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We’ve been back to the Barred Owl area but after this day we stay in the truck. Yesterday we took Sue with us, a fellow camper who is a nurse practitioner from Nova Scotia. She isn’t a photographer but has been interested in our birding adventures and wanted to see the birds and owls in person. She’s very fun to hang out with and we had a great trip out with her.

We finally got good shots of the barred owls flying.

We did get out of the truck when we first started using the call. We all had hats on. One of the owls zoomed up behind Vic and attacked his head, taking off with his hat. We were all stunned as he had no idea it was going to happen.

The owl dropped his hat. Guess it wasn’t worthy of his nest.

Sue said we couldn’t have given her a better adventure if we had tried to plan it.

We sure hope we see Sue and John on the road, we enjoyed them a lot.

We visit this nest every day hoping to see an eagle. The nest is huge but positioned on the back side of the tree making it hard to see any activity within the nest. Yesterday we got the eagle flying around and in and out of the nest.

Here are some images from recent days here in Kenansville FL.

The owl nest is also on Joe Overstreet.

On one of our trips to Orlando we spotted this Cara Cara on a telephone pole. I had the fun of taking his picture. He’s pretty high up but what a pretty bird.

Vic got this woodpecker, also on Joe Overstreet. Another beautiful creature.

Vic’s memory card broke so we had to go to Orlando and find a camera shop. Turns out the memory cards we were using are being discontinued so we got two upgraded cards and a card reader. However they sold us the wrong card reader. We had to go back and get the right one. What a pain. The place is an hour and a half each way from here. Did I say what a pain?

We are enjoying the new cards though. They give a better image and they have twice as much memory.

We were back in Clermont last week. We came back because heavy rain was forecast and we’d rather be in Clerbrook than out in a field. The rain happened, 2 solid days of it.

The next day we were outside enjoying blue skies and low 70’s. A red shouldered hawk flew down onto a telephone pole. I got my camera out of the truck and took a couple of pictures. Suddenly another red shouldered hawk flew down right next to the first one! I kept taking pictures. This is what I saw.

Here’s an assortment of birds we captured over the past 10 days or so.

I think the pair of RSH is my only shot in this group. Vic got some awesome captures – my favorite is the Snail Kite.

Apart from the day I was attacked, we got some interesting shots I hope you enjoy.

These are some beautiful birds. I have tremendous respect for their fierceness and will always be very cautious around them from now on. I still think they are gorgeous though.

These are immature eagles.

Eagles get their white heads and white tail feathers at full maturity, around 5 years. They mate for life.

Vic got these shots the day after I was attacked by the Barred Owl. Our friends Mark and Elizabeth came for the day to see all the owls we had found. I was staying in the truck. Do you blame me?

Having an exciting day. We were trying to get barred owls flying, using a call to get their attention. We got their attention all right. One of them flew at me, passed just inches over my head. That was the warning shot if I had realized. Later he flew right at me again only this time his claws got me. I was lucky he missed my eye. Probably only because the camera was up covering my right eye. Also fortunately little Zoe was in the truck out of harm’s way.

The attack shook me up pretty good but I’m OK. Cleaned the scratches and I’m good as new.

We didn’t think they had a nest, never heard any babies but possibly …

Yesterday we were in an area called Prairie Lakes Rd and saw probably 20 eagles. There are eagle nests everywhere. We only got shots of a few but we saw so many.