Babcock-Webb Day 2

Babcock-Webb WMA is so close to Connie's sister's house that I can't resist spending the morning there. There have been Snail Kites reported at the lake for the past few months so I thought I would try to see them. Spoiler alert: I dipped 2 days in a row. But I did manage to have a great time anyway. Day 2 started with heavy fog. This Red-shouldered Hawk was none-too-happy with it.

Foggy Morning

The park's habitat is a mix of open pine forests and shallow swamps which you can see in the above photo. The shallow marshes support tons of herons and egrets. Maybe I'm becoming a photo snob but I rarely take photos of Great-blue Herons because they are usually in boring poses and and pretty easy to photograph. That said, I took a few on Day 2. This one just because the bird was posing with such an elongated neck.

Great Blue Heron

And this one because the bird bit off more than he could chew. Literally, he spent 10 minutes figuring out how to swallow that huge fish. I didn't stay around to see if he succeeded.

Heron with a mouthful

I also usually don't photograph Great Egrets either. Not because they are boring but because they are very difficult to photograph. The white bird is usually over-exposed. To compensate, you end up making the rest of the photo dark. Today's fog was a perfect opportunity to get a good one. Fog flattens out the light so that the exposure can be good for the bird and the background too.

Great Egret

The Great Egret was crafty too. He was following a juvenile White Ibis along the edge of the water. Presumably waiting for the Ibis to stir up the fish for the Egret to have an easy meal. Juvenile White Ibis are not white. They are mottled so that they blend into the environment more. Here is the one that the Egret was following.

Juvenile White Ibis

The pine forests are great habitat for some species of warblers including well, Pine Warblers. I would come across flocks of a few dozen at a time. A few posed nicely. This guy was low in the grass.

Pine Warbler

This guy was low in a bush. 

Pine Warbler

This juvenile Pine Warbler followed Dad bush by bush, tree by tree. I guess he's not ready to go it alone.

Juvenile Pine Warbler

This Pine Warbler was acting like a Palm Warbler in the palm tree.

Pine Warbler in a palm

It wasn't all about birds at the park. I also saw a few alligators. This was the biggest - probably 7 or 8 feet long. Funny that he hustled into the water when he saw Peanut on the bank. Sissy.

Big Daddy Gator

 I found this water snake sunning himself after the fog cleared.

Water snake

I have one more story to share another day.

View From The Window

I'm lucky enough to work from home. You wouldn't be shocked to hear that my home office is set up so that I can see the back patio and pond from the window. I enjoy watching our yard birds everyday however some days are better than others. I learn a lot by watching the behaviors. For instance, I never knew that Robins would eat seed. I observed this a few years ago when one Robin stayed in the yard all winter and ate the seeds under the feeder. He must have taught his friends about it because there are at least 3 Robins in the yard this week gobbling up the seed.

Today's surprise seed eater was a Pine Warbler! He snuck in there with the House Finches. I noticed something more yellow. That's him on the right.

Pine Warbler with House Finches

The finches would chase him away but he stayed close waiting for an opportunity to get back to the seed. 

Pine Warbler

He also took a quick drink in the pond but the photos were terrible. I have to shoot through the window pane which doesn't produce great photos. Except when the bird is literally 2 feet away like this Downy Woodpecker. This is not cropped.

Downy Woodpecker

Yes, I should be working all day but keep in mind that I work through lunch and long hours so I feel OK taking a few minutes to enjoy the birds.

This is What Keeps us Coming Back

Everyone has a hobby of some sort. Hobbies allow us to explore our interest and mostly provide us with positive experiences. In the beginning, we experience long periods of pleasure and personal growth. Once we settle in, the hobby becomes a grounding force - the thing that we can count on to take us away from teh daily grind. Occasionally our hobbies start to take an excessive amount of our free time. We can fall into a rut with our hobbies where participation becomes mundane. At times, the hobby can even work against us as was the case this past December when we found the dead ducks and got bit by a Dachshund (little fucker).

But there are rare moments when we are reminded of what drew us to the hobby in the first place. Magical days when things just go right.  Sunday was that day.  EAGLE! The hole was listed as a par 4 but Dave sunk the ball in 2 strokes. That qualifies as an eagle. That's why you play golf.

Oh, you thought I was talking about birds? OK then Let's talk about birds. At almost the same time that Dave was whooping it up on the golf course, Harvey and I were at the State Park looking for signs of spring.. One of the first warblers to migrate north is Pine Warbler. We found a small group of them and watched as they flitted from pine tree to pine tree. Here is a female Pine Warbler.

Pine Warbler - Female

Here is a male Pine Warbler that turned a good day into a great day. Meet Mr. Piney. This guy landed on the ground in front of us and proceeded to delight us for about 20 minutes. Handsome huh?

Mr. Piney

When I say he walked around right in front of us, I mean RIGHT in front of us, and behind us, and past us. He would occasionally look up at us.

Hey, what kind of shoes are they?

He got so close that we couldn't photograph him with your telephoto lenses. He was too close. At one point, I ran away from him to snap this shot of Harvey. Mr Piney is right beside him.

Harvey and Mr. Piney

Here is another view of the same shot. You now know that Harvey wears Rockport shoes.

Rockports!

This is what keeps us coming back for more. Encounters like this don't happen unless you are out there. You don't shoot 2 under par unless you are golfing either.