No bucket out today, so I will let fly a few more birds from my tropical vacation backyard that I assembled when looking through my pics a while back. Hope you enjoy! Please fill the bucket with your own observations.
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Rain, sun, wind...insects, birds, flowers...meteorites, rocks...seasonal changes...all are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
April 2015
Turneffe atoll, Belize
Cattle Egrets foraged in the short vegetation by the lagoon most days. Before the resort was put in, this caye was mostly edged with mangroves growing right into the water, and short trees like the native Buttonwood and Sea Grape in the higher dryer areas. Coconut palms and grasses now dominate the grounds that aren't sandy beach. The grassy patch between my bungalow and the lagoon is popular for egrets, grackles and iguanas.
(All photos by me. In Lightbox...click to enlarge)
Once when the flock of egrets landed on a mangrove a pair of flycatchers exploded out of it and dive-bombed the intruding egrets for several minutes until they moved. Too close to a nest I guess!
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Ospreys live here all year round, unlike my own local birds who are just now arriving for the summer. We were on the atoll for several days before I started hearing them calling. Last year I saw a pair frequently, circling, perched in the coconut palms, and fishing in the windward-side lagoon, so I was wondering where the resident pair had gone. Once the ospreys showed up this year, I saw them every day - one or two at a time, calling calling calling. Sometimes alighting in a palm, watching keenly.
One day a third showed up - a lot of chirp-screeing overhead! Might this be a youngster from last year?
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Some other birds I saw - and heard! - everyday...
Musical cacophony :)
Great-tailed Grackles.
Tropical Mockingbirds. These were gathering materials for nesting.
Hooded Orioles. Intense color, nondescript eeep call.
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This late bucket is now open for any and all nature observations from your part of the world.
"Spotlight on Green News & Views" is posted every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time and Wednesday at 3:30 on the Daily Kos front page. It's a great way to catch up on diaries you might have missed. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.