FLORIDA - PLANTS AND WILDLIFE - MARCH 2008

[Carlo]

I believe the bird in question is a Guinea Touraco...Tauraco persa persa.

[ranunculus]

I'm sure Anthony or Carlo can put us on the right track?

They never fail to come up trumps!   Many thanks Carlo.

[mark smyth]

White Cheeked, Carlo. I used to keep them. Very strange bird with hair like feathers, amazing red under coverts and even more amazing feathers that can stain water!

Other birds are Stilts and Demoiselle Crane

[ranunculus]

What a forum this is....

The swamp in question is the Audobon Society Sanctuary at Corkscrew Swamp which was established to protect the largest remaining stand of ancient bald cypress left in North America.  Unfortunately we visited during a period of prolonged drought so missed a percentage of the flora and fauna of this very interesting habitat, but I hope you can get just a flavour of this remote and hauntingly beautiful area?

CORKSCREW SWAMP IN A DROUGHT
 FROM THE SWAMP BOARDWALK.
 IRIS HEXAGONA
 BUTORIDES VIRESCENS
 SPIRANTHES ODORATA
 FESTOONING
 DRAPED TREE
 BUG ON IRIS HEXAGONA
 SWAMP TREES 3
 TILLANDSIA ON SWAMP TREE

[ranunculus]

....Oh and by the way Shelagh....you will be dealt with most severely at Chesterfield AGS Show.....

Back to Corkscrew ....and the Banyan trees that are such a feature of this part of Florida....

The lizard is Anolis carolinensis, the Green Anole...

[ranunculus]

....Corkscrew again.....another bottle to open?

[mark smyth]

I would guess the grey feathers on the vulture came from a nest site or night roost where you need to be the bird to the top and not the bottom

[ranunculus]

You could well be right Mark...thanks...

On (or correctly, just off) Gasparilla Island we encountered these magnificent ospreys.....

[ranunculus]

O.K.....it seems from the viewing figures that Florida hasn't the same appeal as an alpine destination (and why the heck should it on a ROCK GARDEN forum)? .... so I will finish off this theme with just a few shots that pleased my critical eye....

The final shot is a very sad indictment of our 'throw away' world, and the pity is that I didn't spot the pelican's plight until I downloaded this image....the poor creature is certainly in danger.

[ranunculus]

....And the final few....

[Maggi Young]

it seems from the viewing figures that Florida hasn't the same appeal as an alpine destination (and why the heck should it on a ROCK GARDEN forum)? says Cliff...

Well Cliff, it may be that everyone is busy reading the two latest segments of your monthly feature articles, on the main website:
LAND OF CORAL - MOUNTAINS OF DREAMS
The Dolomites parts  5  and 6
http://www.srgc.org.uk/monthfeature/march2008/content.html

http://www.srgc.org.uk/monthfeature/april2008/content.html

 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Cliff,
May I once more express my profound admiration for your photographic skills ! 

Of course there's no alpines there (they would be hard to find in Florida I guess  ) - but they are wonderful pictures all the same.

The picture you baptised "Flying display" in the final batch is absolutely superb !

How on earth did you make these birds "pose" for you to take a picture like that ? 

[ranunculus]

Many thanks Maggi for the extra publicity and I feel I must enclose a brief explanation as to why there are duplicated images and a Christmas & New Year greeting on the final image of a posting made in April!!  The entire Dolomite sequence i.e. four complete postings, were all sent to the administrators way back in 2007 and were intended (though this wasn't, I must confess, made at all clear by an ageing poster), to be published in perhaps weekly bursts leading up to Christmas.  The wonderful administrators probably evaluated the workload and posted them on a monthly basis (which, in hindsight, has worked even better) and I probably sent a duplicate image in the confusion of such a mass posting?
I hope viewers will forgive these slight blips and concentrate on the intention of the postings which was to inspire visits to these magnificent mountains and their equally stupendous flora.
We are back in Arabba later this year and we anticipate this visit with a relish equal to our first trip out there in 1999.

My dear Luc,
Your message was extremely well received...many thanks.
You obviously cannot see the elastic bands holding the birds together or the strings supporting their flight....they don't look stuffed do they? 
The image was just a chance shot as I wandered too close for comfort to the resting birds.....if you look back through the images you will no doubt spot the precise moment when the terns took off?
Kindest regards from East Lancashire.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

The image was just a chance shot
Kindest regards from East Lancashire.

You're a very modest man Mr Ranunculus....

[ruweiss]

Cliff, thank you so much for showing us such a beautiful part of the world; guaranted
free of alpine plants. Highlight for me is the Flying Display,every photographer dreams of
making such a picture.