As blue hour transitions to sunrise, looking east over the Atlantic Ocean.
City of St. Augustine Beach, Florida, USA.
13 September 2026 (7:10 am EDT).
John Coltrane: Naima
A red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) perched in a tree: a wonderful find for a winter's Sunday stroll.
When I first noticed this handsome fellow, he was sitting in a marsh, far from my position and partially hidden from sight. I found a fallen bough to sit on and waited, hoping he might move closer for a 'cleaner' shot. Forty-five minutes later, he obliged.
And, for a moment, I felt like a 'birder.'
Decatur Legacy Park
City of Decatur, Georgia, USA.
11 January 2026.
Barry Harris: Ornithology
Album: Breakin' It Up (Label: Argo, 1959)
"Chiefly nocturnal, a barred owl does not generally tolerate close approach." Yet there he was, in late afternoon, perched only a few meters in front of us.
Seminary Wood in Decatur Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA, 24 September 2025.
The barred owl (Strix varia) is a chunky owl with dark eyes, dark barring on its upper breast, and dark streaking below. It is a common resident in dense coniferous or mixed woods of river bottoms or swamps, and upland woods. Its distinctive call is a rhythmic series of loud hoots: 'who-cooks-for-you, who-cooks-for-you-all.'— National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern North America.
Gonzalo Rubalcaba: A Quiet Place
Album: Skyline (Label: 5 Passion, 2021)
Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).
Gulls fly by, as a waxing gibbous moon, 89% illuminated, rises over an Atlantic Ocean beach at sundown
City of St. Augustine Beach, Florida, USA. 4 September 2025 (7:47 p.m. EDT).
Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage
Album: Maiden Voyage (Label: Blue Note, 1965)
Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).
Perched only a few yards from a boardwalk over a wetland, a red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) was warily observing me from over its shoulder...but obligingly remained posed for the camera.
South Peachtree Creek PATH in Mason Mill Park: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 16 August 2025.
Danny Gatton: Sky King
Album: Cruisin' Deuces (Label: Elektra, 1993)
A mallard hen (Anas platyrhynchos) was swimming in a bog, right in front of me, just below the camera's angle. She noticed me and, not pleased, let out a stream of loud, agitated quacks. Her six ducklings, alerted to danger, quickly scattered for safety. I couldn't help but apologize to them all as I exited...but not before capturing a photo!
Frog Bog in Legacy Park: City of Decatur, Georgia, USA. 24 April 2025.
A peripatetic ruby-crowned kinglet (Corthylio calendula) momentarily stops to sing in a forsythia bush, its red crown shining in winter morning light.
Ruby-crowned kinglets typically inhabit northern North America. I spotted this male, however, much farther south (in DeKalb County, Georgia, USA), where it was probably preparing for its imminent migration back north.
26 February 2025.
A pair of turkey vultures scope the carrion scene, atop a pine tree near the summit of Arabia Mountain.
The turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), also known as buzzard or turkey buzzard, is the most widespread of the New World vultures, ranging from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of South America. It inhabits a variety of open and semi-open areas, including subtropical forests, shrublands, pastures, and deserts. A large bird, the turkey vulture has a wingspan of 63-72 inches (160–183 cm) and a length of 24-32 inches (62–81 cm). The body feathers are mostly brownish-black, but the flight feathers on the wings appear to be silvery-gray beneath, contrasting with the darker wing linings. The adult's head is small in proportion to its body and is red in color with few to no feathers. It also has a relatively short, hooked, ivory-colored beak. The turkey vulture is a scavenger and feeds almost exclusively on carrion. It has very few natural predators.— Wikipedia.
To the north [of Fort Mosé], there is a rookery, a nesting colony of gregarious birds, such as wood storks, egrets, and herons. These birds showcase their breeding plumage from mid-March through July. One of the largest birds to nest in this area is the wood stork [a large American wading bird]. This area is ideal for nesting because the changing water level reveals higher concentrations of fish during lower tides. Females lay two to five eggs, which both parents incubate for about one month. A pair of nesting wood storks and their young need approximately 443 pounds of fish during the breeding season to survive.— Fort Mosé placard
In the 1930s, there were an estimated 20,000 breeding pairs of wood storks [in Florida]; today, the population is approximately 8,000. The numbers have declined drastically, mainly from loss of feeding grounds due to land development, logging, and draining.
Fort Mose Historic State Park is a former Spanish fort in St. Augustine, Florida. In 1738, the governor of Spanish Florida, Manuel de Montiano, had the fort established as a free black settlement, the first to be legally sanctioned in what would become the territory of the United States.— Wikipedia.
The park is located on the edge of a salt marsh on the western side of the waterway separating the mainland from the coastal barrier islands. The original site of the 18th-century fort was uncovered in a 1986 archeological dig. The 24-acre (9.7 ha) site is now protected as a Florida State Park.It was designated a US National Historic Landmark on October 12, 1994.
The American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) is a large species of flamingo closely related to the greater flamingo and Chilean flamingo, native to the Neotropics. It is also known as the Caribbean flamingo, although it is also present in the Galápagos Islands. It is the only flamingo that naturally inhabits North America (Florida and the Florida Keys).— Wikipedia
The brown thrasher is a large bird (almost a foot in length) with a long, curved bill and a very long tail. It has two prominent white wing bars, a rich brown color on its top side, and a creamy white breast heavily streaked with brown. ¶ In 1935, Eugene Talmadge, then governor of the state of Georgia, proclaimed the brown thrasher as the state bird, but it would not be until 1970 that the Georgia legislature would officially designate it as such.— State Symbols USA.
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