Author: cmdnaturephotos

The new picnic tables by the gazebo at the lake are grey in color, and the ones at Skinny Dipping Point are more of a brownish-tan. They look very nice. They are chained in place, but they can be swiveled around the chains to change their direction. You can click on the photos to see them full-size.

Speaking of Skinny Dipping Point, the maintenance crew is busy moving the wood away from the old tree stump back there to the new fire pit site. Everyone needs to be aware of the Burn Ban in Highlands County. So, even when the new fire pit is completed, burning will not be permitted until at least after July 3rd. You can click on this link if you’d like more information about this ban. There is also information available about wildfires state-wide at this link.

For all of you who follow the Bald Eagles on the county property near us here in Camp Florida, I’ve got some rather sad news to share.

The smallest of the two eaglets was found on the ground by a county worker on Monday. He notified the Audubon Rehab Center in Maitland, and they came to get the bird. It is currently at the rehab center, suffering with parasites and anemia. A team came today to check the nest to see if it would be safe to re-nest the eaglet here. Unfortunately, they determined that the other eaglet is too large and already branching, getting close to fledging, and it would not be safe to bring the baby back. They are currently looking for a nest with one or two eaglets that are 6-7 weeks old where they may be able to re-nest our little one. The problem is, our eagles were pretty far behind other clutches. Many eaglets have already fledged, but there is hope that someone, one of the EagleWatch volunteers who monitor nests in South Florida, will be able to provide some hope. If they can’t find a suitable nest, they will keep our eaglet until it is ready to fly, so it will be well taken care of no matter what.

The bottom line is…our eaglet will not be coming home. The good news is that our remaining eaglet is doing well. We will keep a close watch on it and alert Audubon if there is any indication of illness. I think I said earlier that I would only think of giving the new male a name if these two eaglets fledged successfully. Well, right now I think he will just remain “intruder.”

But, if you love the Great Horned Owls, here are some photos of the owlets and the male and female adults.

Evenings down by Grassy Lake can be very interesting and exciting. Monday was one such evening!

Of course, there were birds…

It’s a plane… The two small planes were refueling the large plane. Look closely and you can see the boom (if that is the correct term) hanging from the wing of the large plane.

It’s a rocket! A crowd gathered for the SpaceX launch, and it was visible for a while. Then it disappeared and left beautiful contrails in the evening sky.