I had read in the papers that they occasionally, rarely, will eat a turtle. But in my month with Snail Kites, I’d never seen it for myself. Snail Kites got their name because they are highly specialized to eat one thing, apple snails. Look at those long and curved talons and that bill, they are meant for plucking the snail right out of its shell. When this female popped out of the water with this turtle, I couldn’t tell it was a turtle. It wasn’t until we got closer and it had already eaten some of it that I could see the shell and that one, lone leg. It seemed to have no issue plucking the turtle out of its shell, it dispatched it pretty darn fast. The most interesting thing is, we saw a little time later a male Snail Kite with its own baby turtle. They didn’t seem to have a chance with this superior, specialized hunter, they need more than a leg up.

Down in Florida, working with a favorite bird from an airboat is big time fun! One of the side perks is all the kingfishers about. The downside, them little suckers just don’t sit still! It takes all the horsepower I have to get any type of image size. Even then, there has to be something to keep their mind off the boat, a catch is one of them. Saw this male kingfisher catch this little bass and fly to a perch to eat it. We slid towards it slowly. It still took off to land where you see it. The bass was still wiggling like crazy to get loose. That was the distraction we needed as we slid up again on it. The Kingfisher needed to secure the bass before flying again. That slight moment you see above, because as soon as it was caught, off it flew. I was grateful for that alley-oop!

The soft, saturated morning light was simply luscious! As I took it all in, this Roseatte Spoonbill from a nearby nest at Orlando Wetlands landed. Swung the lens around and as it settled in, I cranked off the shots. I knew that the soft, pastel color against the spring greens and the wing outstretched would grab one’s attention. I instantly sent the photo via Snapbridge to the fam as they all understand the symbolism of those wide spread wings. But what about the rest of the world? It goes with the theme of my podcast yesterday. There is no title to label the photo, no caption needed to explain a hidden element. It stands on its own two feet, and killer pink. And the stick in the background? Yeah, I would have loved it if it wasn’t there, but if the gesture and spirit of the Spoonbill is working its magic like I feel it is, it doesn’t really matter. The only element that mattered was that the fam understood, this much!