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!

What kind of bird is this?

July 4 fell on Sunday this year, so I had Monday, July 5 off from work in observance of the holiday. It was a rainy day (we got 4.5-inches in my yard) and not good for much else other than laying on the sofa watching movies.

Until something flew past the window and got my attention. When I got up off the sofa to investigate, I had the good sense to grab my camera. And, this is what I saw.

The thing is, I don't know what kind of bird it is. I can't say I've ever seen one before. It turns out there were two of them in the neighborhood, so maybe they were mates or siblings. So, do you know what kind of bird it is?

Bird of the Day ... Cattle Heron

I've decided to capture images of birds I see every day. Now, I see birds every day. But, I don't always have my camera in my hand. Which is about to change for this little "bird a day" project of mine. Let's see what happens ...

These little guys are a fairly common site around these parts. Of course, with a cow pasture next door to my office, I may get to see them more often than others, but you still see them quite often even in the dense urban areas along the east side of the county.

Found this info on the Seminole Audubon web site:
Bubulcus ibis (BUE-bul-kus EYE-bis) Other Names: Cattle heron, cattle egret, buff-backed heron. Voice: Some croaking notes in nesting season; usually quiet.

Food: follows cattle and eats insects frightened from grass as cattle walk and graze; grasshoppers, crickets, frogs, spiders, toads; differs from other herons by feeding on insects and vertebrates in fields and pastures away from water.

Color: An all-white heron; yellow or orange-colored bill; eyes and legs yellow; in breeding season, spring to late summer, orange-buff plumes on crown and nape and white to golden plumes on lower foreneck and mantle; legs coral pink.

Nest: Usually with other herons in various habitats; mangroves, willows, live oaks and red cedars; nest built by female of twigs and branches gathered by male; 10-18 inches across; 5-12 feet above ground. Eggs: April and May; 3-5 per clutch. Egg color: light blue. Incubation time: 22-24 days; only species of heron able to breed in first year. Fledge: Young can fly after about 40 days.

Habitat: Dry or moist open fields. Range: Established on every continent. Observations: Apparently flew across Atlantic from Africa to South America; first seen in Florida in 1941; population is exploding.

Bird Watching

Anybody know what kind of bird this is? He or she has been hanging around our office for about a week now. I heard him before I saw him and when I saw him sitting up on the power lines, I ran for the camera. He likes this spot. I suppose he can see all around from that vantage point. And, I've seen him there more than once.

I looked through hundreds of bird photos on the internet and at Flickr's photo web site, but nothing. So, if you know what it is, would you tell me?

Bird Watching

The ducks and the finch, top and bottom, are new residents of the canal next to my office. The ibis flock was just passing through. On any given day I will see makes and models of birds that are so very different from one another. The diversity of the wildlife here in the Everglades is so amazing to me. And, this is just watching from my office. Imagine if we took an airboat out into the sawgrass plains! What might we see there!

Broward County Audubon Society

I haven't been here in a while. Have you missed me?

I joined the board of directors of the Broward County Audubon Society, and getting to know these people has been real darned interesting. They are currently wrestling with their mission. One of my fellow board members wrote this and I decided this would be a really good place to share someone else's words. Especially, these words ...

Birds and Audubon

Bird watching is an enjoyable, economical hobby that is swiftly growing, and the Broward County Audubon Society is happy to welcome birders to our events. The focus of the Broward County Audubon Society is and always has been…..birds. In today's rapidly changing world, our focus is not changing, but it is broadening.

The Broward County Audubon Society has embraced five areas of advocacy:

• Land Conservation


• Water Resource Protection


• Growth Management and Transportation
  
• Wildlife Policy
  
• Global Warming
  

The common thread that ties these areas together is ….. birds. Global warming and the resulting climate change will, over time, affect every single living thing on the planet, but the birds of the world will be among the first to be affected.

Much has been said about the fate of the polar bears and their shrinking habitat. The Northern Pika has been pushed to the upper limits of its' mountain habitat. Not enough emphasis has been placed on the fate of our birds.

Wildlife habitat worldwide has been shrinking at an alarming rate through deforestation, building and development; clean farming, where the land is worked right to the fence lines, resulting in a loss of bird habitat, as well as a loss of floral species through changing climate.

Population growth and the growing need for transportation facilities to support the growth are responsible for habitat loss around the world. The need for food for the growing population leads to more deforestation and wetland loss. Today's trend towards aqua-culture is the number one cause for the present rate of decline in mangroves.

Wildlife policies throughout the world are changing as governments try to seek a compromise between the needs of wildlife and the needs of our growing population. In the US, there is a current movement to open previously protected areas to hunting, vehicular traffic, oil exploration and drilling, strip mining and the new craze, mountain top removal, where the tops of mountains are literally blown off to get to the coal beneath them. This blatant destruction does not stop with the aesthetic change; the spoilage fills adjacent valleys polluting or completely eliminating streams, destroying wildlife habitat, and leaving toxic wastes behind to affect all life.

Other sources of pollution have had a drastic effect on our waterways including air pollution that leads to acid rain, runoff from fertilizers, pesticides and polluted groundwater, much of which is finding its way into our aquifers. This not only affects our wildlife that utilizes the waterways, it also affects the human population.

These conditions are all brought about by man. All can be controlled, and all affect …..birds. Birds are an "indicator species," meaning that they will be among the first of species to be affected by global changes. Before the advent of the miner's safety lamp, canaries were used in coal mines to indicate the supply of oxygen. Canaries need a higher concentration of oxygen to survive than man does. When a canary died, it was time for people to leave the mine. Unless we make some drastic lifestyle changes soon, canaries will be dying around the world.

In the Broward County Audubon Society's advocacy programs, we are striving to bring about positive changes that will affect our global outlook and we, as birders, can present a united front and a voice that will be heard. Please join us in our quest to regain the diminishing habitat that our birds so desperately need.

Grant Campbell, Broward County Audubon Society