Category Archives: Bird Images
Osprey stretching in Cedar Key Florida
While sitting on the deck enjoying the beautiful weather I heard the unmistakable chirping of an Osprey nearby. After spotting the bird on one of its favorite perches I grabbed a couple shots of it getting a good stretch. Check out how sharp those talons are!
The limb this bird is perched on is freshly broken off by some high winds that roared through Cedar Key a few days earlier…
A Gull and a Pelican
While watching and photographing birds in the back bayou area of Cedar Key Florida this Gull and Brown Pelican landed near me on a white sandy beach…
Tri-Colored Heron
The Tri-Colored Heron has an interesting hunting posture…
Look at that spear on this bird! These images were capture in a back bayou area of Cedar Key
Two Egrets and a Wood Stork
As we were finishing our morning walk, we noticed two Great Egrets and a Wood Stork sitting in the mangroves just off Third Street in Cedar Key. Not having my camera with me meant a sprint to our place to grab it.
Two Great Egrets and a Wood Stork in Cedar Key Florida
After grabbing the camera my wife ran me back on the golf cart. Since the birds weren’t spooked by cars and people going by within about 20 feet of them, the golf cart made a pretty good blind to sit and shoot them from..
A Great Egret and Wood Stork sitting next to each other in some mangroves.
I was fortunate that we were able to position ourselves for perfect lighting on the birds. While my wife talked to some very friendly people from Ohio who happened to be walking by, I shot away…
A Great Egret scratching its neck
I was a little surprised to see some iridescent color in the black portion of its wings…
The Wood Stork repositions itself
A Wood Stork in front of a Great Egret
As we observed them it seemed like a case of the ugly duckling… I think the stork thought they were siblings 
A Great Egret in mangroves
A Wood Stork sits in some mangroves
A Wood Stork spreading its wings
When the stork took off, this is as much of the bird that would fit into the frame…
A Wood Stork taking flight
In the following shot I didn’t quite capture the entire bird, If you look closely, you’ll notice its head tucked underneath its body.
A Wood Stork in flight
An awesome experience observing and capturing these birds up close in Cedar Key! They didn’t appear to be the least bit disturbed by people and cars going by.
A Wood Stork tidbit…
The Wood Stork is the only stork breeding in the United States. Its late winter breeding season is timed to the Florida dry season when its fish prey become concentrated in shrinking pools.
Breakfast for a Cormorant
WARNING: Images of a Cormorant killing a fish…
While sitting on one of my favorite piers in Cedar Key, waiting to see what might come along, I watched as a Cormorant was actively diving for food. At one point the bird came up with a nice sized mullet and then proceeded to bash it around in the water. By the time I got the camera on the bird it had already done a number on the fish.
A Cormorant comes up with a nice fish
A Cormorant wrestles with a mullet in Cedar Key
Slamming it down…
These birds are very efficient predators!
Click [here] for a Wikipedia article about how people in other countries use Cormorants to catch fish for them…
Angelic Egret in Cedar Key
I really like this overhead shot of a Snowy Egret in flight. The strong back-lighting causes the wings to be translucent. You can even see the support structure in the birds wings.
Angelic Snowy Egret
Great Egret feeding in Cedar Key Florida
While walking down a side road, I have often wondered why there always seems to be a Great Egret walking around near vegetation on dry ground. Well today I found out…
Great Egret catching food
At first glance all I could tell was that it had something on the end of it’s beak.
Great Egret with something in it’s beak..
Ah-hah… Looks like a Brown Anole…
Great Egret with a lizard
It was still wiggling around when the bird swallowed it! I could just about hear the lizard saying, help-me, help-me…
Ready to swallow the little critter…
Looking for more lizards..
So now I know… It was comical watching it look for more. It would stretch it’s neck out as far as it could and wiggle its head and neck back and forth… I’m not sure if it was trying to hypnotize the lizard or if that was a way of attracting them…
Another fun time with the birds in Cedar Key…