livingthedreamwithsallyandvic

Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area 3

The wildlife is so plentiful here, we continue to be amazed at the variety.

Meadowlark really belting out his song (mine)

Meadowlark. I was about 20 feet away, it was pretty amazing (mine)

Eastern Phoebe with an ant snack. (Vic’s)

Another day in Paradise, having so much fun taking these pictures.

Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area 2

This morning we rode around the area, mostly up and down Joe Overstreet which is a paved road lined with cattle ranches and sod companies. Joe Overstreet and his family have the biggest cattle ranch and it ends at a boat launch area/10 spot campground/snack bar. You can book an air boat tour there as well.

These photos are all Vic’s. The best lighting was on his side of the road.

I think this Kildeer is a masterpiece.

We’ve gotten this bird before but never in flight.

Red headed woodpecker (immature). You should see the beat up tree this bird was all, no leaves at all, looks like it will fall over in the next minute.

Loggerhead Shrike (also called butcher bird because of the way it impales its prey to eat it)

These photos were all taken this morning can you believe that?

Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area 1

Kenansville, FL

We met a super nice couple who came out to the road as we were pulling in and warned us where it’s still very wet from last weekend’s rain. And it’s buggy over there so whew! Thanks for that! they are from Nova Scotia, recently retired.

It’s been a long while since we’ve come to this area and we never camped here before.

Already we’ve got two photos to share.

Kestrel, coyly looking over his shoulder at me

The Kestrel especially is difficult to get because first he’s usually on a telephone wire and second flies away before you can get the camera focused. Very frustrating! So today I got them both on a tree branch. Major coup!

Black Point Wildlife Drive 6

A few more beauties to share …

Snowy Egret (fluffed up to show his anger at another bird)

Black Point Wildlife Drive 5

The first day we got here the very first thing I took a picture of is this Northern Flicker. We have seen several different woodpeckers in Florida but this is the one we hadn’t seen before so it was very exciting. We never saw it again and this was the only shot I got.

This is a sequence of Hooded Mergansers.

We are returning to Clerbrook tomorrow (Saturday). It’s been a wonderful wonderful week.

I have another post drafted that will come out later.

Hope you enjoyed sharing our week. XO

Black Point Wildlife Drive 3

Today is day 5 of our visit here. We’ve seen some incredible wildlife and had so much fun taking pictures. We still haven’t gotten a good Osprey dive but have lots of other great photos to share. Today’s star is the Green Heron.

Black Point Wildlife Drive 4

Skimmers are appropriately named because of the way they fly low and fast across the water with their beaks open trying to snag a little fish. Vic thinks this is our best shot and I’m proud to say it’s mine.

Here are some more. Vic does the editing and groaned when he saw how many photos we took the day we saw Skimmers.

The guy in the back is bent like that because he got a fish.

You may be thinking enough skimmers already. It’s exhilarating to see them flying in and start skimming right towards you! If you google black skimmers what you will find is a ton of black skimmers in the sitting pose. It’s hard to find any shots of two skimming in tandem. I sure would love to see them with babies though. That shot is on my bucket list.

Black Point Wildlife Drive

Vic has been glued to the computer all afternoon yesterday going through our recent shots. I have to emphasize he did nothing to these pictures. The colors on these Reddish Egrets are real.

Usually we are lucky to see two reddish egrets at any given time. This week we’ve seen 4 together a couple of times. These birds are so beautiful in their breeding plumage.

The reflections on some of these images makes them extra beautiful.

They throw a shadow with their wings to make it easier to see a fish.

You almost can’t tell which is the bird and which is the reflection.

Black Point Wildlife Drive

Next up White Pelicans.

This one just finished swallowing a fish.

Tomorrow we are going to a place called Three Rivers in Kenansville Fl for a few days looking for eagles. There are no hookups or amenities. Perfect for us. We did a resupply yesterday and the weather is predicted to be sunny days, cool nights. The solar panels will be happy.

Black Point Wildlife Drive

We are staying at an Elks Lodge in Titusville, FL, 8 miles away from this wildlife drive in Merritt Island. We arrived Sunday and met some delightful fellow campers. Two were a married couple that had been teachers, Ellen and Mike. The other two, Kay and Howard, found each other later in life and love traveling with a home base in Nebraska. They had all planned to leave Monday so now we are the only campers here.

We’ve been wanting to come over here for weeks but have been frustrated by the weather. We are having some perfect days – clear and sunny with cool/cold nights. And since there has been so much rain this winter there is plenty of water and food for the birds. The birds are everywhere! Get ready for lots of birdy posts!

Starting with Roseate Spoonbills.