Urban Wildlife

As I have mentioned before, on my way home from taking Nia to school I swing by a downtown park, where I can usually find some lovely birds to photograph. The park is not very big, in an historic area of town, which in this case is city speak for elegant old houses in various stages of dilapidation and decay. The park is well cared for though, however it is an area that one is advised not to visit after dark.It is mostly taken up by a largish lake, with a small pond on the south end. There are always egrets, heron, ibis, cormorants, anhinga, whistling ducks, wood ducks, muscovies and mallards; when the weather is cold there are several different species of gull, and sometimes there are some wood storks. So, most days, it is a great blip store, however today I could reach up and almost touch the heavy grey clouds, and it actually started to rain while I was wondering what to blip on such a day. So, I decided to give the birds some context; the Headquarters of the Fire Dept is stationed on the road to the south of the park, and in this picture, if your eyesight is good, of if you care to go large you will see an egret and some tiny hooded mergansers swimming in the reflections of the fire engines lights. This also gives some perspective to the tiny size of these lovely ducks. So that's it for today; I do hope it clears up tomorrow as I have a boating trip planned through one of the canals of Central Florida.