12 - Birds

"Use those talents you have. You will make it. You will give joy to the world. Take this tip from nature: The woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except those who sang best".
~ Bernard Meltzer

Photograph by Dan MacKillop

 Photograph by Dan MacKillop

 Water off a duck's back.  Photograph by Dan MacKillop

 Wood Duck reflections.  Photograph by Dan MacKillop

Creatures of our backyard.  Photograph by Deb Fewell

When I was little, my Mom taught me the sounds of birds in our yard. Our favorite bird to hear, and find, was the Piliated Woodpecker. They are rare, but live comfortably along the banks of the St Johns River. This one I heard a couple of years ago in our yard. I had to stop everything until I found him and took a few shots!  Photograph by Deb Fewell

We believe this eagle had a nest at John Stockton Elementary, and she fished during the day in our backyard on the Ortega River. Our neighbor has a tall pine with a nice perch. She frequently sits up there and then dive bombs the water for fish. She sometimes sits on the roof of our dock. She flies back across the river to Ortega Forest when she is done eating.  I have not been by the school this Spring to see if she is still there.  Photograph by Deb Fewell

Pelican from the Jacksonville beach pier watching all the visitors.  Photograph by Grace Dorado-Foster

I work for a guy who has a room full of stuffed animals-  bobcat and pheasant in an action pose.  Photograph by Grace Dorado-Foster 

Any Mom's favorite feathered friend - her own child!  Photograph by Grace Dorado-Foster

Birds on a rock, St. Augustine Beach, Florida.  Photograph by Laney Griffin Robinson

This photo was taken of a hummingbird at Black Mountain Ranch in Colorado.  I must have taken 50 pictures trying to capture them in flight!  They are fast little suckers!  Photograph by Laney Griffin Robinson

St. Augustine Beach, Florida.  Photograph by Laney Griffin Robinson

I took all 3 of these at the Toledo Zoo today - Dan and I played a little hooky, then worked from home in the afternoon.  Photograph by Robin Anderson

There is nothing more beautiful than a Bald Eagle.  This guy is rehabilitating at the Toledo Zoo.  It is one thing to take a photograph of an eagle in an aviary - and an entirely different thing to take a photograph of one in the wild.  This is almost like cheating.  Photograph by Robin Anderson

This juvenile male cardinal was taking a bath in a stream outside a dining area at the zoo.  He was wild.  Photograph by Robin Anderson

A daddy blue checking out one of my nestboxes - he actually didn't get this one - black capped chickadees took it from him.  Photograph by Shawn Borrow

This momma blue is grabbing nest material. So far babies in both boxes are doing well. Nest building and babies are definitelly signs of spring, I miss them when they fledge which will pretty soon for the blues.  Photograph by Shawn Borrow