2022 Highlights

 Always graceful, the Great Egret:

 

... and its reflection:

 

Tree Swallows:

 

A Bald Eagle being mobbed by a crow, while sitting on an osprey nest in the winter:

 

 

A different Bald Eagle, with an interesting catch for lunch:

 

Another winter osprey nest, another raptor: a Peregrine Falcon, in front of Atlantic City:

 

... and Snow Geese:

 

Another Great Egret in NJ Meadowlands:

 

Doesn't it look like these ducks are conducting? A Harlequin Duck:

 

An American Wigeon:

 

Did you know groundhogs can climb trees?

 

 

Swamp Sparrow:

 

Someone had fun on a birding trail:

 

The Peregrine Falcon is still there:

 

 

 

 

Florida 2022 - Please Don't Feed the Chickens

 A Key West welcome sign:

 

And just as advertised, they are all over Key West:

 

They are descendants of long-ago escapees.

 

While they started as escaped domestic chickens, they slowly reverted to their wildlife form, known as Red Junglefowl. 

 

If ever wanted to know what the inside of a rooster mouth looks like... now you do.

 

Another funky denizen of Florida (and many other places) is Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron.

 

 

Among many other domestic birds that escaped captivity and colonized Florida is Muscovy Ducks.

 

Here is one with her entire family. 

 

 

 

Sharp-clawed cuteness.

 

 

One of Florida specialties: Mangrove Cuckoo:

 

And a good find anywhere, especially in a palm tree hole - Eastern Screech Owl:

 

 

Some more cool inhabitants of the sunshine state:

 

 

And another Key West Sunset:

Dry Tortugas

 Dry Tortugas are the southern-most and western-most of the Florida Keys. Fort Jefferson is an unfinished fortress on one of the Tortugas keys. It is actually the largest brick structure in the Western Hemisphere. 

 

 

 

Classic tropical lighthouse shot:

 

This reminds me of Indiana Jones for some reason:

 

Dry Tortugas houses a huge colony of Magnificent Frigatebirds, some of which would fly right above you.

 

The ones with a white chest are juveniles:

 

The bird I went there for - a Brown Noddy:

 

A native hermit crab in huge shell:

 

 

The iguanas are not native to Florida, but they are now pervasive there. However, they haven't made it to Dry Tortugas or other outlying islands yet. However invasive they are, they are also really cool to look at.

 

 

Another Florida lizard.

 

Dry Tortugas lies on the migratory path for many birds, which stop there to rest and refuel. This is a Cattle Egret.

 

Ruddy Turnstone:

 

Black-and-White Warbler:

 

Red-Shouldered Hawk:

 

A Key West sunset: