Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Kayaking through pelicans, herons, egrets and ibises

Great White Heron - white morph of the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias occidentalis) occurring in the Caribbean and southern Florida.

On Saturday (22-Sep) our fieldwork also produced many close views of birds as we kayaked from Mote Marine Lab to the southern tip of Summerland Key, them out to the round mangrove island approximately 700 metres offshore. I had decided not to bring any SLR gear this time, so relied on my compact Canon G12 to take this image (in 16:9 aspect ratio) of the Great White Heron from the kayak. Bird highlights of the day included 20 Brown Pelicans, 4 Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, 2 Little Blue Herons, 4 Ospreys, 7 Belted Kingfishers, 2 Royal Terns, 7 Tricoloured Herons, 13 Laughing Gulls, 1 Magnificent Frigatebird, 3 Black-crowned Night-Herons, 36 Double-crested Cormorants, 4 Great White Herons, 2 Great Blue Herons, 6 Green Herons, 5 Snowy Egrets, 6 Cattle Egrets, 3 American Redstarts, 1 Yellow-throated Warbler, 6 Prairie Warblers, 2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, 2 White-crowned Pigeons, 12 Cliff Swallows & 7 Northern Rough-winged Swallows.

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