Monday, December 16, 2013

Birding in the WMA

Sunday morning dawned rainy with occasional thunder and lightning. We all slept in nurtured by the sound of the surf. During a short visit to the beach I met a man from Bemidji, MN; asked him how cold it was there and he said -32 - so he had over a 100 degree change to be happy about!

The rain stopped mid-day and the sun came out and called for a Ding Darling WMA visit! So off I went to reacquaint myself to the refuge. What a wonderful time!
Starting at the access gate, with the ibis in the middle of the road, on to the Little Blue Herons and Roseate Spoonbills and capped off with an Osprey showing off his catch, it was an exciting time to be there. A couple of older ladies wound up stopping at the same places I did and one of them was a birder and educated me on several birds, including the juvenile Little Blue below.

A bunch of pelicans were roosting in trees next to the beach - here's one.

These guys stood on the beach all facing into the wind.

She was standing in the middle of the road when I entered the WMA


 Little Blue heron hunting.

These next two are the immature Little Blue - the color is starting to come out under the white feathers.



Snowy egret.


I took several shots of this Osprey and they all came out pretty good - I'm surprised since it was a quick response to him flying by.


A gaggle of birds that includes two Roseate Spoonbills.


Hunting.

A Red Bellied Woodpecker posed for me on the way out of the refuge.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Don't know about contemporary evangelism, but I think Jesus would love your birds! Fantastic collection.