Birds of the Chaz

…..or Birds of Many Feathers.

As promised here is a selection of birds we saw on our recent paddling excursion on the Chassahowitzka River on the Florida Gulf Coast. These are the bigger guys; there were thousands of songbirds in the neighbourhood but they were well camouflaged, very busy flitting about, and not as visible while paddling. Seemed like every bare branch we passed had a bird clinging to it. The first bird we saw was not a wild one.

A Muscovy duck.

A Muscovy duck.

At least I think it was not wild. The tame ones have more white but please correct me if I am wrong.

A rear view of a Muscovy duck (not to be confused with a rare view)

A rear view of a Muscovy duck (not to be confused with a rare view)

 

Pelican

Your classic pelican. I don’t think that Lance was aware that this guy was paddling along with him.

 

cormorant

A regular old run of the mill cormorant. We called them shags in Newfoundland.

 

The great blue heron.

The great blue heron.

 

"no, this is my best side"

“No, please, this is my best side”

 

A pair of cormorants.

A pair of cormorants.

 

A fancy shmancy cormorant.

A fancy shmancy cormorant airing his pits. Actually I think it might be an anhinga.

 

"No, this is my good side; my backside."

“No, please, this is my good side; my backside.”

 

I love the egrets - we see them everwhere here.

I love the egrets – we see them everywhere here. So elegant.

My greatest regret of the day was not photographing the tree full of turkey buzzards we passed just before we docked. I was tired and dehydrated and looking forward to bending my ankles a little. The wind was against us and I would have drifted back down river if I stopped so I opted out on the photo-op. There must have been two dozen of them sitting in a bare tree looking out over the river. I wondered if I looked so bad that they thought I might just kick the bucket and be a tasty pickin’ for their supper. “Back off. ye buzzards, I might be rotten to the core but I’m not dead yet.”

© Judy Parsons 2016

To comment please send to jgparsons@judypstickletrunk.com

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