BIRD SHADOWS
Hello, fellow #birdwatchers. This week's theme for the #SMaP Contest is shadows of birds. One would think with probably well over 1000 pictures of birds in my collection it would be easy to find a whole bunch of bird shadows, not so. It took me quite a while to find shadows of birds, I guess that when I photograph the birds, I am concentrating on the beauty of the bird, not the shadow.
It was wonderful to find this photo of the winter birds, notice how I make sure there's always enough seed out to keep them full when food is scarce in the snowy winter months.
The winters are long, snowy, and can get really, really cold here in the mountains of New York State. We saw temperatures drop last year to minus 11 degrees in late January. Fortunately, 
After hurricane Ian slammed the west coast of Florida, my heart broke for all the devastation that was left in its wake. Our favorite place is Sanibel Island, well, was Sanibel Island. We would love to go over the causeway and take in the beauty of the glistening water, find a spot to hang out for the day, then enjoy the sunset. The causeway is gone now, as is Fort Myers beach another fav of ours. So sad.
This guy left the perfect shadow last year as we enjoyed the Gulf of Mexico while sitting on the warm sand of the Island.
The birds are very friendly here and are not at all afraid of us humans as we enjoy their company.
A few years back we stopped in to see my sister who lives in Venice Florida, as we took a morning stroll, this long-necked egret tagged along and left a really funny shadow.
As we travel in winter, we enjoy both the west coast and the east coast. This flock of sea birds landed on the shore of Daytona beach which is on the east coast of Florida. A beautiful sight to see, they all left lots of shadows as they rested in the warm sunshine.
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Cheers and happy birding.
