Africa to South America and since have extended their range through Florida and then further north and west.

• They have been observed along side the runways of airports waiting for airplanes to pass and blow insects out of the grass. They also follow farm equipment to catch insects that are disturbed.
• It has been estimated that Cattle Egrets are able to gather 50% more food and use only two-thirds as much energy when they feed in association with livestock as opposed to feeding alone.
• A group of cattle egrets are collectively known as a "stampede" of egrets.

American Robin

During breeding season, male American Robins grow black feathers on their heads to attract females. Once the mating season is over, these feathers are lost.

• These birds have been observed wading belly deep in water to catch small fish.
• There is a Crayola crayon named Robin’s Egg Blue.
• A group of robins are collectively known as a "worm" of robins.

Yellow Rumped Warbler

• The Yellow-rumped Warbler is one of the most common warblers in North America.
• The eastern Myrtle and western Audubon forms were once considered separate species. Easily identified from one another, the Myrtle has a white throat, while the Audubon’s is yellow.
• Able to digest 80% of wax-coated berries such as bayberries, the Yellow-rumped Warbler is capable of wintering farther north than any other warbler.
• A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" of warblers.

Least Flycatcher

* The Least Flycatcher was first described in 1843 by Spencer Fullerton Baird, an American ornithologist and ichthyologist. It is also called Chebec, after the sound it makes.
* Unlike most species of songbird, adults migrate to their wintering grounds before molting, while young birds molt before and during autumn migration.
* An incubating bird is surprisingly tame and will often allow itself to be touched or even lifted off the nest, however with other birds it is aggressive and has been known to attack Brown-headed Cowbirds.
* A group of flycatchers has many collective nouns, including an "outfield", "swatting", "zapper", and "zipper" of flycatchers.

A nice day..

There is nothing like passing the day at the beach...

A little birding in motion

Here is a little sample of the life of Red Shouldered Hawks at Gemini Springs Park, Debary,Florida

Swallow Tailed Kite

what an incredibly beautiful bird!!

This picture was taken at the Audubon bird of prey center. This place takes care of wounded birds, some of them will never be able to go back in the wild.

Northern Mockingbird

The Northern Mockingbird is Florida,Arkansas,misissippi,tennessee and Texas state bird. When I hear this bird sing all these differents melodies I am always in awe. You will see him flying in pursuit of other birds entering his territory.Speaking of territory the Norther Mockingbird covers 10,000,000 square kilometers of land, from the east coast to west coast, from Canada to down south Florida.

How to take pictures of Birds in Flight

As some may know, i am using a digital super zoom nikon coolpix p80 that my wife gave to me for Christmas. I used to really be into photography and moving pictures a long time ago.

For our health benefit mostly we started to walk at the park and one day i decided to bring my digital camera to see if i could capture some wildlife and landscapes.
it did not take long until i got hooked and wanted to be out there trying to catch some exotic birds at every possible moment.

I have learned the limits of my coolpix p80 pretty quick. The slow focus and processing made me cringe many times and lose many precious memories...

if there is a few tips i could give to new wildlife photographer they would be :

1. get yourself a DSLR and a good lens(if possible 200mm or more)
2. Learn to play with the aperture so you can get the bird your are aiming at in the most natural and crisp way.
3. Use your shutter priority mode to create a 3 dimensional effect without blur effect.
4. Learn to have a good eye for type of flights that the birds have and calculate distance as precisely as possible.
5. Focus on one bird at a time : )

Common Moorhen

The common moorhen,also called florida gallinule or swamp chicken, lives mostly in freshwater marshes and large ponds. They are good swimmers and the live in Florida all year-round. The common moorhen breeds in Central Florida, especially near the east coast. It is recognizable by it's red shield plate above it's bill.

A group of these birds is called a "plump".

Red Winged Black Bird

The Red Winged Black Bird breeds from Alaska to Guatemala. Like many other species of bird it is sexually dimorphic : the male as a red and a yellow bar on its wings and is all back while the female is of a dark brown colour with white discontinuous stripes

It is in the wide variety of the passerines more precisely in the ecteridae family. This Black bird broods 2-3 eggs per season and build a nes nesting area each time.

They can fly 30 mph. a group of red winged black bird can be called a "cloud"

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