Glossy Ibis

This bird probably immigrated fom Africa in the 1800's. You can see them often by their cousins the white ibis.

I got a chance to take a few pictures of them at Lake Woodruff natural preserve in Deleon Springs, Florida.

Black Bellied Whistling Duck

This awesome bird is not often seen in Florida and i was lucky to capture a few pictures at Gemini Springs park in debary.

It is an unusual duck in appearance and habits.

Great Egret

This beautiful bird that can reach one meter in height and mostly lives in marshes and shallow water areas.. It has a slow gracious flight and keeps his neck retracted which differenciates him from heron,storks,ibis,etc.

Little blue Heron

The Little Blue Heron breeds in sub-tropical swamps. They form a colony and build their nests on stick platforms. They lay from 3-7 lightblue eggs.

Mature herons of this specie have a purplish neck. They hang with snowy egrets for protection and fish catching.

Brown Pelican

The Brown Pelican is a staple of floridian beaches. It is the smallest of 8 species of pelicans. They can be seen traveling in a single file along the beach.

Not unlike the bald eagle,DDT and other pesticides threatened their survival. They dive right into the water to get their next lunch. They can live up to 30 yrs.

Osprey

The Osprey aka Sea Hawk is a fish eating bird of prey that is fascinating to watch.I have seen them can stand still 50 to 100 feet in the air over the water for a long time looking for a fish and then dive into the water to grab a small fish.

They breeds along the freshwater and they mate for life.

I had the chance to see them fly over me at the Gemini Springs park in Debary,Florida. Lucky shots on my Nikon coolpix p80

Blue Jay

When feeling oppressed this bird's crest raises up. It is a very adaptive bird which is found from Northern to Southern parts of America. They are omnivorous and lay 4-5 eggs at a time.

They are very active and hard to take a good picture of. do you know that their color does not come from pigmentation but from light refraction?

Barred Owl

One of the bird species that grows in number in every type of environment is the barred owl. This bird adapts and win over other species of owls(among them northern spotted owls) for territory.They like to nest in tree cavities and their diet is composed of mices, rabbits,opposums and sometime the neighbors cat.

They make a noisy call that can be sounding off like : "Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all.

Northern Cardinal

The cardinal(cardinalidae)was named after the catholic's cardinal red robe.They belong to the passerine bird family.

This bird red plumage makes it difficult for many photographer to get a crisp picture of because of the saturation effect. It is always a treat to see this rare capture hop from branch to branch.

Bald Eagle

As you see this majestuous bird fly over the land you understand why it is the USA's national emblem. Proud, beautiful, soaring high in the sky over its kingdom, the Bald Eagle is quite a feast for the eye.

This bird attracts attention. You just have to look online(http://www.myfwc.com/eagle/eaglenests/nestlocator.aspx) and see how people are tracking their nest location. They do build the largest nest of any north american birds.

The Bald Eagles live mostly is Usa and Canada, their largest population is in Alaska. It is a protected and revered specie which has been the victim of the DDT pesticide(a substance now banned).

I had the privilege of taking a few pictures of this magnificient creature at the Gemini Springs park in debary,fl

Red Shouldered Hawk

The Red Shouldered Hawk is a beautiful bird of prey that you can see just about everywhere in the USA. This bird's diet consists of turtles,snakes,large insects,mice and other small mammals.They build their nests at a major fork of a tree and they have hatch 3 to 4 eggs which have an incubation period of about a month. The new borns are usually out of the nest within 6 weeks.

On a personal note this is a great bird to take in picture, you can sense a bit of a majesty in them. These photos above are all of young red shouldered hawks. I used a Nikon Coolpix p80 to capture them at the Gemini Springs Park, Debary, Florida