Female Belted Kingfisher - River Lakes Conservation Area, North Wickham Road, Melbourne, Florida
It's not easy to get close to Belted Kingfishers of either sex,
and by nature the fems tend to be a wee bit more elusive, so I needed all 600 mm and 50 megapixels to get this " close¹ ".
¹ 31 meters as per the EXIF data (about 100 feet)
Click on the pic to view it full screen
Tags: KH0831 Florida Megaceryle alcyon Coraciiformes Alcedinidae Megaceryle alcyon Bird Nature
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Florida Sandhill Cranes - River Lakes Conservation Area, North Wickham Road, Melbourne, Florida
A short DOF, two shot, multifocus composite.
So feel free to click twice,
and have a close look at these guys.
Tags: KH0831 Florida Bird Antigone canadensis Antigone canadensis Gruiformes Gruidae Nature
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Florida Sandhill Cranes - River Lakes Conservation Area, North Wickham Road, Melbourne, Florida
I moved these guys closer together for a more confrontational effect, but I'm pretty sure that's how close they felt,
even when they were 3 feet apart.
Tags: KH0831 Florida Bird Antigone canadensis Antigone canadensis Gruiformes Gruidae ThousandPlus 1000+
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And the Biodiversity of Barbed Wire (see notes)
Loggerhead Shrike - River Lakes Conservation Area, North Wickham Road, Melbourne, Florida
It gave me this look before hopping down into the field.
I apparently passed muster, because this guy returned to the same stretch of wire with a large caterpillar it pulled out of the grass.
Tags: KH0831 Florida Bird Nature
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Loggerhead Shrike with what would appear to be a large Armyworm caterpillar (possibly Spodoptera ornithogalli or latifascia) - River Lakes Conservation Area, North Wickham Road, Melbourne, Florida
The Shrike proceeded to use the barbed wire (as is their way) to disassemble the cutworm, but I will spare you the gorey entrail detail.
Tags: KH0831 Florida Insect Bird Eukaryota Animalia Arthropoda Insecta Lepidoptera Nature
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