Osprey

The park naturalist in Flamingo joked that the town should have been named "Osprey" instead. There were no Flamingos, but Osprey were nesting, courting, catching fish, and raising young everywhere one looked.

I watched this Osprey hover, looking down for a fish, then plunge at a great rate of speed into the water (the photo is just a streak), and emerge with a fish in its talons (the photo is from the back of the bird as it flew away, so the telling of it is more descriptive).



This is probably the closest I have have ever been to an Osprey in a nest. I had to walk by to go see the crocodiles, and just snapped this photo and kept moving so as not to disturb it too much.



While looking at this pair with binoculars I noticed a little head peek up in the middle. Dad is on the left, and Mom is on the right. The female has a bit of a "necklace" of darker feathers on her chest (not visible from this angle). Junior is peeking up in the middle.

Butterflies in February

I just had the pleasure of visiting the Everglades National Park.



I was up before the sunrise every day.



The temperature was between 76 and 86 degrees during the day and fell to a cool 68 at night. I watched the sun set,



and sometimes even wandered in the moonlight.



I'm sure some of you fear the onslaught of bird photos ... and that's why I went there ... to see birds. So, just to be unpredictable (and not so obsessed with avian species), here is a sampling of what I saw.