It's about time. ; Today, for the first time since mid-May, south Florida had a day that was NOT in the 90s! ; We had our first verifiable cold front come through, dropping our temps Saturday night to around 57 degrees, and remaining that way through about noon, after which we gradually warmed up to a top temp of around 70 and windy. ; Alas, it will all be gone after tonight - we reach around 62 tonight, and tomorrow, the high is right back up to 80s, and rising thereafter.
So what better to do with a lovely cool day than to charge up the camera which has been sitting in its bag since Disney, and head out to the swamps where I hadn't been since early June. ; It was a good day for it - lovely temps made the birds more active, and cooler temps brought the gators out of the water to suck up some sun to regulate their body temperature.
A sampling of the day at my two favorite wildlife reserves...all in all a good day, considering we don't have our usual compliment of winter migrators yet.
Here, a very close-up of a strange colored moorhen...I'm guessing a young one or a female in breeding color or something, because they're usually black:
Here's a wind-blown great egret, fishing for lunch:
Standing practically on top of this tricolor heron:
Lucky to catch this osprey coming in for a landing on a branch:
Not too long after, he decided to fly off again:
Here's a sunbathing gator...when the temps drop, these cold-blooded reptiles have to absorb as much sun as they can to warm up...they open and close their mouth as needed to dissipate extra heat if they get too warm. ; Good thing for bipeds with cameras...gators are more lethargic in cooler weather!:
This tricolor heron gave me a nice fly-by opportunity:
Here's one of my favorite ducks, the black-bellied whistling duck, with her awfully cute spotted ducklings:
Some people pay good money at spas for this type of treatment!:
Some more happy ducks...these were the mottled variety:
Hope you enjoyed a tour through the wetlands on a cooler Florida day. ; Now, if only I can get another cold front to get down here soon!
So what better to do with a lovely cool day than to charge up the camera which has been sitting in its bag since Disney, and head out to the swamps where I hadn't been since early June. ; It was a good day for it - lovely temps made the birds more active, and cooler temps brought the gators out of the water to suck up some sun to regulate their body temperature.
A sampling of the day at my two favorite wildlife reserves...all in all a good day, considering we don't have our usual compliment of winter migrators yet.
Here, a very close-up of a strange colored moorhen...I'm guessing a young one or a female in breeding color or something, because they're usually black:
Here's a wind-blown great egret, fishing for lunch:
Standing practically on top of this tricolor heron:
Lucky to catch this osprey coming in for a landing on a branch:
Not too long after, he decided to fly off again:
Here's a sunbathing gator...when the temps drop, these cold-blooded reptiles have to absorb as much sun as they can to warm up...they open and close their mouth as needed to dissipate extra heat if they get too warm. ; Good thing for bipeds with cameras...gators are more lethargic in cooler weather!:
This tricolor heron gave me a nice fly-by opportunity:
Here's one of my favorite ducks, the black-bellied whistling duck, with her awfully cute spotted ducklings:
Some people pay good money at spas for this type of treatment!:
Some more happy ducks...these were the mottled variety:
Hope you enjoyed a tour through the wetlands on a cooler Florida day. ; Now, if only I can get another cold front to get down here soon!
