Greetings fellow Dawn Chorusers. Today’s DC is just a few photos I took last weekend while taking a prospective graduate student on a tour of our local natural wonders. The only photos I took at St Marks NWR (it was raining) were of this Vermillion Flycatcher. They are rare but regular at St Marks in the winter, quite a long way to the east of their breeding range. This is a super cropped photo.
Then we moved on to Wakulla Springs State Park and its wonderful boat tour. A great way to see some of Florida’s iconic aquatic critters up close and personal. The tour covers a mile of the river in which no other boats are allowed and there is essentially no human disturbance other than the tour. The animals are abundant and habituated to the boat
Anhingas were possibly the most conspicuous bird on the river. This is a female.
This is a male. Sorry the heads are out of focus. They are kind of small.
Here’s an anhinga and a cormorant side by side. Note the difference in neck length, head size, and beak shape (pointy in anhinga, hooked (which you can’t really see in this photo) in cormorant.
Great Egret on the hunt
White Ibis hanging out on Cypress ‘knee’
Vultures providing atmosphere
Pied Billed Grebe. This species seems to be unusually abundant around here this winter.
Vulture getting a drink
Not birds but oh well. Mom and baby manatee in the spring.
