Crops & Clips-- flashback to December 2018

We will celebrate this December, our final month living in Florida by looking three years back, through the 441 photos I processed in December, 2018. I hope to find images which depict favorite memes: critters of all kinds, especially birds, flowers, butterflies, beautiful skies, reflections...  and scenes which speak for themselves.

Great Egret before sunrise on December 3:

The same bird in full sunlight:

One of my first images of the month was of this Gray-headed Swamphen, demonstrating its use of prehensile toes to pluck and eat the tender shoots of Spikerush:

Little Blue Heron:

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron:

A male Palm Warbler in early morning light:

Yellow-throated Warbler:

Common Grackle:

Northern Mockingbird on Brazilian Pepper:

Blue-headed Vireo:

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird:

Flowers and fruit of Firebush (Hamelia patens), favored by hummingbirds, butterflies and warblers:

Prairie Warbler:

Male Northern Cardinal:

Female Bald Eagle (Jewel) flying with Tree Swallows:

Immature Red-shouldered Hawk:

Composite view of a female Bobcat sprinting:

Gulf Fritillary:

Tiny flower:

Light fog before Sunrise:

Sun rising over Sunset Lakes:

Our entrance gate all decorated for Christmas:

Rosyfinch Ramblings will be dormant for a while as we are relocating from Florida to Connecticut. Although we both are natives of New Jersey and learned to live with four seasons, this is probably the worst time of year to migrate north. For eighteen years we have not "molted" out of t-shirts, shorts and sandals. As I write this, snow is falling and the wind is howling at our upcoming destination. Hope to be back and enjoying entirely new flora and fauna despite cold noses and toes-es.

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Linking to:

Garden Affair

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Camera Critters

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Natasha Musing

Our World Tuesday

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World

Timeless Thursday

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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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Walking the Levee Trail

The Levee Trail provides access to the Bar Ditch Trail which traverses the wildest part of the Wounded Wetlands. The latter trail is now under about a foot of water, shortening the walk but inviting more careful exploration. Spending more time at "sit spots" along the levee, I get a bit less exercise as well as some nice finds.

A feisty Brown Thrasher:

Migrants, including bright male Cape May Warblers...

...and less conspicuous females and immature birds of the same species:

Yellow-throated Warblers...

...which seem to advertise their names:

American Redstarts are hard to follow as they move erratically in the trees...

...sometimes offering only a quick click as they blaze away like wildfire:

This demure redstart is probably a female. The immature male is very similar but usually shows more of an orange tint:

Northern Parulas nest just to the north and are early arrivals during fall migration. These are males:

Females lack the red breast markings:

Active and acrobatic Black-and-White Warlbers do not nest locally but are sometimes seen here during breeding season. This could be an adult female or first year male:

This is an adult male on September 29, 2020:

In spring, the adult male is more boldly patterned with black markings (April, 2020):

Palm Warblers arrive a bit later and many stay here for the winter. Their long legs are an adaptation for feeding on the ground:

Prairie Warblers are back:

This male Scarlet Tanager was a bonus bird this past week. The male sheds his scarlet coat for a green one:

On my way home yesterday as I emerged from the high brush at the trailhead, I cautiously looked around before walking out into the open. Occasionally I surprise a mammal such as a rabbit, Raccoon, deer or Bobcat. This time I almost missed seeing a Coyote which had stopped to answer the call of nature:

When finished with doin' business, it continued across the gravel road:

We are in the heart of the wet season. Cloud formations can be very entertaining. Can you see this poor guy being knocked out by one  thief while the other sneaks off with his stolen horse? (or is it a rooster or a seahorse?

A record number of tropical storms have developed this year. Thankfully, south Florida has been spared a direct hit so far. Morning walks have been interrupted by "pop-up" showers associated with some of them.  Storms brewed rapidly before sunrise on October 3:

This was the scene to the south 25 minutes before sunrise on October 5. The clouds formed rapidly and I had to cut the walk short.

I got to the exit gate only minutes before the deluge:

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Linking to:

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Camera Critters

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Natasha Musing

Our World Tuesday

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World

Timeless Thursday

________________________________________________

Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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