An abundance of color!

Of the various Florida wading birds we see each Winter, the most colorful by far, is the  Roseate Spoonbill Crane. They get their name from their pale coral pink to bright magenta plumage and the spoon or spatulate bill.

This bird's usual haunt is the Caribbean, South America, Mexico and the Gulf Coast. We usually see one or two Spoonbills an entire Winter.  This year, we are seeing an abundance of the Spoonbills. I have seen a grouping of eighteen on several occasions.

Of course, this gregarious animal is a favorite of photographers. Here are my 12 "best" images of this Winter's  PGA National, Palm Beach Garden's visiting Spoonbills.

 The Spoonbills, often in groups, feed on aquatic insects, newts and very small fish.  With our record breaking drought over, there are more wading areas for the Spoonbills and other birds to find food.

March - June is the typical mating season for Spoonbills, here in early January, a Spoonbill is taking materials to build a nest.

                The golden buff is the Spoonbill's breading plumage.

 A typical wading area where the birds find food.

Sunset and a landing Spoonbill.

jpk 1/17/2012

Climbing to the top, another Florida adventure!

Lured into the promise of witnessing a beautiful sunset into the West, plus seeing a full moon rise over the Atlantic, and, in addition seeing the historic Jupiter light turned on, Connie and I signed up for a Sunset Tour of the 157 year old, and still operating, Jupiter Lighthouse.

There was also the promise of being able to climb over 130+ steps, 105 of them narrow, winding and twisting, to the top.  For us, just an enjoyable pre dinner workout. We could forget about the glass of wine for one evening!

In 1853, the US government set aside $ 35,000 to build this brick light house at the point Florida's Loxahatchee and Indian Rivers meet. The Indian River is also know, in part, as the Intracoastal Waterway. Loxahatchee in Seminole Indian language means, River of  Turtles.

The Jupiter Lighthouse and its surroundings have played parts in the Third Seminole Indian War, the US Civil War and WWII.

The landmark site was fully restored in 1999-2000 for  $ 850,000. In 2009, Congress set aside  $1.1 million of the "stimulus package" for the lighthouse and its natural habitat.

Come along with us!    Click on any of the photos and they will appear larger.

A few moments at the museum sets the mood for this historic adventure and evening.

Our tour started at this Banyan Tree planted in the early 1930's.

The first 30+ steps only gets you to the base of the lighthouse.

Guess who has his camera, Connie has hers as well.

This is how you get to the top, first of 105 steps.

See the top, that is where we are going!

We make it to the wind swept top!

Jupiter Inlet, the Intracoastal and the Loxahatchee River !

Looking West, clouds obscure the promised sunset!

Without a lot of room, some prefer their backs to the wall and not to look straight down. 

While others!!!!

And, we find clouds to the East, too!

A bad hair day !

The prism lens of the Jupiter light, which is about to come on.

First electrified in 1928, the light comes on!

The beacon, a sight to mariners, air craft and land lovers shines brightly another night.  

The four lit prism lens are terrific photography subjects. 

 There are many artistic designs in the prism lens.

 And. more............

 Its time to go, 105 steps to the door.

Last one out, shuts the door!  But do not turn off the light!

 The end to a fun evening..............

photos by CKK & JPK,   12/9/2011

A photo safari!!!

As readers of this blog know, so much of what you see has to do with our hobbies of art/painting and photography.  It has been a dream to go to a distant land and take photos of animals in the wild. Well, yesterday we got our chance to take a trip and photograph wild animals in a natural habitat.

Combined, we took over 800 images.  Here is just a small sample.

That is all for now.  Hope you enjoyed out trip to Lion Country Safari, west of West Palm Beach.

more later!