Regular readers of my blog may remember a family of Burrowing Owls that I followed over several years.  They didn’t have much luck the last year or two, and the last time I saw them, they seemed to be getting a little too much love from the local bird paparazzi.  I set out this morning to check on them, and not surprisingly, I didn’t find them.  But it was a nice, breezy morning to get out into the backroads and scout for meadow-lands subjects.  Which I found…

Yep, it’s farmland out there.  You get lots of opportunities to photograph birds sitting on sprinkler heads.  I wonder if they are Rain Bird heads?

A Bobwhite called in the distance and several Eastern Meadowlarks flitted about.  The Common Nighthawks are back, and I heard them calling periodically in the distance.  Sometimes you get lucky and find one sitting on a fencepost.

My next bird was a Loggerhead Shrike.  He seemed a little dubious about the car that pulled up and the camera that pointed in his direction.  I asked him to find a more photogenic perch.  In response he flew to the top of a faraway tree!

There are orange groves out in this neck of the woods, and as I passed them, I heard the song of an Eastern Towhee.  I found him sitting at the top of an orange tree, singing his heart out.  Eastern Towhees are common in Florida but I don’t get many chances to photograph them, especially singing.

I missed photographing the bright breeding colors of our Cattle Egrets this spring.  A flock of 50-60 egrets was strolling through a grassy meadow searching for bugs.  They were past their breeding prime but still pretty.  I love watching them stalk for breakfast.

As I left I spotted this Red-bellied Woodpecker on a fencepost.  He posed nicely and then I spotted the nest hole in the fencepost.  I bet he was heading home to check on his young ones!