Great horned owl perches atop a power pole overlooking Terra Ceia Bay.
Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com
This evening I took a drive on Terra Ceia Island in Palmetto, just to see what I could see. It is still very much Old Florida. On one quiet road I spotted this owl sitting atop a pole above the mangroves. The light was not good for taking photos and the owl was quite high up on the pole, so I had to use my digital zoom to get this shot. The quality is poor, but you can see what a large and beautiful bird this owl is. You can also see where it got its name “great horned owl.”
Fifteen minutes later I spotted an odd-looking duck sitting on a power line across the street from the Madeira Bickel mound. I immediately suspected it might be a whistling duck. So I turned the car into the Bickel mound parking lot and managed to snap the photo below.
Black-bellied whistling duck perched on a power line in the dark.
I had never seen or even heard of such a thing as a whistling duck, which is odd because I know my Florida birds quite well. I first heard of this duck when Melbourne-area photographer Jim Angy was showing me some of the photos he took at Viera Wetlands in Brevard County. Jim had taken an awesome photo of a black-bellied whistling duck. It stuck in my mind, so I recognized this sleek, erect duck with long legs and a long neck.
