With the heat nowadays, I find it best to get on the trail as early as possible....turns out 6:30 was not that early because the birds were already up. I didn't have any expectations and ended up being pleasantly surprised to see the Kites much closer to the path, in a live tree and in a group of 13.
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| Business as usual....preen, fluff and preen some more |
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| lots and lots of short, fluffy feathers....I could see them floating in the wind as they cleaned up |
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| After a while - I proceeded down the path to see who else was around....the Great Blue Heron had the pond to himself |
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| The Black-crowned Night Heron was hiding under dense vegetation in the shadows |
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| After a while, I returned to the Swallow-tailed Kites with the hopes of seeing them take off for the day |
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| slowly but surely, they started to leave the tree - |
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| some bumping into others in the process |
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| some just stretching their wings before take off |
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| The "king" sat in the foreground, watched and vocalized quite a bit |
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| fluffed and preened too |
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| I never get tired of watching them. |
You can never get tired. They have so many different looks. Love watching them fly
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