Tag Archives: red-winged blackbird

Orlando Wetlands Follow-up

May 15, 2023Orlando Wetlandsbirds, Black Vulture, black-bellied whistling duck, Blue Iris, Caracara, Florida Cooter, Flowers, Great Blue Heron, horaltic pose, Pig Frog, Pileated Woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker, red-winged blackbird, Spoonbill, turtle, Water Snake, White Peacock Butterfly, wildlifeEd Rosack

I’ve visited and written about Orlando Wetlands several times this year. Now I’d like to follow-up and show you some of the things that haven’t been in the blog yet. Sorry for including so many more photos than usual – I need to catch up!

A group of Vultures resting in a tree or on the ground is called a ‘committee’. I’ve seen single Vultures pose with their wings spread before, but this was the first time I’ve seen so many, all doing the same thing, on top of identical palm trunks. It really caught my eye! It was almost like the ‘committee’ was taking a vote! If you search for “horaltic pose” you’ll find some info about this. They often do it in the early morning to warm up.

An unusual committee of vultures

Wildflowers and butterflies (and dragonflies too) have been plentiful.

Blue Iris Bloom

White Peacock Butterfly

You may spot a snake catching some rays among the Lilly pads.

Water Snake

But the snakes have to be careful or a Great Blue Heron might spot them too.

Formidable Hunter

I’m not sure what the plants around this frog are, but they add some nice color and texture to the photo. I’m also not sure how these frogs survive in a lake with such a large population of Alligators.

Pig Frog

Turtles are plentiful too.

Mossy back turtle. Florida Cooter(?)

This Caracara was strolling along the path leading to the boardwalk. I followed at a distance until it turned and I could get an image of it in profile.

Out for a stroll

Red-winged Blackbirds are courting and staking out their territories.

Singing Red-winged Blackbird

I heard this Pileated Woodpecker knocking from at least a quarter mile away. It kept on as I walked and the sound led me right to it.

Follow the knock

The header image is of the same bird flying toward a new place to knock. There’s a larger version here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/52883882765/in/dateposted-public/

I didn’t hear this next one knocking, but its red highlights stood out and made it easy to find on this palm tree.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Posing ducks are hard to resist.

Black Bellied Whistling Ducks on the railing

And here’s one more Spoonbill photo. Fledglings were practicing their flying skills and learning how to get around and feed themselves. Landing on a railing is tricky!

Young Spoonbills, exploring the world

Migrant birds were also passing through Orlando Wetlands this spring. I found a Painted Bunting, a Cape May Warbler, and a European Starling – although my photos of them aren’t very good. And there’s a story over at https://birdersjourney.com/2023/04/30/life-bird-what-a-delight/ about spotting a Blue Grosbeak! So it’s been a glorious place to wander around with a camera this year. I think I’ll keep checking on it every once in a while.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Stay positive, be kind, take care of yourselves and each other. And if you can, make some photos!

A few more Lake Apopka photos

July 11, 2021Lake ApopkaAlligator, Dragonfly, Green Heron, red-winged blackbirdEd Rosack

I brought many images back from our drive around Lake Apopka – too many for a single blog post. So here are some others that I like.

Launch! (Green Heron)

Gazing Gator

Perching Dragon (Orange Meadowhawk)

Blackbird on a bulrush (Red-winged Blackbird)

Bird on a branch (Green Heron)

Header image: Looking east over the marsh near the Lake Apopka pump house.

Updates:

Tropical Storm Elsa passed by to our west, but I haven’t heard of any significant problems from it in our area. I hope the rest of you were as lucky as we were.
Our “Who are you lookin’ at” print arrived last week and it looks as good as I expected it would. I have another image in mind for a print – I hope I’ll get another coupon soon!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Take care of yourselves and each other. And when you can, make some photos!

Viera Wetlands – 1/15/20

January 19, 2020Viera WetlandsAnhinga, birds, Cormorant, Deer, landscape, Palm Warbler, panorama, red-winged blackbird, sunriseEd Rosack

The last time I visited Viera Wetlands was in March of 2019, so I’ve been wanting to go back. Each time I checked the road conditions hotline, it said they’re closed to vehicles. But the message hasn’t been updated since mid-November and I suspected (hoped?) it wasn’t accurate. This week I decided to go down anyway.

