Little Blue Heron

        Today's featured feathered friend is the Little Blue Heron.  This medium-sized heron of the southeastern United States, can also be found throughout the Caribbean and Central America, and in parts of Mexico and South America.  

        The Little Blue Heron is roughly half the size and one-sixth the mass of the Great Blue Heron.  They are 24 inches long, weigh about 12 ounces, with a wingspan of around 40 inches.  Adult males and females are similar in appearance; dark bluish-gray bodies with maroon heads and necks, gray facial skin with greenish-yellow legs and feet.  Their bills are deep-based, slightly downcurved, bluish-gray at the base with a dark tip.  In breeding plumage the facial skin and the base of the bill turns to a stunning "cobalt" blue, while the legs turn dark.  Juvenile Little Blues are all white and can easily be misidentified as a Snowy Egret.  Juveniles have a dark tipped, pale gray bill, with greenish-yellow legs and feet.  As they age, bluish-gray feathers begin to molt into their white plumage creating a splotchy appearance.

        Enjoy some of our favorite photos of the gorgeous Little Blue Heron.....tweet.....tweet!!

Little Blue Heron
(Taken 2/1/14, Bunche Beach, San Carlos Bay, Ft. Myers FL)

                                                     

Little Blue Heron (In Breeding Plumage)
(Taken 3/29/13, Circle B Bar Reserve, Lakeland FL)

Juvenile Little Blue Heron (all white plumage)
(Taken 11/10/13, Honeymoon Island State Park, Dunedin FL)

Juvenile Little Blue Heron (adult feathers coming in)
(Taken 5/4/12, Casa De Meadows pond, Englewood FL)

Little Blue Heron
(Taken 2/1/14, Bunche Beach, San Carlos Bay, Ft. Myers FL)

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/little_blue_heron/id

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Blue_Heron

Vermilion Flycatcher - Our newest life bird.

        Today's featured feathered friend is the Vermilion Flycatcher, the most striking member of the flycatcher family.  In the United States, this "rare" Florida visitor can be found in the southwest, from Texas to Southern California.  They can also be found throughout Mexico and Central America, and many parts of South America.  A male has been wintering at the Orlando Wetlands Park for the past several winters.  We had a tip that he was seen there, so we ventured out on a 500-mile overnight trip to find him.   

        The male Vermilion Flycatcher has a brilliant red or red-orange head and underparts, with a dark brown back, wings and tail.  A dark eye line connects his short black bill to his nape.  The female is brownish-gray above, whitish with fine brown streaking below, and her belly, flanks and undertail coverts have a pinkish-red wash.

        We were blessed to come across three other birders who were getting good looks at him through their scopes, otherwise we may have missed him.  He was perched in a stand of small Cypress trees in an impoundment pond.  Like most flycatchers he would leave his perch, catch an insect in mid-air and return to the same perch.  The Vermilion Flycatcher becomes our 219th life bird (215th Florida bird).  These are our best photos, at a distance of over 100 yards.  Happy birding.....tweet.....tweet!!





Vermilion Flycatcher (Male)
(Taken 2/6/14, Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas FL)



Vermilion Flycatcher (Male)
(Taken 2/6/14, Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas FL)

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/vermilion_flycatcher/id




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermilion_Flycatcher