Leucistic Robin

I've seen this Leucistic Robin a few times on my walks around Heinz.  This time he was very cooperative and settled onto a branch in the sunshine for a few photos.

Range at the Arlington Arts Center

Celebrations

This Spring has been busy and full of celebrations.  In fact, I can be more specific and say April has been busy and full of celebrations.  Matt and I celebrated our 20th Anniversary, my Mom celebrated her birthday, of course Easter, and then, here at the end of the month, my opening at the Arlington Art Center in Virginia. 

Wood Duck Invasion

The Wood Ducks are back in a big way at Heinz.  They are plentiful and seemingly less shy than in past years.  Perhaps they are the young from last year returning?  At any rate I hope to get even better photos as the summer progresses.

Palm

Sea and Sky

Birds of Barefoot

Gopher Tortoise

As the sign suggests these Gopher Tortoises really were everywhere along the dunes.  I passed at least 5 different tortoise on my walk.  They dig burrows in the sand and weren't so shy that I couldn't get a few photos.  This guy, in particular, did not seem to notice or care how many people walked by while he had his dinner.

Barefoot Beach

We really put every moment of our trip to Florida to good use.  So much so that we really came home from our holiday needing a holiday.  But as I look back through my photos I don't regret a moment.  These are from a little beach near our hotel, Barefoot Beach Preserve County Park.  We had to travel through swank housing on a private drive to get to it.  I thought I might be hunted down if I took any photos of the fancy houses along the road so I kept the camera put away until we got to the beach itself.

Champs

This year has been so incredibly busy.  I think our activities are winding down, giving way to free time and relaxation, hopefully.  Here are images from Indoor Champs.  They came in 3rd place this year, a lovely end to a great season. 

Study in Grey

As winter started to wrap up I noticed a definite pattern.  First of all, I'm teaching Mon-Thurs at 8am so I did most of my walking this winter on Friday mornings.  The last month or so it would be bright, sunny, and even warm on say, Tuesday, and cold dark and raining on Friday.  I'm pretty sure this happened every week for the whole month of March.  As a result I saw a lot at the refuge but didn't have much light to record it.  But the light works for a situation like this.  I do love these tangles of grass.

Keeping Up

It seems like all winter I was struggling to find images to blog and now with the huge influx of Florida photos and spring arriving here I can't keep up.  But as I'm sorting and organizing I find a few more photos of winter to post.  And as I struggle to breathe in the heavily pollinated air I think back to how nice it was to walk in the snow.

A Last Look at Corkscrew

Barred Owl

I was able to find a lot of the birds I hoped to find in Florida while I was planning my trip.  I had read about a Barred Owl's nest at Corkscrew before arriving so this was something I wanted to see.  We found it because of the collection of people standing below.  They were discussing the absence of the "limbing" out juveniles.  We say "branching" in these parts.  But anyway they all walked off without finding the young owl.  As soon as they walked away the  epiphytic plant on the branch above shook out it's feathers.  The owl had been sitting above our heads the whole time.  I later saw the adult which I found when it began to call, a thrilling sound, but never got a good shot of it.