What a great time I had, both with the family and on my own. This photo was taken at a little town called Celebration, it was a brilliant place just down the road from where we were staying, I spent a lot of time here. Florida has been experiencing high temperatures this spring and most of the birds have migrated early. It was in the nineties most days while we were there.
All the Osprey photos up to this one were at Celebration.
These next two were at The Merritt Island Refuge at Cape Canaveral. Another fabulous reserve, boasting 333 species recorded there.
Bald Eagle, Merritt Island. I did see 6 Bald eagles high up when we were at one of the parks.
Swallowtail Kites, Beautiful birds. There was a pair hunting regularly over the pines where we were staying. It was like popping out over the Ingrebourne, I went round on a bike most mornings and evenings. The site was surrounded by scrapes and outside them was the swamp, I had a field day there birding.
These endangered Snail Kites I saw on an hours airboat trip on Lake Tohopekaliga, another brilliant place, part of the Kissimee River Reserve, it was like the everglades, full of wildlife which I will blog later.
Look at that hook! Female Snail Kite.
The large Apple Snails, which by the way are also eaten by the Limkin, and this is one of the problems for the Snail Kite, and the Limkin its self. The hot weather is drying up some of the lakes and the snails are disappearing.
Male Snail Kite with Snail.
This Lake and some others in the area are trying to maintain the Snail Kite population, and have a serious conservation programe. 80 percent of the Snail kites are in this region.
What a great time I had, both with the family and on my own. This photo was taken at a little town called Celebration, it was a brilliant place just down the road from where we were staying, I spent a lot of time here. Florida has been experiencing high temperatures this spring and most of the birds have migrated early. It was in the nineties most days while we were there.
All the Osprey photos up to this one were at Celebration.
These next two were at The Merritt Island Refuge at Cape Canaveral. Another fabulous reserve, boasting 333 species recorded there.
Bald Eagle, Merritt Island. I did see 6 Bald eagles high up when we were at one of the parks.
Swallowtail Kites, Beautiful birds. There was a pair hunting regularly over the pines where we were staying. It was like popping out over the Ingrebourne, I went round on a bike most mornings and evenings. The site was surrounded by scrapes and outside them was the swamp, I had a field day there birding.
These endangered Snail Kites I saw on an hours airboat trip on Lake Tohopekaliga, another brilliant place, part of the Kissimee River Reserve, it was like the everglades, full of wildlife which I will blog later.
Look at that hook! Female Snail Kite.
The large Apple Snails, which by the way are also eaten by the Limkin, and this is one of the problems for the Snail Kite, and the Limkin its self. The hot weather is drying up some of the lakes and the snails are disappearing.
Male Snail Kite with Snail.
This Lake and some others in the area are trying to maintain the Snail Kite population, and have a serious conservation programe. 80 percent of the Snail kites are in this region.
Bloody hell, nice pics Dave
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