With this post, I can get out of June's backlog as this wraps up the last of the wetlands shots on June 26, where I left off last week. Being a typical hot and humid summer day in Florida, lots of the action in this set involves chicks of many varieties (and they are indeed hot - it was almost 100 degrees)...and though we don't think of most birds just spending time soaking in the water - they usually just flap their wings and take splash baths...when the temps really climb, quite a few species will spend more time bathing, and often dropping down into the water for a longer soak and not just the usual splash.
The following shots were all taken with the A6600 and the FE 100-400mm GM OSS combo, and are posted at 1800 pixels on the long side if you view them in original size:
Though this variety is called the 'common grackle', around here we have 10 boat-tailed grackles for every common grackle...so the common one is less so for us! Even better, this was a juvenile, big enough to stray from the nest, but still trying to figure out where mom went to get food
The lovely male wood duck was still sticking around, in his eclipse plumage - this was a good year for seeing wood ducks as they were fairly ubiquitous at two different wetlands I visited
One more look at Mr. wood duck
My last post had a cormorant closeup. Why not another one? I mean, if they're just going to sit there 5 feet away and provide the opportunity, might as well take it
Yellow-crowned night heron trying to find a quiet shady spot in the cypress trees to catch a day nap
A great egret banking around to land in the tall reeds in the distance
One of the real deep-soakers of the day. This black-crowned night heron dropped down into the water, among some cypress knees and roots which provided nice protection from any surprise gator attacks, and just stayed there not moving for at least the 5 minutes I watched
Nearby, I saw this least tern fly over me, and start his dive, so I tried to nab one more shot of the tern plunging into the water
And another parting shot of the tern as he took back to the skies to look for another strike opportunity
Two tricolored heron chicks straying out from their nest a bit to stretch their legs and look around at the scenery - one sibling in the background stayed hidden at the nest, using a pond apple for shelter
Nearby, another nest for another species - one great egret chick was sitting upright - one other sibling was in the nest far into the leaves behind this one
I've shared the glossy ibis chicks in the past few threads - it was a treat to have one nest so out in the open for a change, so the one type of chick I don't get to see too often was on display. Here, the parent had arrived back at the nest, and the chicks were begging for food. I'm at 123mm and filling the frame - the nest was within touching distance.
After mom handed off some food and left, the trio of chicks just stood around looking a bit confused. "Does that guy 5 feet away watching us have any food?"
After showing a variety of hot chicks, it's time to get back to another bathing beauty - this time, a great egret enjoying a soak. Notice the white streak across the water in front of him - that comes off of their feathers as they soak...it's called 'powder down' and is a disintegrated keratin
A final bathing beauty - the black-necked stilt dropping down for a soak, then emerging and shaking off the excess, to stay pretty
--
Justin
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