The Lone Wood Stork

I spotted this very placid old Wood Stork standing in the parking lot at the side of Lake Miramar in The Villages, Fl on June 14, 2017.

This beautiful big wading bird is old as evidenced by the very dark horny bill and darker leathery skin on its face and neck.

I have read where some Wood Storks will fly upwards of fifty miles from their nest to obtain food.  I doubt this one flew that far, but it is interesting to hear of that fact.

This Wood Stork may have been in the parking lot expecting to be treated to bread or crackers or corn as some folks still feed the ibis crowd and the ducks.  I have also previously seen Wood Storks eating human-given food in this place.  The bird was evidently attracted by golf carts and cars in the vicinity.  I strongly do not recommend feeding exotic birds (It is against the law in many places including Florida).  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the photo.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

The Big Birds of May

Great Blue Heron

Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Sandhill Cranes, a Limpkin, a few Wood Storks, and a lot of White Ibis, and Snowy Egrets (not pictured), were all spotted here in The Villages, Florida last month, May, 2017.

We often spot the egrets herons and ibis, but the cranes, wood storks, glossy ibis, and limpkin, are only spotted during certain months of the year (Sandhill Cranes being the most easily seen of this particular group of wading birds).  We also get to see Tri-colored Herons and Little Blue Herons on occasion.

These larger wading birds enjoy the many small and medium-sized lakes here in our community where the food is usually abundant.  We are recovering from a recent drought so the lakes happily are refilling with recent rains.

Most of these big birds eat aquatic snails, frogs, worms, and small fish.  Some of the birds such as Sandhill Cranes also eat grains and seeds.  I always enjoy getting out and spotting both songbirds and these big beauties!  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the picture.  Enjoy!

Limpkin

White Pelicans, Great Egret

Wood Storks

 

White Ibis

Great Egret

Sandhill Crane

Wading Bird Wednesday: Sandhill Cranes

I spotted this pair of Sandhill Cranes standing next to the golf cart path on Sumter County Road 466 on the Arnold Palmer Legends golf course in The Villages, FL on Sunday night at about 5:30pm.

It is not too unusual to see Sandhill Cranes on the courses here in The Villages. They love browsing for grass, seeds, and insects.  Of course the tender grass is easy on their feet and most of the courses have a pond for them to drink from.  I think the Sandhill Cranes pictured are Florida natives.  We have several breeding pairs in the area.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the photo.  Enjoy!

The Limpkin Visits Lake Mira-Mar in The Villages, FL

This Limpkin has visited the little Lake Mira-Mar in The Villages, FL near Spanish Springs several times.  I have previously photographed the big wading bird at this same location.  I usually see the Limpkin at the Veteran’s Park area next to the golf cart path at the approach to the golf cart bridge.  The bird is pretty secretive and is usually nocturnal so the best times to see it would be early in the morning and at dusk.  I took these pictures at dinner-time last night.

Limpkins are a wading bird that love eating the aquatic Apple Snails found in the small lakes here in The Villages.  There are not very many Limpkins around at all.  I have only seen three (and one of my sightings may well have been this bird at a different spot).  The Limpkins are marsh birds that are primarily living here in Florida in the USA.

These birds are vaguely similar in looks to juvenile White Ibis, juvenile Green Herons and Bitterns.  All are about the same size and have a streaky brown coloring.  The Limpkin the only bird of its family type and is not related to rails or even the cranes.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the photo.  Enjoy!

Courting Sandhill Cranes

This flock of Sandhill Cranes has been frequenting the shrinking Paradise Lake in The Villages, Florida for a couple of weeks now, mostly at dusk.  I have photographed these birds a few times now.  The cranes are becoming lively and showing courtship ritual behaviors such as jumping up and dow with spread wings and vocalizing a little.

The lake is ultra-low now due to our on-going drought conditions.  There is still a lot of food for the large birds in and on the lake.  The grasses, seeds, frogs, tadpoles, crayfish, and aquatic weeds are all food for these beautiful big birds.  I think we will be seeing and hearing the “Colts”, which are the baby Sandhill Cranes in several weeks!  I can’t wait.  I took these pictures last night at about 6:30pm.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the picture.  Enjoy!

Sandy’s at Sunset

A small flock of Sandhill Cranes visited the shrinking Lake Paradise in The Villages, FL last evening at twilight.  This lake’s water level is continuing to drop as our local drought goes on.  I took most of the pictures from the wooden deck at Swartz Park at a pretty far distance.

The Sandhill Cranes are loving the exposed tender aquatic plants and grasses now above water.  They also occasionally dine on land insects, mice, small lizards, aquatic insects, frogs, worms, crawdads (crayfish) and tadpoles.  Mostly the cranes prefer grains and grasses.  I often have spotted Sandhill Cranes in ranch pastures and even on the golf courses here in The Villages.

I enjoyed seeing about twelve Sandhill Cranes along with a Trip-colored Heron, a Great Blue Heron, a Snowy Egret, several shorebirds, and about a hundred black-bellied Whistlers plus assorted Mallards and Canada Geese last night on the lake.  Lots to see.  I will share more photo’s of the birds here in coming posts.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the slightly larger version of the photo.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Herons

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Herons, Tri-colored Herons, and Little Blue Herons are the most commonly seen herons here in The Villages, Florida.  The Great Blue Heron is the most frequently seen, followed by the Little Blue Heron.  I think I have only seen one Green Heron here and that was a year ago.

All of these herons are wading birds that shuffle along in the shallows of the lakes and ponds to spear fish, frogs, or turtles with their long sharp bills.  They also eat larger insects, small lizards, and large aquatic insects or snails.

The herons roost up in tall trees.  Many prefer the Cypress Trees here.  Some also will roost in the medium-sized trees where there also are Ibis or Egrets.  We used to have a large area of roosts on Morse Blvd. (I had photographed it and posted about it many months ago) but that area seems out of favor with the birds in recent months.  I don’t know the reason for the big move.  It could be a case of too much threat from coyotes or other predators.  Please click on the thumbnail image to see the larger version of the photo.

Tri-colored Heron

Little Blue Heron