Great Egret

The Great Egret is a white heron with long, black legs, and feet. It's yellow bill is long and straight. In flight, the neck is pulled back in the S-curve. For more information, click here.

Ducks

There's a lot to be said for bigger zoom lenses. I guess I got a little too close in my attempt to photograph this duck and frightened him away, but the trail of water he left behind made this photograph more interesting.

Little Blue Heron

I was driving around today during lunch time and ran across this Little Blue Heron perched near a local retention pond.

Common Moorhen

I thought this bird was a duck, but when I looked it up the only "duck" with a similar appearance is found in Mexico to Argentina and not in the United States. I since learned that this is a Common Moorhen. There were five of them in a local retention pond when I snapped this photo.

I should have known it wasn't a duck from it's antics. The ducks in the same pond were very jumpy and skitterish. The ducks would fly off with the slightest movement. But the Moorhen was very at ease and allowed me to snap several photos and walk closer and closer. In fact, I grew tired of watching the Moorhen before it got tired of posing.

Wood Stork in Flight

Blue Heron

Wood Stork

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service there are 8,000 breeding pairs of wood storks in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, and South Carolina. They are currently considered an endangered bird species.

Autumn in Florida

Another Florida Heron Picture

Heron

Roeseate Spoonbill

It was very overcast when these photos were taken and the color quality of these roseate spoonbill pictures suffered a little bit, but they are still a rare capture in Florida.

Prior to taking the first picture, he'd been stirring around in the water quite a bit. He used the spoon bill to ruffle up the feathers to help them dry out.

I've also noticed that these birds spend quite a bit of time with their eyes closed. In many of the shots I took the eyes were closed.

If you're wondering about the funny looking bird in the background - it's a wood stork. The spoonbills and wood storks are often found together. They like similar water depths for feeding /hunting and are often found in the same areas.

The Lone Ibis

I'm hoping for a Roseate Spoonbill citing again soon. In the spring, this pool of water had some spoonbill visitors periodically. In the meantime, Gaye Johnson's Photo Blog has a nice Roseate Spoonbill picture I like a lot. Gaye took the picture at Ding Darling Wildlife Santuary and Refuge on Sanibel Island.

Little Blue Heron

There's a pool of standing water next to the grocery store where various ibis, egrets, and heron like to hang out in early mornings and late afternoons. This morning I found this little blue heron and snapped some pictures.

If you like herons, Ash's Bird Blog has a nice collection of Green Heron pictures.

Large Egret