My favourite American bird, the Grackle, is the cheeky chappie of urban environments as well as the countryside. I cannot definitively distinguish between the two species, Common & Boat-Tailed, but this one, captured strutting across a shopping-mall car park like a drum major, looks like a Florida variant of the Boat-Tailed Grackle with its very long tail and beak, and muddy coloured rather than bright yellow eyes. The sun really brings out the purple and blue-green tones in those feathers.


Lizards form a large part of the diet of herons and egrets and here´s another look at a Great Egret about to swallow an unfortunate lizard whole. It should probably digest the previous snack first which is still bulging in its snake-like throat, but greed looks to have overtaken common sense in this instance.
Below are a couple of shots of two similar dove species that frequent Florida gardens. The White-winged Dove is heavier than the slender Mourning Dove, so named because of its mournful sounding call, somewhat reminiscent of an owl.
The Blue Jay is a very colorful garden visitor that competes with squirrels for acorns. One reason for its success as a species must be its varied diet as it is truly omnivorous, liking insects as well as seeds and nuts. | The Anhinga swims with body submerged and such a long neck snaking up from the water looks like some mythological sea serpent. |