Holy Moly

For people who photograph birds, getting a bittern out in the open is kind of a rare occurrence.  They are more often seen surreptitiously slipping among the reeds, staying just out of camera range.  So imagine my delight when we spotted a beautiful American Bittern right out in a big open patch of weedy water!  But, then it got even better when the second one was spotted ... also out in the open.  Shutters were practically on fire as Wade and I fired shot after shot.  I haven't counted how many images I took but suffice it to say... a lot.  I have rather randomly selected this one because I love the big wing-stretch.  He'd just finished fixing up his feathers and I guess felt that a nice stretch was in order.

This was taken at Sweetwater Wetlands, always a favorite place to visit when I'm in the part of FL.  Other highlights were Osprey, sandhill cranes, anhinga, cormorants, alligators, limpkins and a host of other beautiful birds.  The weather continued to be utterly perfect.

We stopped for a quick lunch and then hit a few other spots before finding a wonderful location for the endemic Florida Scrub Jays.  We both got some great images of these endangered birds, all taken during that wonderful "golden hour" of the day, the last hour of light.  Please do check out Sefferdog's blip today - it's amazing.  I'll pop one of my shots into Extra.

Tomorrow we are off to Homossasa and a few other spots along the west coast of FL before meeting up with Gaia's Child (Maura) for dinner.
The time is going much too fast, but I am relishing every moment.  And wearing shorts in February is a decadent delight!

xo
Debbi