We did lots of things that were fun--two plays, "Avatar" in 3-D (wonderful technology but 45 minutes too long), dinner with friends, a visit with a cousin in St. Petersburg, walks on the Gulf beaches near St. Pete. We managed to pack a lot into one week and still had time to visit and just relax.
Mary knows I love birding, and she always manages to find interesting places to indulge my hobby. This time we explored Payne's Prairie State Park. It's north of The Villages and Ocala. The day we visited the wind was howling. We managed to see some things but will probably go back another time when the weather is better. My favorite picture from there is of a great egret.
One evening we were near a small lake near sunset and got out to look around. There were a number of white ibis there. The sun was at a very low angle, and it made this white ibis look a sort of orangey red.
Normally they look like this:
The light can do strange things. The pair above were at a city park in Leesburg on a windy but beautiful day with lots of bright sunlight. What a difference the time of day makes! That park in Leesburg is a favorite of mine. The marsh birds just wander around, practically underfoot! We have American coots here in winter, but it was nice to see them.
Common moorhens come this way in warmer weather, but not in large numbers and not very convenient to find. These were so close, and they didn't seem to mind our presence at all.
I like the reflection of the moorhen in this shot.
Purple gallinules, on the other hand, are as scarce as hen's teeth in this area, and there were a nice number of them wandering around close at hand.
Anhingas are easy to find in Florida, but they are sometimes hard to photograph. Here is one all stretched out to dry his wings, and below that is one that must have been dry already, because he was resting and observing his world from the top of a tree. The neck coloration is easier to see on Mr. Treetop.
Egrets, both snowy and great, fished and preened and showed off their lacy feathers. First the snowy, then the great egret.
When we were at St. Petersburg, we had lunch and shopped a bit at The Pier. Outside the shop area there was a little stand that sold pelican food. Apparently the brown pelicans have been mooching food from tourists in that same spot for years. They just come to the stand and look hungry and the gullible tourists buy food for them. They got no food from me, but I took a couple of pictures anyway. There were three of them hanging around, but I thought this one was a bit more photogenic.
Today it has been snowing in Maryland--about six inches of it all told. I'm ready to go back to Florida!
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