Drama at the Rookery

When you are near lakes, rivers and bays, you usually see many birds. That was the case when I recently visited the Venice Rookery located near Venice Florida. This is a noisy place, squawks and shrieks are everywhere and if you look closely, you can see drama at the rookery. 

This appears to be an egret carefully doing some housekeeping, however this is far from what's actually happening. This egret has broken into her next door neighbor's home (nest) and is looking to rob the home of valuable furniture (sticks). I think us humans would call this breaking and entering, and thievery. I wondered what will happen when the great blue heron comes back from a day of fishing? 

  

It didn't take long for the homeowner to arrive on the scene. The great blue heron was petty angry to find the egret in her nest. A chase ensued and the egret was flogged back to its nest. 

 

Finally everything is back to normal in the neighborhood, but I don't think these two will be neighborly friends. 

 I was able to capture a nice photo of this ibis flying over the rookery. Checkout its curved beak, the perfect tool for catching its prey.  

 

The Venice Rookery is an island in the middle of a pond. This picture gives you an idea of the size and numerous nests on the island.

 

These two egrets are headed out to fish. They will be gone a few hours and will return to feed their chicks. Their mate remained on the nest until they arrive, once back the mate leaves to go fish as the drama at the rookery continues.

 

Interestingly, my daughter is a college student at Sewanee and is taking an ornithology class. She's majoring in biology and has been memorizing 20 birds a week (Bird name, calls, Latin name, etc..)

Now, when we are outdoors with her, she comments on every bird sighting and sound. I wonder where she got her love of birds? 

 

 

Remember, Life is short, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream!

Spring Fawn

Spring has definitely sprung! My wife looked out our bedroom window and spotted these deer. I was lucky to get a few photos of this mother deer and her two off-spring. Both fawns were bedded down and one was still asleep, while the other was being cleaned by its mother deer.

Looks like both fawns are now awake. I was able to take about a dozen photos without them discovering me because I was using my long range lens. Oh yeah, I was taking the pictures from inside the house. Our home is western cedar and I think the animals think it's a tree, I am able to take alot of good animal photos.

 

Look at how comfortable these two are, not a care in the world, however Mom's starting to move on. Nap time is over!

 

Must be time to roam. If you look closely, the fawn on the left is still a bit sleepy.

 

What's in your woods, river, lake or bay! Adventure Outdoors!

Can you feel the warmth?

I just finished a large print of beautiful Norfork Lake, which is located in Arkansas on the North Fork River.

I always add waterfowl flying over the map with shadows, this makes them appear 3-D. Also, on canvas printed maps, I repaint the waterfowl and others areas to make them pop out of the map.

Normally, I add a vintage plane flying over and if you look closely, you may see a mermaid or fish in the waters.

Here's the end result. This is the traditional style map and I also do a more creative style. It's difficult to show the detail and color on the internet. I try to have the golden colors come through like a crackling fire. Can you feel the warmth? See more at www.LeoLakes.com

Wise Old Owl

The other evening my wife came in from shopping and said an owl was up the street perched on a line. I can't pass up a picture of wildlife so, I grabbed the camera and off we went. The big question is if I will make it before he flies off. Luckily, he was still there. I was hoping it was a great horned owl because I only have a few photo's of these owls. When we arrived, I could see it was a barred owl, which are very common in this area.  

Darkness was settling in, but I was able to use a flash. The picture turned out nice and I like the color of the sky. This barred owl was perched ready to pounce on any rodent that rustled by.

This photo is kind of eerie because of the red eyes from the camera flash. As you can see, Mr. Owl is looking straight at me. I wondered what he is thinking? Probably, "Will you leave me alone, I'm working here." Anyway, Mr. Owl did fly off just after this picture was taken.  Not a bad meeting with the wise old owl, but I don't think he liked me.

Bad Fish

When the boat starts filling with water, most fishermen think that they forgot to put the plug in before they left the dock. Well that may not be the real story when fish go bad!

I hope you enjoyed my little cartoon, but remember, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream!

St George Island and Apalachicola Bay Decor Maps

I’ve painted a new map for my collection of decor maps, St George Island and Apalachicola Bay. This beautiful area is located on the panhandle of Florida. Apalachicola Bay is known for its oysters and its name comes from the Indians that once lived in the area. St George Island is a small peaceful and relaxing island with many beautiful beach homes. 

I like to hide a few things in the waters of my maps. If you look very closely you may find a mermaid, fish, dolphins and maybe a shark swimming around. 

Here’s a great bay poem for Apalachicola Bay.

“As I wake each day and look through the sun’s rays, the most amazing scenes appear in this bay, as the sun arises just above the shore, I feel the grace and beauty of this place that I adore.” LKO 2011

If you like my Decor Maps, see more at www.leolakes.com.

"Get away from the big screen and get on a big stream."

