Mission accomplished!

Fortunately for me, I wasn’t the only photographer looking for the birds. Jaye Patrick was there when I arrived, and he helpfully pointed out two of the kites.

The lighting was much better this time than it was in my first visit with the kites last week. And while last week there were six of the birds flying around, this morning there was just two.

Still, I’m happy I got these photos since the Mississippi Kites will be leaving soon for migration.

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So, this is a catch-up post with birding trips from last month. Among the locations I visited were Osceola County, Merritt Island, Lake Apopka, UCF and the Orlando Wetlands. Even a couple of backyard visit made the cut for this round of photos of 25 different kinds of birds.

Also interesting (at least to me) was the continued appearance in June of some birds that were supposed to be gone by now: Roseate Spoonbills and Wood Storks at the Orlando Wetlands, and a Lesser Scaup and an American White Pelican at Merritt Island.

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I love watching these birds, which migrate from South America to Florida in the spring and summer months to breed.

Audubon notes that they used to be more common across the Southeastern U.S., and their range used to extend as far north as Minnesota. Now Florida is where they are primarily found during breeding season.

I love how Audubon describes Swallow-tailed Kites: “Our most beautiful bird of prey, striking in its shape, its pattern, and its extraordinarily graceful flight. Hanging motionless in the air, swooping and gliding, rolling upside down and then zooming high in the air with scarcely a motion of its wings, the Swallow-tailed Kite is a joy to watch.”

The ones I saw were flying around hunting for insects to eat — they’ll grab and eat their prey while in flight. I also saw, for the first time, some swooping along the ground to grab a meal.

They are a joy to watch.

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I’ve already posted my images of the Least Terns, Wilson’s Plovers and a Reddish Egret, but I still have photos of some other birds to share.

There’s a lot of diversity at Fort DeSoto as these 14 different types of birds show.

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Mississippi Kites are smaller than their swallow-tailed cousins but similarly striking with their red eyes, and gray heads and wings. I came across six at Lake Apopka over the weekend. The lighting was not great, but I was happy to photograph them and add a new bird to my life catalog.

Like Swallow-tailed Kites, Mississippi Kites migrate north to parts of the U.S. in the spring to breed. It’s not unheard of for them to be in Central Florida, but they are typically seen more often in the northern part of the state. They also breed in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas as well as their namesake Mississippi and north along the Mississippi River.

The group I saw included some adults and juveniles (who have mottled looking wings). I suspect, like Swallow-tailed Kites, they’ll be heading back to Central and South America by the end of the month, so I’m really happy I got to see them before they leave. Maybe I’ll get to spot some again before they migrate.

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I padded out on Friday morning from the Haulover Canal kayak launch area to Bird Island, and I was delighted to see there were five flamingos there. The number of flamingos has been fluctuating, and we’re almost at the time when they left Bird Island last year.

Interestingly, this wasn’t a very tight-knit flamboyance. Three of the flamingos were hanging out together, and the other two were off on their own adventures.

A 2020 report by Audubon noted that flamingos are very social, and smaller groups of the birds can form long-lasting friendships. But Audubon also said, “Paul Rose, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Exeter, who led this research, also found that several birds avoided flock members they didn’t get along with.”

“They have these really strong friendships and strong preferences for avoiding,” he said in the Audubon report.

Even if all the flamingos aren’t getting along, I’m glad they’re still hanging out at Merritt Island.

The post Merritt Island flamingos make it a pink, white and blue July 4 appeared first on Roger Simmons.

So it was an extra treat for me when I came across a Caracara family during a recent visit to Osceola County.

The family group was together on the side of the road checking out a dead armadillo. There were two adults and also two juveniles, who were notable for their blue and pink beaks and light brown feathers.

Because they are Caracaras, the birds were primarily hanging around near the ground. They walked went deeper into the woods next to the road when I tried to get better pictures.

If you’re not familiar with Caracaras, this is a great description of them from AllAboutBirds.org: “The Crested Caracara looks like a hawk with its sharp beak and talons, behaves like a vulture, and is technically a large tropical black-and-white falcon.”

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I got to see some Wilson Plover adults and chicks on a recent visit to Florida’s Gulf Coast. While I enjoyed photographing them, it was also heartening to see the next generation of the birds — because the plovers have a problem.

“With an estimated population of fewer than 1,000 Florida birds, informed by Audubon science and that of the FWC’s own researchers, Wilson’s Plovers and their habitats need the additional protections afforded to state-designated Threatened Species,” Audubon Florida has noted in a call to help the birds. “Wilson’s Plovers exceed the criteria for Threatened status due to their small and declining population size combined with the increasing vulnerability of their habitat to development, disturbance, and sea level rise.”

If you want to help Audubon and ask the state to protect the plovers, click here.

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I had an opportunity to photograph a Least Tern colony on Florida’s Gulf Coast last week, and it was an amazing experience. There were several newly hatched chicks and some a few days older that were running around the beach.

The young Terns leave their nests after just a few days but they rely on mom and dad to protect and feed them for the first 60-90 days of their life.

And the adult terns were certainly defending their young when I visited, dive bombing me as I got into position to take some photographs with my long 200-800mm lens. They settled down after they realized I was not a threat but just a birder wanting to take these pictures of their offspring to share with you.

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I was leaving North Beach, and the tide was going out, so there was just a little stream of water separating the mainland from the beach — meaning there were fish trapped in the shallow water. That made them easy pickings for one Reddish Egret.

Their dance is all about hunting for food. According to AllAboutBirds.org, “They are active, animated foragers and employ their wings frequently when hunting, either opening the wings briefly to startle prey, or by keeping the wings extended and open, probably to coax prey to take shelter in the shade of the wings. They also extend their wings fully over the head and hunt beneath the umbrella they create. This ‘canopy feeding’ also attracts prey to a shaded environment and permits the egret to see prey clearly, without sun glare. … Reddish Egrets also use their feet to stir up sediment and flush prey.”

I also enjoy when their shaggy features on their head, neck and chest. When they get excited and the wind whips these feathers, they look like an avian version of Jags QB Trevor Lawrence.

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