First up, my newest fascinating bird. I think this guy is a little blue heron. Really, it's the only identification I can think of that makes any sense. I realize it's difficult to see in these pictures (taken at dusk some day last week), but he's inky black, with a blue sheen. He's not spotted here every day, but he's definitely a regular at the fishin' hole.
To the best of my vast bird knowledge (and ability to compare photos on the internet), this little guy is a black-necked stilt. Guess where he gets his name... c'mon... guess! The stilts tend to be out in pairs, and are often there at the same time as the guy above. I took some pictures of them together at sunrise last week, but alas, without the flash, they were just too gray and blurry to hold on to.
I left this last photo a little wider than normal to show off the lovely purple weed-flowers that the lawn guys choose to not to anything about. They're pretty, if slightly unruly.
In my pre-research mind, any bird that looks like this is a sandpiper. I know that they aren't the same, but my personal genuses seem to break down into egrets, ibises, herons, snake birds, ducks, and sandpipers. Oh, and all non-water birds. That's the craziest thing of all. I never see normal woods-dwelling birds around here. Scott's bird feeder has been summarily ignored. On the bright side, our little stilt friends are insect eaters. Of course, there are still more mosquitoes out back than you can shake a citronella candle at, but think how many more there would be otherwise!
2 comments:
What's your tree situation like? Maybe that explains the lack of woods-dwelling birds?
We have little blue herons but I don't know that I've ever seen a black-necked stilt or if I did I probably just thought it was a sandpiper. That's one of the things that I really like about taking photos of birds, I learn so much when I try to identify them.
I really like the photo with the stilt and the purple flowers. Pretty!
the stilts? check out the link in this entry - goes to that all about birds site - they don't live around here. most of our backyard birds are year-round for Florida. This is the first time I think I've seen one that migrates away.
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