I started the morning with a pretty sunrise at the River Lakes Conservation Area Boat Ramp where the St. Johns crosses SR 520.

A very calm morning

Then I headed down to Viera. The hotline is correct – the wetlands roads are closed to vehicles and there’s some repair work going on. I haven’t found any info posted about when they expect to allow cars again. Anyway, I took off on foot with my camera and had a nice walk around the east half of the park closest to the parking area. Here are some of the things I saw.

“Who are you lookin’ at?” (3). These early morning deer were very alert and very suspicious of me and my long lens. I saw about a dozen of them and there were probably more. I liked the light on this group and how they were all staring right at me.

Redwing Blackbird launch. I managed to catch it just as it as it took off.

Cormorant in flight – There were a great many there that morning.

Sunning Anhinga. There were a large number of anhingas too, and this lady was enjoying the early morning light.

Palm Warbler

I heard lots of Sandhill Cranes but only saw them in the distance and there was one Spoonbill that was too far away for a photo, I didn’t see anything rare or exotic on my walk, but there were plenty of smaller birds, water birds, vultures and alligators. And I enjoyed my time out in nature and got some steps too!

You can look through my blog posts about Viera Wetlands (44 and counting!) at this link: https://edrosack.com/category/photo-ops-in-florida/viera-wetlands/. And I’ve collected over 300 photos from there in this album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrosack/albums/72157623223995224. Also please click on the photos in these blog posts to view them in higher resolution on Flickr.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos -even if the road’s closed!

Bird population loss

September 22, 2019Conservationbald eagle, BringBirdsBack, Eastern Meadowlark, red-winged blackbirdEd Rosack

A study released last week in Science Journal reports that the North American wild bird population is in steep decline. About 29% of the breeding population (2.9 billion) vanished since 1970. This includes species we see here in Central Florida. There are 92 million fewer Red-winged Blackbirds:

Red-winged Blackbird in flight, Viera Wetlands

And Eastern Meadowlarks declined by ~70% (73 million):

A Messy Molting Meadowlark – Joe Overstreet Road, Osceola County

The study is based on multiple independent data sources including bird counts and radar information. This particular study didn’t investigate causes, but habitat loss and degradation are seen as the biggest overall drivers of the decline.

The news isn’t all bleak. Raptors have increased by 15 million since 1970 due to banning some pesticides, and waterfowl gained 35 million because of wetland regeneration. This shows we can make a difference.

Bald Eagle in flight – Kenansville, Fl.

The loss of birds is consistent with other data showing massive declines in insects and amphibians. These are symptoms that our environment is not healthy and they should be a tremendous wake up call.

We must do everything we can to help keep our only planet healthy . How will you answer your children and grandchildren when they ask you what you did about this?

Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go support conservation. And make some photos. Before it’s too late.

#BringBirdsBack

Some Recent Photos

March 3, 2018INSIDE FLORIDA, VARIOUSbirds, black and white, Gull, Hi-res, landscape, Olympus, red-winged blackbird, sunriseEd Rosack

I haven’t been on a photo expedition recently, so this week I’ll cheat a bit and show some images that haven’t been on the blog before.

Orlando Wetlands Park, October 2017. Olympus hi-res, two frame panorama converted to B&W. I don’t convert sunrise photos to B&W very often, but the light in this one is pretty.

Space View Park, February 2018. An alternate view to the one posted back then. Looking east at dawn. You can see the hurricane damage to the dock that hasn’t been repaired. Olympus hi-res, two frame panorama.

Red-winged Blackbird, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, December 2017. Common around here, but those epaulettes are attractive!

A gull and the ocean, Cocoa Beach, January 2018. This is also an alternate view to the one posted back then. I bracketed exposure due to extreme contrast and to get some detail on the bird. Blended in Photoshop

Please click on any of these to see a larger version on Flickr. And thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos! I will too!

It's still that time of year!

