Coyotes on the beach

As I was leaving St. George Island I saw two mature eagles diving in an aggressive manner. I thought I might be able to get some decent pictures even though it was foggy and cloudy. When I got the window down and my camera out of the truck I saw what they were harassing.

Here's what I saw through a 400MM lens. 

 

At this range and low light level, I couldn't be certain if the was coyote or coydog. After some serious cropping and brightening, here's what the eagles were chasing.

It's a fine, obviously well fed, black coyote! I don't know if it walked across the bridge (6 miles) or swam over, but it appears to have adapted well.

Tarpon time in the rivers

We've had a strong invasion of tarpon in the last 3 weeks and fishing will only improve since the cool fronts are most likely history. There are a lot of fish on the beaches and in some of the rivers. If you haven't booked your days yet, give me a call or email me so we can get your days on the books.

 I spend a lot of time looking for tarpon, when I'm not fishing for them. One of the nice things about cruising rivers and creeks are all the great flowers we see!

Spider lilies

String lilies

Dog roses

 

Water lilies

Button bush

Obedient plant

 And of course the magnolias!!

This is a great time of the year to be in the Panhandle. If you want to catch a tarpon or take pictures of our plentiful wild life, we can accommodate you.

Eagles, owls, herons and tarpon.

I pulled into the Old Ferry Dock Landing earlier this week and looked up and saw a crow in hot pursuit of a mature eagle. Fortunately my camera was next me because they were closing very fast.

I got another shot as the eagle went into a dive to pick up speed and get the crow off his tail.

This was a successful maneuver and the eagle cut into the trees, unfortunately blocking any additional pictures.

The great horned owlets that I've been following have apparently left the nest, as I haven't seen them in the past week. Here are a few of the last pictures that I took.

 

The St. George Island great blue heron's eggs have hatched and the nest has two very active hatchlings.

Fishing has been excellent for both trout and reds, plus tarpon are beginning to show up. I've had a couple of inquiries about doing photo trips or a split photo/fishing trip and may be putting together something along those lines. Let me know if you're interested. 

Spring has sprung and things are getting busy!

All the citrus trees are loaded with fruit, as this orange shows with last year's fruit and the start of this year's crop.

Click on the picture and watch the little owl's eyes on the snake! (These pictures were shot at 8 frames per second, so this happened in about a half of a second)

I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to get one the mature great horned owls bringing a tasty snake offering to the the two nestling owls. Actually at this stage they are now "branchlings". The term used to denote that the young owls are venturing out on the surrounding tree branches, but are not flying yet(fledglings).

Here's a shot of each of them on their branches today.

Still have ospreys and herons on nests, but it's fishing time so I can't check them as regularly as I'd like. Between the trout, which have really turned on in the past 10 days, spanish mackerel which are all over the bay and the bream which are destroying fly rod poppers...it time to go to work. If you haven't booked your tarpon days get with me. It looks like they may start early!

First flight

Went by the nest in yesterdays post, that the fledgling was getting the encouragement from the adult.

Above the nest the young eagle was still getting some encouragement!

Flying at last

Of the 4 eagle nests the I've been watching, 2 have flying fledglings and 2 do not. One non-flying fledgling has been working hard at strengthening their wings, under Mom's watchful eye, as these pictures show.

While the other fledgling requires a little inspiration from Mom.

Slow day!

I made a couple of trips by the Apalach nest, but the fledgling was hanging in the back of the nest. That area is very difficult to get a good picture due to the limbs and twigs.

I decided to head to another area that I'd seen mature birds cruising about. I went less than a mile into the woods before i saw the nest.

I circled around and a "large" chick stuck his head up.

After a loop through the woods to get a different angle, "Mom" showed up. This nest is not situated so that I can get in as close, but it gives me another opportunity for pictures.

Stay tuned ..................