Day: May 8, 2023

a second look, adventure, birds, Florida landmarks, Florida wildlife, making memories, nature, Nature's beautiful creatures, on closer examination, perseverance, photography

Plan B plus…

naturecoastimagesblog

Felts preserve was always part of our plan for the day on Friday. It’s only a half hour from the Celery Fields and neither stop was going to require a long walk, or scooter ride. We saw a hawk fly up onto a branch as we were arriving, but the resulting picture wasn’t great so I chose to make it the black and white feature photo. It was almost black and white all by itself. But it was disappointing to see that there was only one feeder filled, plus some seeds on the flat feeders. There were six squirrels scooping up the droppings, and one had managed to perch himself on an open feeder and he stayed put the whole time. Well, almost. Something happened to caused the squirrels and the birds to take cover…

I was here by myself a few years ago and I don’t remember this sign. Maybe it’s new.
There are trails for the adventurous to follow, but we chose the more direct route to the bird blind.
Surprisingly this was the only feeder with seeds. So the painted buntings have possibly moved on. I was thrilled with the lighting and thought this female cardinal looked great in the viewfinder in the camera. I couldn’t see her deformed bill until I put my pictures in the computer.
I was so pleased with this photo, but the beak breaks my heart. This is the second time I’ve gotten home and found that a cardinal I took pictures of had an issue with its beak. First one was from Circle B.
She gets along well with others however. And there was a male in attendance but I didn’t get a decent picture of him.
This red-bellied woodpecker was busy.
We saw the squirrels scatter, and this is the interloper who moseyed on in and wandered under the feeders, sniffing the ground and checking things out.
We had made it back to the car and were loading our cameras when this (same) hawk flew onto the top of a post that had me shooting straight up into the air. I’m surprised I got a picture all.