January birds

One month. Many birds.

Below are some - not all, but a good sampling - of the many birds I've enjoyed photographing during the month of January 2018.  Most were taken at our home in Groveland but I've included a few shots from New Smyrna Beach.  Usually we split our time equally during the two locations but this January, circumstances and weather kept us away from the beach much more than usual.

Red-bellied woodpecker on crepe myrtle tree

Killdeer on the ground where it blend in so well with the leaves and dirt 

This pair of pied-billed grebes have been regulars on Hour Lake since November

I still don't know what this red-shouldered hawk has in its talon
Maybe you have an idea?

I photographed these cardinals while rowing close to the southern
shoreline of Hour Lake.  They always come out to watch me when
I row by just to be sure I don't get any funny ideas about
who the property really belongs to

Phoebe on fenceline

American kestrel perched upon an old spigot in an abandoned
orange grove I spotted while driving down back roads in Groveland

Lesser blue heron perched awkwardly upon one of our mid-lake platforms

A pair of sandhill cranes doing their sandhill crane dance
It's been a joy watching them this month when they stopped by to
check out the many feeding stations in our yard

Yellow bird on a branch
What kind of yellow bird is it??

American bluebird - male with his bright colors posing prettily
on a bamboo pole

Sandhill crane, captured in the canes

Robin redbreast doing what robin redbreasts do best during their
Florida stopover - eating berries.
In this case, the robin is about to munch on Brazilian Pepper berries,
an invasive non-native plant spread, in large part, by birds that munch on its berries.