SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR 02/08/10 @ 4:14 a.m.

This is what you get to do at 4:14 a.m. when you are

lucky enough to be retired and live in Florida!

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Forget being in Miami for the Super Bowl!

This was a much better show!

Separation of the solid rocket boosters.

All this under a beautiful crescent moon.

This is what Endeavour looked like before blast-off.

(While I would love credit for this photo, credit goes to NASA)

MOCKINGBIRDS

I was certainly no match for this mother mockingbird trying to protect her baby. I was innocently taking photos of the baby when she let me know that was unacceptable. Not wanting to be beaten up by a mockingbird, I left them both alone!

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

WHAT A FACE! He was so cute!
 

She was relentless!



And, he was just hungry!



She stalked me even after I agreed to leave him alone!

WOLF MOON

Tonight's full moon, known as the wolf moon, is the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. It offers anyone with clear skies an opportunity to identify easy-to-see features on the moon. The name dates back to Native American culture and the notion that hungry wolves howled at the full moon on cold winter nights.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

CORKSCREW SWAMP

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

It was a beautiful day to visit Corkscrew Swamp.

It is hard to see, but this tree has a rare ghost orchid

in it. In June, July and August the ghost orchid

will bloom. You can see the roots in the middle

stalk of the tree, right above where

the three branches meet.

There were LOTS of woodpeckers at Corkscrew today.

A red-bellied woodpecker.

A downy woodpecker.

Red-shouldered hawks were plentiful also.

Apparently, it was mating season.

(Sorry for the hawk porn!)

I am not sure what this little bird is.

Great egret.

2 anhingas and an egret

An osprey.

Not sure what this is either.

This is a female painted bunting. She is not

in a cage; she is in a feeder she can get out of.

Someone told me this was a "cow bird". But, I

think they made that up.

An ibis

This was a nice sighting - a pine warbler.

Buzzards (or vultures).

An anhinga.

Black-crowned night heron.

Little blue heron.

Pine warbler.

There are pretty swamp flowers and berries all over Corkscrew.

South Florida's fall colors.