And, another catchup post...
We camped at Anastasia National Park again for a relaxing March break with family in 2022. Very soon, a Red-tailed Hawk was in the trees around the camp sites. It was catching lizards and geckos running the tree branch moss.
Red-tailed Hawk |
Red-tailed Hawk |
One early morning birding run was pretty successful with some lifers.
male Eastern Towhee (lifer) |
female Eastern Towhee (lifer) |
Northern Mockingbird |
Great Egret |
Great Egrets roosting |
Anhinga |
Anhinga sunning |
Eastern Phoebe |
Brown Pelican |
Great Egret |
Great Egret |
The Northern Cardinal is not strange to us up north, but their colours seem more vibrant here somehow.
male Northern Cardinal |
female Northern Cardinal |
Carolina Wren pair |
Grey Catbird |
A wood stork was along the roadside. It had a fish hook stuck in the fleshy part of it's bill. A couple of us flagged down the park rangers, but they didn't seem too concerned - apparently it's been doing fine with it as it is.
Wood Stork |
Wood Stork |
Wood Stork |
Red-tailed Hawk |
Great Blue Heron |
Great Blue Heron |
White Ibis |
juvenile White Ibis |
Brown Pelican |
Bottlenose Dolphin |
Brown Pelican and Bottlenose Dolphin |
Brown Pelican waiting to grab injured fish from Bottlenose Dolphin |
Bottlenose Dolphin |
Gopher Tortise |
And... Finally! After many times attempting to even get a camera aimed on an osprey diving, I finally at least got a picture of some of the sequence. Although the impact shot would be great, this was part of it and got captured.
Osprey |
Osprey |
Osprey with fish |
Osprey with fish |
So, this was a pretty exciting scene to see, and get a few distant pictures of. These are cropped shots. An Osprey did the work of finding and catching a fish, but a much bigger Bald Eagle took opportunity to chase and force it to drop the fish. The Eagle caught it in mid air and flew off the victor.
Bald Eagle chasing Osprey with fish |
Bald Eagle and Osprey |
Bald Eagle and Osprey |
Bald Eagle with captured fish |
Wilson's Plover (lifer) |
Great Egrets |
pair of Black-crowned Night-Heron |
Palm Warbler (lifer) |
Ground Dove (lifer) |
Black Skimmer (lifer) |
A great vacation with lots of time to enjoy His handiwork.