Adding to My Life List
Birders (or people who love looking for and documenting birds) most often keep a life list. A life list is exactly like it sounds it would be--a checklist of birds one has seen throughout their lifetime. The most avid birders will travel specifically in hopes of spotting a bird. The rest of us just happily check off the ones we come across knowing we will never see them all. We just enjoy keeping track of the species we have seen and where.
When I awoke this morning, I thought that by the end of the day my SD card would be filled with photos of my kids and space shuttles and rockets. But one of the first things I saw on our way to the Kennedy Space Center was a bird I'd never seen before. I thought at first that it was a cormorant based on the way it was posed drying its outstretched wings. Turns out there's another species that dries its feathers in the "bat pose" and it is called an anhinga. Like the cormorant, the anhinga's feathers do not repel water and so they must dry them after a swim. Isn't he beautiful?
It was during our visit that we learned the Kennedy Space Center is part of a national wildlife refuge. After leaving the visitor center, we spent about an hour this evening at the Canaveral National Seashore Wildlife Refuge. During this short visit I saw three species I've never seen in person before--how exciting for me! The first was a belted kingfisher perched in a branch overhanging one of those drainage canals. Next we drove through a portion that was posted a "scrub jay nesting area." And we saw four of them! I was able to get a photo of one at sunset on our way out, but it's just the silhouette. I hope I'll see more of these during our visit.
Finally, while I was hoping to photograph a scrub jay, this little bird perched in a bush near our car. This is another beautiful resident of the refuge, a palm warbler.
I wish I could have been able to photograph the kingfisher, but there was too much traffic behind us and nowhere to pull off. That's one I'll just have to remember with my mind's eye.
If you enjoy animal photos, head over to Camera Critters for more great posts.
Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published on Feb. 7, 2009 and has been updated for accuracy.
When I awoke this morning, I thought that by the end of the day my SD card would be filled with photos of my kids and space shuttles and rockets. But one of the first things I saw on our way to the Kennedy Space Center was a bird I'd never seen before. I thought at first that it was a cormorant based on the way it was posed drying its outstretched wings. Turns out there's another species that dries its feathers in the "bat pose" and it is called an anhinga. Like the cormorant, the anhinga's feathers do not repel water and so they must dry them after a swim. Isn't he beautiful?
It was during our visit that we learned the Kennedy Space Center is part of a national wildlife refuge. After leaving the visitor center, we spent about an hour this evening at the Canaveral National Seashore Wildlife Refuge. During this short visit I saw three species I've never seen in person before--how exciting for me! The first was a belted kingfisher perched in a branch overhanging one of those drainage canals. Next we drove through a portion that was posted a "scrub jay nesting area." And we saw four of them! I was able to get a photo of one at sunset on our way out, but it's just the silhouette. I hope I'll see more of these during our visit.
Finally, while I was hoping to photograph a scrub jay, this little bird perched in a bush near our car. This is another beautiful resident of the refuge, a palm warbler.
I wish I could have been able to photograph the kingfisher, but there was too much traffic behind us and nowhere to pull off. That's one I'll just have to remember with my mind's eye.
If you enjoy animal photos, head over to Camera Critters for more great posts.
Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published on Feb. 7, 2009 and has been updated for accuracy.
Comments
My CC post is here. Happy weekends!
Happy CC!