Roseate Spoonbills
Roseate Spoonbills are eye-catchers, whether they’re rhythmically swishing their beaks in muddy water to stir up eats, turning their heads one way while still watching this photographer out of a yellow/red-rimmed eye, or posing in a tree. They’re classy beauties.
Great Blue Herons
Sophisticated, statuesque, steadfast — the captivating characteristics of the Great Blue Heron. I photograph just about every heron I see, whether on a low branch simply staring, soaring gracefully over a lake, stretching to see more of life, scratching an itch, or staying aware of an alligator.
Other Herons
The Little Blue Heron demonstrates the subtle beauty of complimentary colors, with a blend of gray-blue, a light purple head and neck, and dull green legs. Slightly larger that the Little Blue Heron and slightly darker with patches of rust and white, the Tricolored Heron looks a bit scruffy. Then there’s the hard-to-spot, nocturnal-hunting, red-eyed, yellow-crowned Night Herons.
Egrets
Snowy Egrets are handsome birds when still but are especially absorbing in motion when their deep-white wings expand, fluffy crowns catch the wind, and bright yellow legs reflect the sun. The much larger, lanky Great Egret is stunning in flight, sharp when contrasted in green grass, and cute while admiring nesting young. Spotting a Reddish Egret is a treat, especially when they’re jumping and spinning and holding its wings up.
Pelicans … White
They’re big birds — very big — tall with foot-long beaks, 7+-foot wingspans, a body weighing 20 pounds, and lovely, textured white plumage. When breeding, their bills, throat sacs, irises and feet turn a bright orange, and there’s a bump near the tip of their bills. Fascinating to watch them group-fish and especially to fly.
Pelicans … Brown
White-headed — yellow when breeding — with a mostly dull brown-gray body highlighted by white splotches, these limited migration birds have a prehistoric charm with a touch of regalness when perched on dock posts. Most fascinating is their acrobatic routine when diving for fish.
Others
The Glossy Ibis is almost iridescent in color. The Sandhill Crane looks stately as it balances its hefty body on one leg. The Pileated Woodpecker’s brilliant headdress and striped upper body is attention-grabbing but that’s after hearing its deep-woods drumming on dead trees. The Yellow Legs is a simple, pretty bird that you would like to take home. The name Black-bellied Whistling Duck says it all.
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Bird Kids
Bird kids are cute in their own ways, always spunky, always hungry, often demanding, sometimes sleepy.