March 26, 2017INSIDE FLORIDA, Viera Wetlandsbirds, Great Blue Heron, Otter, red-winged blackbird, Sandhill CraneEd Rosack

And now it’s official – the vernal equinox was last Monday. Kevin M., Tom M. and I headed for Viera Wetlands early on Friday morning to see how spring is going there.

I wrote about the bird nesting at Gatorland a couple of weeks ago (https://edrosack.com/2017/03/12/its-that-time-of-year-again/). It turns out that there’s a lot of activity at Viera too.

We saw Sand Hill Crane families:

What’s Momma doing? Sand Hill Crane and chick foraging at Viera Wetlands. The chick’s concentration is fascinating.

And Great Blew Heron families (Pun intended – Windy day? Blew? Blue? ):

Breezy Blue and baby – Mom guards the nest and chicks

And caught a brief glimpse of a family of River Otters before they disappeared into the reeds:

River Otter family – 3 or 4 of them ran across the road and into the water

I have one more photo to show you. Since I started using the Olympus E-M1 II camera, I’ve been on a quest to apply its ‘pro-capture’ mode to photograph a Red-winged Blackbird in flight. Their shoulders are pretty and you can’t see them very well when they’re perched. This is my best attempt so far. I like it, but I’m going to keep trying. I’d like to catch one in a little better light and it’d be nice to have the bird facing more toward the camera. While we’re wishing, a catch light in the eyes would be wonderful too!

Red-winged Blackbird in flight –

We also looked for a different sunrise spot and stopped by a pasture on the way to Viera. Unfortunately, nature didn’t cooperate – I ended with a few uninspiring photos. You can look at one (if you must) on Flickr at this link.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some spring time photos!

Viera Wetlands, Earth Day 2015

April 26, 2015INSIDE FLORIDA, Viera Wetlandsbirds, landscape, Least Bittern, red-winged blackbird, sunrise, wildlifeEd Rosack

I realize this post comes a little late for Earth Day. But I usually only publish once a week on the weekends, and on April 22nd I was out enjoying the Earth.

“Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which day events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970″ Wikipedia

I haven’t written anything here about Viera Wetlands lately and decided to head down and see what’s going on there. On the way, I ran into this scene. I really liked the clouds, the way the their edge leads to the sun, the reflections in the calm water, and the illumination on the flowers in the foreground.

Earth Day sunrise by the Arlington / St. Johns River at SR 50, east of Christmas, Florida

I think Viera Wetlands is an proper place to celebrate Earth Day. It’s a water reclamation facility and the very clean water provides a home for many birds and animals. Here’s a link to a chart showing the 233 kinds of birds sighted there, organized by month. Last Thursday, I saw: Alligator, American Coot, Anhinga, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Double-crested Cormorant, Osprey, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron,Tricolored Heron, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Limpkin, Pied-billed Grebe, Common Gallinule, Grackle, Northern Cardinal, Mockingbird, Least Bittern, and Red-winged Blackbird.

This next photo is interesting. The bird was hiding in the reeds and severely back-lit. I couldn’t really tell what it was but managed to focus through the plants and get a good exposure. At the time I thought it was probably a Green Heron since I’ve seen many of them at Viera. When I got home and could check it on the computer, I realized it was a Least Bittern, a much rarer sighting (for me anyway).

Had I realized it then, I’d have spent more time trying to get a better photo. Two teaching points (remember these, Ed): 1) The camera is a good tool for extending your eyesight. It can see what you sometimes can’t. 2) Always take the photo – you can’t be sure what you’ve got until later.

Least Bittern – I found this little one hiding in the reeds at Viera Wetlands. It was extremely back-lit and hard to see.

Here’s one more somewhat interesting photo from that day. To me, these look like a large sparrow, but they’re actually female Red-winged Blackbirds. If you start trying to ID it by comparing it to different types of sparrows, it’ll take you a while to climb back out of that rabbit hole. The good news is that once you do learn this ID you’re more likely to remember it next time. If you’re interested, here’s a photo of a male.

Female Red-winged Blackbird

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!

Central Florida Photo Ops

What and where they are and how to photograph them.