Raptors Observed While Exploring SW Florida Preserves

While exploring six SW Florida preserved areas, the osprey, forest hawks, eagles, vultures, and owls were readily observed.

The featured image is a vulture. Bcause of its scavenging behavior most people don’t think of it as a raptor. I saw this one in full pursuit flight along the shoreline hummock of the Delnor Wiggins-pass park.

Most birds are generally carnivores. They prey on animals. As insectivores they feed on soft, small insects in their various developmental stages. Some feed on small non insect animals. Raptors however are exceptional, carnivorous predatory, hunters. Their target prey are other vertebrates. Powerful, skillful, and relentlessly hunting, they are specifically designed for their task. All raptors have hooked beaks, sharp talons, large acutely sensitive eyes and bodies aerodynamically designed for power and speed. Some specialize in aquatic species such as fish and others can feed on other birds and mammals which can be equal or greater than their size and weight. 

EAGLES:

This mated pair of eagles were attending to their two chicks high in a slash pine nest. in the CREW preserve near the northern entrance

They are highly regarded by many people as exemplified by the US and Florida whose legislatures selected the Eagle as their State bird; athletic teams such as the falcons, eagles; hawks military equipment such as eagles, osprey, hawks, raptors.

HAWK:

This hawk was readily available and posed perfectly perched on the branch. Its nest was high in a Cyprus tree about 150 meters away from my location. It is predictably found in the same area of corkscrew swamp in the spring. It hunts readily flying through the forested area where it is difficult to follow with a camera and difficult to separate from the foliage.

Owl:

These two owls were such a surprise to find. The Great Horned owl was perched in a tree in the twilight and difficult to see however as it called out I wandered through the brush until I spotted it. it was quite dark. With auto focusing on the camera and photoshop used to brighten the exposure you can see what I found.

The screech owl was sitting in a bird box someone had thoughtfully placed along a trail. It was in full daylight that I saw its head in the opening of the shelter. As I moved side to side it watched me despite its nearly closes eyes.

These birds are always on the hunt for anything edible. They are opportunistic feeders on small animals and roadkill.

OSPREY:

One of my favorite birds, the osprey is endlessly fascinating to watch. This nest was in a high tree adjacent to the stream on the southern edge of the Estero Bay State Preserve. It was the only bird which I saw during the hours spent in the southern end of the preserve. It was working the river for fish. After it catches its prey, it sits in a tree with the catch pinned under one foot and munches through its meal

The raptors were the most constant species of birds found in all the sites.  Perhaps this is because they are large, have a wide range territory for hunting, and were seasonally present during daylight hours. Regardless of these parameters they were thrilling to see. One could spend hours simply watching and studying their behavior. They inspire streams of contrary images; graceful but powerful, swift but accurate, savage but caring, camouflaged but beautiful, rapacious but selective. Hopefully we will capture videos of each of the species and present them later. We will spend more time on these birds in later posts.

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#eagle #owl #hawk #osprey # raptor