Mike in the Wild

I looked up in the sky and saw a bright, white silhouette, gleaming far away in the late afternoon sunlight.  My first thought was of a balloon, perhaps of the Sino spy variety.  However what were the odds another one would float over the United States so soon and so brazenly?  And the shape was all wrong, pointed and oblong.  Still it lumbered slowly, steadily like a glider, mechanically looping over a small area to the south of my Biltmore community.   Of course I soon recognized it as a bird.   My zoom lens conveniently handy, I snapped a couple of shots to definitively identify it.  Red-tailed hawks frequently soar overhead, riding the thermals in wide arcs as they focus on prey hundreds of feet below on the local golf course.  White egrets and great blue herons occasionally traverse the neighborhood skies on their peregrinations along the local canal and between several manmade lakes.  However this bird was none of those: ...

Hummingbirds are renowned for their remarkable ability to hover in midair.  They use their exceptionally fast-beating wings to remain in place as they sip nectar from a flower or sugar water from a feeder.  The only other bird I've seen share this skill is the kingfisher as it hunts for fish over a body of water.  However on a recent visit to Papago Park, an osprey appeared just as equally accomplished in its gravity-defying abilities. It was a windy day, which is not always a terrific time to watch birds.  Their aerodynamic abilities seem pushed to their limits as the creatures struggle against headwinds and gusts.  Nonetheless on the morning at Papago Park, I observed several migratory birds including ring-necked ducks, American wigeons, lesser scaups, and northern shovelers navigating the three lakes without any problems.  Meanwhile, at least two yellow-rumped warblers, other winter visitors, flitted just fine through the rustling leaves of trees. Howeve...