1) Osprey, Lake Toho, Kissimmee. 2) Anhinga, Champions Gate. 3) Little Blue Heron, Champions Gate. 4) Red Tailed Hawk, Champions Gate. 5) Great White Heron, Celebration; Great Blue Heron in the water.
"That's it, Blue, crouch down just a little, I don't want you to hit your head on the AMC spires," I said, as I set the scene of this ongoing photo shoot.
1) A Wood Stork looking down on Lake Toho, Kissimmee, Florida. 2) Hot air balloons floating of the golf course in Champions Gate, Florida. 3) The sky reflected in a pond by the golf course in Celebration, Florida. 4) A Celebration Hotel tower pushing the clouds away in Celebration, Florida.
I shot this earlier today, trying to catch the Great White Heron in flight, but it came out a little blurry. I hate to lose a photo for any reason, so I attempted this watercolor. What do you think?
I came across this Anhinga sitting on the edge of the boat ramp, and as I went to shoot him/her I noticed it struggling with something attached to it's beak. I took twenty shots of the bird, edging closer and closer to it, once I realized it was the carcass of a rat that was wrapped around the tip of it's beak. I wanted to find some way to help the bird, but when I got within a couple of feet it turned it's back on me and flew off to a pole out in the lake, with the rat still dangling from it's beak. [Click the photos for a bigger view and a good look at the profile of the rat.]