Swallow Tailed Kites, I finally got to see some of these flying high. Some folks told me about this bird when I was down south. They said they only pass through the area and stay for just a few days. They actually look like kites gliding up above.

Swallow-tailed Kites spend most of their time in the air, capturing and swallowing their food in flight. Rarely flapping their wings, they soar and make tight turns, rotating their tail to steer.

Swallow Tailed Kites

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Natures Firework Colors – During the 4th of July fireworks displays, they end with what the call the grand finale.

This is natures grand finale for today’s 4th of July. Bright beautiful colors on display right outside all day every day. 🙂

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Natures Firework Colors

I Took a Lot of Photos of this bird, the Indigo Bunting, I was under the impression that being in the far south was the only place you would see this bird. But come to find out I saw it all the way up into Illinois. Now I know they don’t come to Michigan, that is a little to far north for them. 🙂

We were out for a walk one day and looked over to the right and here sat this large unusual looking bird. I had to look it up when I got back. Plus I had the bridge camera on this walk and it just does not do very well when you max out the zoom lens on it.

Anything over 400 mm with this bridge camera the photos will not be clear. But I still was able to get a photo of it to write down in my bird book.

It is called a Bobolink, I have never heard of it but it is quite a fascinating bird.

• The Bobolink is one of the world’s most impressive songbird migrants, traveling some 12,500 miles (20,000 kilometers) to and from southern South America every year. Throughout its lifetime, it may travel the equivalent of 4 or 5 times around the circumference of the earth.
• The species name of the Bobolink, oryzivorus means “rice eating” and refers to this bird’s appetite for rice and other grains, especially during migration and in winter.
• A migrating Bobolink can orient itself with the earth’s magnetic field, thanks to iron oxide in bristles of its nasal cavity and in tissues around the olfactory bulb and nerve. Bobolinks also use the starry night sky to guide their travels.

This picture below is from the internet, I did not take it, it is just to show you what it looks like.

I Took a Lot of Photos

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

The Palm Warbler – Warblers are a group of birds in the family Parulidae. There are 100species of warbler in North America. 

Identifying warblers, indeed any bird comes down to knowing some basic facts about the species and then observing it closely. With about 111 species in the family, this can be a challenge. A few species don’t look very ‘warblerish’, like the Ovenbird, Waterthrush, and Yellow-breasted Chat, but for the others, you’ll need some additional help.

Color and plumage patterns, voice, behavior, and habitat are the most important characteristics. Armed with the additional knowledge of a species’ geographic range, you will likely be successful. A good field guide is also invaluable.

This one below I believe is a fly catcher of some sort. But it is also in the group of just another Brown bird for me.

Can you see what is in this tree?

I was surprised to see a dragon fly land in a tree. I was looking at birds and here came this guy with its big green eyes looking for his little bit of fame here on WordPress. 🙂

The Palm Warbler

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Tiny Birds With a Touch of Color, here are 3 more birds I was able to add to my list. Thanks to the Merlin app to help me identify them. Sometimes these little brown birds all look like sparrows until you spot just that little bit of color that sets them apart from the rest.

I am not an expert on finding the names of these birds. So if it is not the right name, feel free to add what you know it to be.

Yellow Rumped Warbler,

Red Eyed Vireo

Northern Parula

Tiny Birds With a Touch of Color

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Lots of Colorful Birds, I still have a few photos to go through that I took from our visit to the gulf coast, we stayed long enough to see the spring migration of birds coming across the ocean. At first I was just not seeing anything, we drove all over the place looking at the hotspots where other birders said to go in this area.

The last couple of weeks we were there, all of a sudden flocks of the most colorful birds were landing in the trees right in our campground. Eating all these dried seeds on this tree in the photos below.

Grosbeaks, orioles, tanagers and lots of warblers, it was a thrill to see them all.

The hummingbirds made it as well, such a long flight for all the birds. There are always stories of how the birds land on boats and gas rigs out in the gulf waters. So they can rest for a bit before making it to land.

Lots of Colorful Birds

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

In Defense of the Grackle – In North America three grackle species occur: Common, Great-tailed, and Boat-tailed. All are generally similar in appearance, with males glossy iridescent black and females brownish.

Grackles, it turns out, do more than weigh down power lines, steal tortilla chips off your dinner plate and squawk in really loud voices. The gleaming black birds actually play a beneficial role in our society. (Well, besides cleaning up those food crumbs you dropped on the sidewalk.)

Grackles eat insects, for one. And that includes those you might not like crawling on you, such as wasps and spiders, and ones that damage crops, including moths, grasshoppers and beetles.

Video Below or click this link; Grackles Puffy Up at the Table

I get why people don’t necessarily like them, but I think they’re fascinating. They do eat insects, so that means fewer insects that are eating plants — or us. There’s also the argument that they’re part of a web of life — they’re part of the system.”

Along with the most amazing colors when they are in the sunlight. Just some of the reasons to like these birds as I do.

In Defense of the Grackle

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Coastal Birds, from the Osprey in flight to the Brown Pelican and Terns. There are always a variety of birds to be seen along the coast.

Coastal Birds

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts