THE SWAMP IS COMING ALIVE AGAIN

SELF | March 09, 2011 | swampsniper

[SWAMPSNIPER]

A little bit of rain and a lot of sunshine makes things start happening around here.

A Great Egret was fishing the lake when I got there but the Great Blue Heron chased it off. They are about the same size but the Great Blue is a lot more aggressive, they will claim and dominate a stretch of water. They make exceptions, the Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons and Tricolor Herons don't eat the same diet as the Great Blue so they are often tolerated.

The Red Shouldered Hawk is a little late this year but it's likely one of the birds I've watched near my home for several years.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

pinglist

[FroggyTheGremlim]

Beautiful! Thank you.

[sageb1]

Awesome photos! We’re still buried under tons of snow up here.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

Beautiful birds. Egret feathers used to be all the rage in the 20s. I remember my elderly aunt tenderly pulling one out of her wardrobe when I was young and telling me how lovely they were when worn for the society balls. As I grew up I remembered her tenderness and wondered how the egret felt about it. ;-)

[Celtic Cross]

Nice photos. Especially the last one.

[poobear]

Thanks SS. Awesome as usual.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Millions of Snowy Egrets were slaughtered, plucked and left to rot and the plumes sent to Paris and New York hat makers.

[Frantzie]

Do you get any American Coots? Any Moorhens? Puprule Gallinules?

[rlmorel]

Man. Thank you so much. It is gray snow and frozen mud here.

You made me remember...spring is indeed coming!

[meyer]

Sweet!!

I’ll be in your state tomorrow for the weekend - Jacksonville area. I hope to get out with the camera for a little while myself.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

That’s what occurred to me as I matured. Somehow it didn’t seem as much like Cinderella anymore.

[Mercat]

We have had a great blue nest close to our little pond but we always have green herons. They look like dinosaurs.

[dfwgator]

It will be alive come September.

[Stentor]

Yesterday I saw the first Great Blue Heron of the year in my corner of Philadelphia. They look like those animated representations of Pterodactyls when flying. Beautiful pictures.

[laker_dad]

Nice photos! We have been seeing the bald eagles making a comeback up here in Michigan.

http://www.grandhaventribune.com/paid/306772529826675.bsp

[fuzzybutt]

What part of the country are you in?

[Flycatcher]

Nice pics, especially that red-shouldered hawk.

Interesting side fact about that bird: It's the only buteo that regularly perches on power lines, as opposed to the tops of power poles, as other buteos do.

And as your photo nicely shows, it's on a power LINE.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I’m West of St. Augustine Florida about halfway to the St. John’s River

[Eva]

Beautiful pictures, what kind of camera did you use?