I know why he's called "kingfisher!"

I was just arriving at work one morning last week when I spotted this guy up on a powerline, looking down along the canal that runs next to my office. I've seen him around quite a bit in recent weeks and I've spotted his brother over on Viele Road, fishing the canal along there.

The light was good, so I scrambled to get my camera out of the back seat of my car. Just as I raised the lens to shoot, he took a dive off the powerline right into the canal and, about three seconds later, I saw him come up with something in his beak. He landed on the fence, providing me with a grand view, so I started shooting. Turns out he had a fine looking fish!  I love it when Nature gives me a closeup of how things work!

In the science world, this bird is known this way ...

Order: Coraciiformes Family: Alcedinidae

Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. There are 94 species worldwide, six in North America and one in Florida. 

The "one in Florida" is the Belted Kingfisher, or "Megaceryle alcyon." (Can you even pronounce the words?)

More stuff here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belted_Kingfisher

Watch the birds. You never know what you might see!

Beauty & the Beast

Sunday afternoon we took a spin down to Homestead for the International Orchid Festival. The orchids were absolutely spectacular as was Fruit & Spice Park where it was held. But, it was the ride back that was r-e-a-l-l-y AMAZING! We took Krome Avenue north to Broward and stumbled on an entrance to the Everglades. The vista was beautiful beyond words and I wish my camera could have captured the majesty of it all!


A boot and a Budweiser in the Everglades ... and hundreds of spent gun shells on the ground left me feeling violated. Targets had been set up 100 yards away and were riddled with bullet holes while the ground was littered with broken beer bottles. A huge mound of burnt trash indicated a fire. A very recent fire. There was still the smell of smoke. And, what really frightened me is how easily this area would have burned if a spark had been blown out on the parched, dry earth of my precious Everglades. It's been so dry for so long ...