Birds
Helping Birds Survive the Winter
An Arctic blast has created a frigid air mass over much of the country after a major snow storm dumped up to two feet of snow in some places. While many insect-eating birds flew south for the winter, many seed eating birds stay. Black-capped chickadees strip out seeds deep within pine cones and gold finches […]
The Curious Mockingbird
It is a fall November day in Florida and as Anne and I enjoy the last days in the swimming pool before the cold weather moves in, we are accompanied by a northern mockingbird that sits on a fence post of a cyclone fence that surrounds the pool. The bird is unusually quiet and complacent, […]
Snatching Bugs!
“Feeebe, Feebe,” calls a bird from nearby woodland. Anne and I are in the community pool and when I hear the familiar call. I tell Anne that it is an eastern phoebe. This flycatcher flies from the woodlands and perches on the cyclone fence enclosing the pool. It flies up five feet, then lands back […]
The Terrestrial Duck
Unlike other ducks that keep to the water, the black-bellied whistling duck prefers to roam the edges of lakes and ponds and in fields where it forages for plants and seeds. While vegetation is the main diet of this bird, it will also eat snails, insects and other small life. It often perches on tree […]
Snowy Egret Goes Surf Fishing
I have observed egrets for decades. I have seen them hunting in saltwater marshes, freshwater wetlands as well as in the shallows of ponds and streams. To my surprise I saw a snowy egret wading in the ocean waves lapping the shore where it ate small fish caught in the surf at Cocoa Beach in […]
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