Dinner Time

The oriole family came by again at the normal time, around 3-4pm. The two adults were busy as usual getting worms for their kid(Bronzed Cowbird). They left an hour later but were back just before 7pm. This time I was able to get the money shot - the actual feeding!!!

A visional impairment

This morning the Orioles were getting worms for their adopted kid. I took a few more photos of them.
I noticed this morning one of the parents has a cloudy eye, a cataract in the right eye. This doesn't seem to slow it down. Unfortunately birds like this don't last long. They don't see the hawk, car, cat, etc. coming until it's too late.

Life of a parent - brood-parasitism

Searching....
Got a worm!

Forever hungry

Yesterday and today a pair of Spot-Breasted Orioles have been accompanied by their adopted kid (cowbird, most likely Bronzed). The parents have been very busy collecting little green worms that they are getting from the underside of leaves in the trees and brushes. Occasionally the adults have been eating mango from the neighbors' tree.
♦
Cowbirds are one of the species that are brood parasites. This means they will remove a host egg when they lay one of their own in a nest. This can happen either in the same visit to the host nest or in a separate visit before or after the parasitism. This both prevents the host species from realizing their nest has been parasitized and reduces competition for the parasitic nestling once it hatches.

A Morning Flyby

This morning I was having a mug of coffee and watching the news in my room. My room is small, one wall is a sliding glass door(about 6 foot wide). In the morning I also watch the wildlife, birds, lizards, mammals, etc. This morning was especially good, a Short-tailed hawk flew by. I guess it was looking for breakfast. This Short-tailed was a adult light morph.
There are two morphs, light and dark. Dark morphs comprise around 75% of the Florida population(Brain Wheeler-raptors of Eastern NA)

STS127 lift off

Space shuttle Endeavour
The solid booster rockets separating from shuttle (click on image)

Space shuttle Endeavour finally took flight. After several days of delays, mostly weather related she took off. I went down to the Dania Beach pier in hope of getting a couple photos of the shuttle. A gentleman was on his phone and said to me 'it has taken off'. Probably a minute later we saw the shuttle cutting the blue with it's white plume.
A really cool sight!!!
I didn't think I would be able to get an image of the boosters leaving the shuttle at that distance. Kennedy Space Center is about 180 miles from the pier.

Mango tree is bird magnet

Spot-Breasted Oriole
Spot-Breasted Oriole eating mango

Today the neighbors' mango tree was a bird magnet. I have never seen birds eat mango, but today I watched a Mockingbird, Spot-Breasted Oriole, and Blue Jay eat mangoes from the same tree. There was also a Loggerhead Shrike that visited the tree also, which the mockingbird was not too happy about.

Unusual Clouds

A storm was moving in from the west this evening and it had unusual colored clouds on the front edge. These photos are untouched.

Steamy, hot day at Anne Kolb Park

Green Heron

Fiddler Crab
.Little Blue Heron
I spent a few hours at Anne Kolb Park today at the end of the Mud Flat Trail. Unfortunately the Lake Observation Trail was closed and will remain closed for a few more weeks because the park is having the roofing replaced on several buildings. The South, fishing Pier and the Mud Flat Trails are still open.
I observed 10 species of birds: Little Blue Heron, Green Heron, White Ibis, Belted Kingfisher, Turkey and Black Vultures, Osprey, Magnificent Frigatebird, Crow, Red-winged Blackbird. There were plenty of fiddler crabs due to the tide going out.