Various locations along Suwanee Canal Road. Taken with camera that does not have GPS.
Note small, pointed black bill; bright yellow underparts w/ white undertail coverts; thin black eyeline; dark gray wings with prominent two white wingbars.
Poor guys missing half his snout, but according to the workers he's been kicking around for awhile regardless.
It's tough to be a young alligator.
Radicollared gator with a tail tag. Very desensitized to people. Appears to live in culvert.
Saw at least two males, and I believe I briefly saw one female.
Note tiny bill and small, flat head; gray, brown, black and white camouflage; white patch on lower edges of wings. I observed about a dozen CNs over two days. Sadly, this bird is in steep decline.
My very first underwater bird photo! I am 62 years old and until a year or so ago I would never have imaged doing something like this.
Out of focus under poor conditions, but the pictures clearly show the size difference between the small Downy Woodpecker on the left, and the Hairy Woodpecker on the right, and how similar they are in coloring. Both here are males, and seemingly quite tolerant of the other.
When in doubt as to size in different settings, when I see one alone, the size of the bill relative to the head is what stands out to me as the best way to distinguish these similar species.
On the crawl
florida soft-shell turtle
Parent with its nestlings.
Note grizzled gray and reddish brown coat; pointed snout. I spotted this one running across the Great Salt Lake.
they're so small!!!! Unfortunately I did not relocate them in the coming weeks :(
Turtle was almost certainly hit by vehicles coming in and out of the beach access parking lot located very near to here (the dead turtle was located just outside the lot, on the road, at the turn-in point).
I saw 2 turtles this day; the 2nd was alive and heading quickly to a burrow that is located in the forementioned parking lot; unfortunately, there’s no “real” curb separating the grassy areas of the parking lot from the driving surface (just a very small and low asphalt hump). In the very short time I was at the lot today, a car drove across the grass and back onto the parking surface — although this particular car did not drive over the burrow (as the car was on a different grassy part of the lot), the situation paints a picture of the useless “curbs” (which are really just small bumps) and the unprotected burrow.
Perhaps a turtle warning sign could be installed, and the burrow sectioned off. Adding a real curb would be another consideration. In addition to the camera photos, I took a couple phone photos to ensure as precise a GPS as possible.
—>My observation for the burrow (live turtle) is here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/160139557
—>Click the “i” on a photo to access the observation for the dead turtle.
American Alligator capture-tag-release, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. April 14, 2023. ©williamwisephoto.com
Learn more and support the research at https://okeswamp.org/alligator-research/
Photos taken from 100ft away. 20 second exposure, no lights used at all to avoid disturbing turtles.
Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) male, 4/29/2023, Landings Sparrow Field “Pollinator Garden Berm”, Skidaway Island, Savannah, Ga
The ol' 'gator gutter.
Orlando Wetlands Park
Downy-Hairy Comparison Photo. Hairy on left.
with 14 pure Blue-winged Teal.
On a sand bar off Tybee Island with hundreds of brown pelicans, black skimmers, gulls, royal terns, and an osprey. I think White Ibis would be unlikely, but possible. Might just be a distorted Royal Tern? Thoughts?
Passive recording w/ AudioMoth. Two bouts of bellowing within 1.5 min
Mom and a handful or so of her offspring basking beside a drainage ditch
Tagged gator familiar at marina. Apparently female with (earlier?) nest along canal.
5 foot long individual released in Prospect Park lake. Removed from lake by Parks Enforcement Patrol officers who handed it off to Urban Park Rangers. The animal was cold shocked but alive. Rangers transported it to the Bronx Zoo for medical evaluation and placement in a sanctuary.
unbelievable congregation of wading birds and gulls -- between 150 - 200 Great Egrets, plus dozens of Snowy Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, Wood Storks (2), Tricolored Herons, Little Blue Herons, Great Blue Herons, Glossy Ibis, White Ibis, Bonaparte's Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls
Large (~9 ft, perhaps more) male preying on a smaller, but still substantially sized (~4 ft) subadult. Not sure if the initial encounter was predatory or territorial in nature, but it was clear the intent to consume became realized at some point.
Check out the second photo for an unusual view! Taken safely (for human and alligator) from boardwalk with zoom lens.
Bald Eagle pair feeding 2 eaglets observed 1/21/2023 at Fort Pulaski National Monument