A Trip to Florida and the Bahamas part 3

Last Updated on August 1, 2019 by Kevin B Agar

Following the cruise, we hired a car and drove down to Marathon in the Keys via Coopertown in the Everglades so we could introduce our friends to the pleasures of doing an airboat ride.  Saw a few Alligators as we were the 1st boat out in the morning as well as Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Anhinga, and Boat-tailed Grackles

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Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/5000 s. f/6.3 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

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Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/5000 s. f/6.3 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

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Boat-tailed Grackle, Quiscalus major

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/2000 s. f/6.3 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

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Western Great Egret, Ardea alba egretta

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/8000 s. f/6.3 iso640 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

After the boat ride we proceeded to our homestay on Marathon Key. From here we took day trips out to the Dolphin Research Centre

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Dolphin

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/4000 s. f/8 iso800 105mm

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Dolphin

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/2500 s. f/8 iso800 105mm

The Turtle Hospital and Key West. Most mornings we would also go for an early morning walk to see if we could see anything. Had several tries at finding the Burrowing Owls but it would appear they have disappeared since hurricane Irma. Osprey would fly past and fish in the bay that the homestay backed onto, so did manage a few shots of them. We managed to see Osprey, Brown Pelican, American Redstart, Green Heron, Little Blue Heron, Great Egret, Cattle Egret, Double-crested Cormorant, Laughing Gull, Sandwich Tern, and Red-winged Blackbird. Here’s a small collection of shots I did get during the week.

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Osprey, Pandion haliaetus

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/1250 s. f/8 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

After an aborted dive it went down for a 2nd attempt and came up with 2 fish

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Osprey, Pandion haliaetus

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/1000 s. f/7.1 iso400 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

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Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/1600 s. f/7.1 iso400 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

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Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/1600 s. f/7.1 iso400 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

This was originally posted as a juvenile Little Blue Heron but thanks to Jim Greenfield for questioning the ID

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Reddish Egret, juvenile, Egretta rufescens

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/2500 s. f/9 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

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Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/1600 s. f/6.3 iso400 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

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Laughing Gull, Leucophaeus atricilla

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/4000 s. f/7.1 iso400 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

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Laughing Gull, Leucophaeus atricilla

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/5000 s. f/7.1 iso400 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

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Sandwich Tern, Thalasseus sandvicensis

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/2000 s. f/11 iso400 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

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Green Heron, Butorides virescens

Canon EOS 7D Mark II 1/3200 s. f/7.1 iso800 EF500mm f/4L IS USM

All shots from the trip will be posted in Recent Photographs and then moved to Birds of the United States and Fauna

© 2003-2024 Kevin B Agar

4 comments on “A Trip to Florida and the Bahamas part 3
  1. Are you sure of the ID of the Little Blue Heron, Kevin? Doesn’t really look like one to me. Can’t really judge the size of it but it looks more like an immature Great Blue to me.
    Some really nice shots from your USA trip
    Jim

    • Kevin Agar Kevin Agar says:

      Hi Jim
      thanks for looking and commenting, it’s greatly appreciated. I’ve looked at the photos again and I still think it’s a Little Blue Heron. It wasn’t that big and spent a lot of time running around chasing fish, which I’ve seen LBH do but I’ve never seen GBH doing. Also all images I’ve seen of GBH juvenile they have a dark crown, even from an early age, and striations down the throat, which my bird doesn’t. The bill is also very dark for a GBH. As you’ve put doubt in my mind I’ll post the image on http://www.birdforum.net and see what the consensus is and post the answer here ☺

    • Kevin Agar Kevin Agar says:

      Well we were both wrong Jim, the consensus is it’s a juvenile Reddish Egret
      https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=3718979#post3718979
      Thank you for your comments as I’ve learnt something new as well as a new lifer tick.

  2. That one crossed my mind too but have never seen an immature. The adults are spectacular when rushing about and stabbing small fry they disturb. Pleased its now sorted.

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