30 Minutes in the Life: August 2014

I love being part of the 30 minutes in life group.  We have added a few new members to the group and so I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else has to offer this month. Remember that this is a circle blog, so when you are finished reading my blog, don't forget to head over to Mary Slone Photography | Memphis Lifestyle Photographer and read what she has for you this month.  

In the life of a photographer, whose art is created in tiny fractions of a second, thirty minutes is a sustained thought.  Thirty, minutes, the length of a child's ballet class, a quick sauce's simmer; a commute, is long enough to witness change and short enough to be over before you know it.  We offer you here our monthly results of thirty minutes of watching and waiting and recording, of rendering permanent those fractions of a second that slip past in the time it takes to watch a television show.  

                                      

                                      Thirty minutes in the life ~ Sara Kelly

Mornings are not my best time.  I don't do early morning well.  I don't like to wake up early. But since I was awake so I decided to head out early and do the loop. So join me as I meander through the wetlands.  

South Florida weather has been unpredictable on most days.  At some point it is going to rain. Apparently while I was out of town last weekend a tornado whipped through our area.  I am okay with the hurricanes, tornado's not so much.  So walking out in the wetlands has been fun this summer.  I have found myself in the middle of the wetlands with lightening forking around, I have had to dig out my rain cover for my camera, and just lately I have been carrying a rain cover for myself. This morning however, looked promising. The sun was shinning.  I was happy.  

I have discovered that the wetlands during summer months is pretty dead.  The mating season has happened, the babies generally have been born, seems like everyone has gone north except me.  However, I will persevere even if I take spider webs and bees and plants.   

This leaf really got my attention, because it was hanging from a spider web thread in the middle of nowhere.  

I headed through the long shaded walkway, already overheated, and towards my favorite tree. Generally I will find Ibis hanging out in it, but today was a real treat.  The bird that I typically see the least and photograph even less is the Roseate Spoonbill.  As a norm it is in the middle of the wetlands, when it is there, and my lens does not stretch that far.  The Roseate Spoonbill is a wading bird and part of the Ibis and Spoonbill family.  They typically wade through waters swinging their bill from side to side searching for food.  Their diet consists mainly of crustaceans, frogs, small fish, insects etc.  When nesting they will typically build in shrubs, trees or in the mangroves.  They will lay up to 5 eggs.  They are a gorgeous pink in color.

While the Roseate Spoonbill was hanging out in the tree an American White Ibis decided to join it.  The American White Ibis is a medium sized bird, with white plumage and black tips on the wings.  The bill is a redish orange color and it curves down.  The legs are long and pinkish. They tend to eat insects and small fish, but like most humans, if crayfish is on the menu the American White Ibis is one happy bird.  It typically probes the ground with its beak when searching for food.  The American White Ibis normally pairs up and lives in large colonies during mating season.  They can lay anything between 1 and 5 eggs.  The juvenile America White Ibis is generally brown in color.  

Of course, there is always the ducks around and the Black Bellied Whistling Ducks are a favorite of mine.  I have walked the other Wetland 7 times in the past few weeks hoping to see their chicks.  10 were born.  You would think that you could see ten little tots following their parents.  Not such luck.  It was just last week that I managed to see 1 little cutie.  The chicks are black and yellow spotted and are adorable.  The ducks normally hang out in shallow marshes, and freshwater ponds and they feed mainly on seed and plant food.  

Moorhens are another common sight at the wetlands.  In fact I tend to get tired of taking photo's of them because they are always around.  What is nice about the Moorhens right now is that it appears that it is breeding season.  The chicks are so strange looking that they are really cute.  They have barely there wings, and feet that look like they belong to their mother. These are a few weeks old and so they are starting to develop a little bit of an independent spirit.  The Common Moorhen tends to live in marsh like areas or well vegetated lakes.  A distinctive feature of the Common Moorhen is the frontal shield on its face. Their diet consists of vegetative materials and small creatures found in the water. They will build their nests on the ground and typically lay between 5-8 eggs.  The Common Moorhen makes a very distinctive weird barking kind of sound.  

Last but not least I came across an Anhinga sunning itself in a tree.  Anhinga normally fish in the water.  Often all you will see of the Anhinga is a snake like neck protruding from the water. Unlike most water birds the Anhingas feathers are not waterproof and the bird can quickly become waterlogged.  When done with the fishing, you will often find the Anhinga with it's wings spread out waiting to dry. This season I found that they seemed to hatch up to 3 chicks at a time and it is quite a treat to watch the mother feeding her chicks.  The entire head of the baby chick will disappear, in what appears to be, down her throat to retrieve its food.  

Thank you for joining me on my walk. I love to get out there and be one with nature, or try to be in the midst of the early morning power walkers, who seem to pass me by 3 or 4 times during my meander.  It is a great time for clearing my head, archiving the stuff, and looking forward to the rest of the day.  

"There is eloquence in the tongueless wind, and a melody in the flowing brooks and the rustling of the reeds beside them, which by their inconceivable relation to something within the soul, awaken the spirits to a dance of breathless rapture, and bring tears of mysterious tenderness to the eyes, like the enthusiasm of patriotic success, or the voice of one beloved singing to you alone"

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

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