The best bay fisherman!

While in Florida, I took a great photo of a fisherman high in a tree. Well, not a fisherman that you may be thinking about, but an osprey, which is known as the fish hawk. You can often see osprey's flying over bays looking for fish to catch.

I spotted this osprey near where we were staying and used my 300mm lens to get a good photo. As you can see, the osprey has caught something and is having lunch.

Looks like he/she has caught a sheepshead fish. Interestingly the sheepshead is often called the convict fish because of the black and white strips on its sides. This convict didn't escape the sharp talons of this osprey. Everyday this bird would catch a fish and have lunch on the same tree. It was always a sheepshead, I wondered why?  Did this bird prefer sheepshead or was it because they were easy to catch. I don't know, but they are good tasting fish.

Check out these talons. They look just like hooks and there's four on each leg. These are better than a Alabama fishing rig.

What does this osprey do at night? It roosts in the same tree that it has lunch in. Well, this one did anyway. I hope you have enjoyed these beautiful birds. 

Get away from the big screen and get on a big stream! Hey, checkout my bay decor maps at  www.leolakes.com makes a great gift.

 

Florida Bay Fishing

 Over spring break I was able to get away from the big screen and get out on a big stream! Here's a picture of beautiful Lemon Bay Florida. Interestingly while fishing, we were checked by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Enforcement personnel. Earlier, I had purchased my 3 day saltwater fishing licenses which came in handy during this check. All went well, and I got to ask the game warden a few questions. I asked, how many folks that you check, don't have their fishing licenses? I was surprised by the answer! The warden said 50% do not have licenses. Now that seems very high to me, but I suppose there's a lot of out of state folks that just start fishing in hopes they don't get caught. Anyway the warden said the fine for not having them was over a 100 bucks.   

During the boat ride we came across five dolphins in the bay. It appeared they were chasing bait fish. This was a good sign because the red tide had been present a few weeks earlier and killed a lot of fish.

We fished around bridge piers and boat docks in hopes of catching sleep head. Our bait was live shrimp which we had purchased earlier, 3 dozen for $12.00.

Here's the result of about four hours of fishing. We actual caught 8-10 fish, but only 4 were keepers.

Yum, sleep head is a great tasting fish.

Pop has an audience while cleaning fish. The neighborhood Pelicans, Herons, and Egrets are always ready for a handout.

Not a bad day fishing! Life is short, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream! Hey, need a great gift for the bay lover, checkout my bay map art at www.leolakes.com

Thanks

 

Shark?

Just got back from spring break to Florida. While walking on the beach near Lemon Bay Florida, I took a photo of this fisherman catching a fish in the Gulf of Mexico.

On the gulf side of the bay lots of folks swim and a few fish. What kind of fish is on the other end of the line?

Hmmm...A black tip shark. I looked up the black tip to see what I could learn. They grow to about 9ft long and are common in the gulf. Interestingly, 16% of all shark bites are by the black tip, but there has been only one death. Still, I'm glad I wasn't swimming in the gulf today.

Looks like the shark is about two & half feet long.

If you look carefully, I think the black tip is smiling! Later I will post the fish that we caught while on spring break.

"Life is short, get away from the big screen and get on a big stream."

Lake Paintings

I just completed two new custom lakes, Cheat Lake and Madison Lake. These lake paintings are printed on 16x32 canvas. On this size canvas print, I actually hand paint/touch-up the waterfowl and other areas after printing. This really makes the print pop when hanging on the wall. The prints shown here are before touch-up.  

 

Cheat Lake is located on the states line between Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The lake is 13 miles long and 1,730 acre. The major tributary is the Cheat River. A good bass and walleye lake.

This painting of Madison Lake includes Herman, Long, Round and Brant Lakes. Madison Lake is located in South Dakota. Madison Lake is a beautiful lake and is great for fishing. See more at www.LeoLakes.com

Lake Lovers Poem
"I Love this lake, The most amazing scenes appear in its wake, The sun arises just above the shore, Giving grace and beauty to this place I adore." LKO

A March Dusting

This year’s winter in Nashville has not been much of a winter as far as snow fall. So far we have only received 1” of snow and last year we received only 0.4”. On average we normally get 8-11 inches a year. Sunday we woke to a dusting and I decided to get the camera out and take a few shots in the 10 acre woods.

 

I found this tree while wandering around the woods. Who lives here? Looks like the tree is hollow and some animal has set home with the welcome mat being the leaves.

About 3 feet above the active hole was a woodpecker hole. I bet this woodpecker thought the tree was hollow at this level, but found out he had mis-calculated. No bugs today!

After a closer inspection..........

I discovered a nut had been stuffed into the hole, a well polished acorn nut. Looks like the squirrels are doing well this year.

I ended the walk at a red cedar tree! Not a bad ending to a March dusting. 

What's in your woods? Adventure outdoors!