I am excited that my image above was selected as part of the top 250 images in the North American Nature Photographers (NANPA) 2021 Showcase. The NANPA Showcase includes six categories: scapes, birds, mammals, macro/micro/all other wildlife, altered reality, and conservation. NANPA recently released most of the images which can be viewed here. The remaining images will be released next month. The images are stunning and worth a look.
If you are a nature photographer, I recommend joining NANPA. They are advocates for photographers rights and ethics in nature photography. They have many membership benefits including education opportunities and member discounts. For more information go to http://www.nanpa.org/membership-2/.
I regularly look at the eBird alerts to see what rare birds are showing up in my area. There had been several postings of the last few days about mute swans. Instead of doing my daily water aerobics today, I went to the spot where the latest sightings have been to get some pictures. I was fortunate to see three mute swans, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that one of the mute swans had a problem. I noticed that the right back leg of one of the mute swans was being held differently than the other birds. At one point, two of the mute swans flew to the other side of the pond, but the third swan just swam.
Later, they came out of the water and it was clear something was wrong with one of the swans. I didn’t know why there were mute swans in our vicinity because they shouldn’t be here. Also, these three birds were clearly sticking with each other. I am associated with a local wildlife rescue and wasn’t sure a rescue made sense. Taking the wounded bird away might allow the others to leave. When the wounded bird healed, where would it go? I took video and pictures of the wounds and called the local wildlife rehabilitator (The Ark) to get some guidance.
Oddly, my contact told me they already had my wounded swan. I had just left the swan, so I was puzzled how they picked it up so fast. I asked when they picked up the bird and she said “two days ago”. Obviously, I saw a different bird.
As we talked, my contact said the Ark thought that the bird they retrieved may have been raised by someone nearby and released after the birds got too big. Knowing there were three more birds made them believe that they may have all been released at the same time.
The Ark attempted to retrieve the wounded bird I found and they were unsuccessful. But, they realized the location was, for the most part, a good place for the swans to be. They had sufficient water and vegetation to feed. There is a nearby road that presents a danger, but otherwise it was a good place. They decided to return the wounded bird they had to the same pond where the other three birds were located. They recorded the release of the 4th bird and it was a reunion to bring a tear to your eye. The four birds appear to be happy together at this location.
Mute swans are considered an invasive species in most of the United States, so no public organization is likely to care about the outcome of these birds. Letting them make their way as best they can in this little pond is the best these birds can hope for. And local folks can get a great view of these beautiful birds.
In the following video, you can see three of the swans. Note that one of the swans holds its right back leg awkwardly and when it is on land, it can’t walk.
For the first time in our neighborhood, we saw some black-bellied whistling ducks. A few days ago, I saw two adults and seven babies. Today there are only six babies. These ducks used to be called black-bellied tree ducks because they roost in trees and sometimes nest in tree cavities. They are mostly vegetarians and like to eat the grain from agricultural fields. They usually feed at night. They can be found year round in the peninsular part of Florida. These birds make a very interesting whistling call. The little ones kept trying to get underneath one of the adults for shade. It was hard to fit six babies under one adult.
While trying to get photos of the ducks, I heard the rattling call of some belted kingfishers and saw a pair of them on one of the branches of a tall pine tree. These birds are only seen in our area in the winter. The female has two chest bands, blue-gray and rusty while the male lacks the rusty band. These are two males.
As we described in earlier posts, I raised a baby blue jay, Topaz, last spring and released it in May. We went across country for the summer and came back mid-August. About a week after we came home, we saw the blue jay about a 1/2 block up the street. The next day I saw it again and was able to get pictures. (Recent Topaz post here.) I walk the dog in that area regularly and haven’t seen or heard the blue jay in the area. Two days ago, Regis spotted a blue jay at the feeder. It left and landed in a nearby tree and when Regis got close to the tree, the blue jay started to exhibit begging behavior. That’s our bird, Topaz! It was great to see it again but once again it is remaining elusive. It was eating the Bark Butter Bits, so I will be sure to keep the feeder full.
We also posted about some raccoon families hanging around. Over the last several days, we have not seen the families together. We have seen individual baby raccoons show up to check under the feeder for any seed that has fallen. They are adorable. Last evening, I saw one of the little guys as it was starting to get dark and then an adult showed up. This was not the mother because we have seen this other raccoon before. The raccoon has an injury. My heart breaks for it but it seems to be able to get enough food. We saw this hurt raccoon a couple weeks ago but this is the first picture we got so we could check out the injury.
The baby raccoon laid on the ground when the adult came and stayed there while the adult ate what it could find. After the adult left, the baby laid on the ground under the feeder for about 15 minutes before it finally left.
I went for a walk on the beach today in Anastasia State Park. I saw this baby shorebird. I think it is a baby ruddy turnstone, but would love to hear from anyone who thinks it is something else. This little one was very active and doing well finding food on the beach. It needs a tail.
Here is a picture of an adult ruddy turnstone I took a few years ago near Marineland.
There were lots of royal terns begging for food and keeping their parents busy bringing in fish to feed them. The young royal terns are almost as big as the parents but you can tell the young ones based on their begging posture.
When we returned from our cross country trip, I immediately set up the bird feeders since I love watching the birds. A few days after I set up the feeders, I noticed that two separate raccoon families were making it a habit to drop by during the day to clean up any seed that fell to the ground. The first shift is comprised of a mother and two adorable babies. The second shift of a mother and three babies shows up an hour or so later and cleans up anything that was missed or new stuff that has fallen to the ground. I feed a No Mess Blend from Wild Birds Unlimited that includes sunflower seeds and millet without the shells and peanuts. I also feed Bark Butter Bugs and Bits which the bluebirds and Carolina wrens love. If it rains, I will toss out the remaining Bark Butter Bits on the ground and replace with fresh food. I only put out a handful everyday, so there isn’t much to toss out when I do. The raccoons will not eat any of the millet that falls to the ground but they will clean up the rest.
I love to watch them pick up the food with their little hands. The mom’s are always alert and if we make too much movement in the house, the moms shoo their little ones to safety.
A few days ago, when I was leaving the neighborhood to run and errand, I saw 17 roseate spoonbills at our local pond. I called Regis and he came down to take pictures. We occasionally see a spoonbill or two at one of the ponds, but I have never seen so many at one time. We see them more often in the marsh, but even then I rarely see more than a few at a time.