The parade of nature at the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge continues and on schedule the New England Tree Frogs (I think) have appeared. I ran into the fellow of Figure 1 on Monday morning, and he was scared enough of me to freeze riveted in place for a close-up with my cell phone.

There is something about frogs, something almost human. I suspect that it is related to their body shape and the seeming grins on their faces. This has, of course, had the unfortunate effect of making them victims of countless high school dissections. Usually they are not portrayed as evil. The biblical plague of Frogs may be a notable exception.

Frogs feature in Aristophanes’ play be the same name, where Dionysus is tormented by a chorus of frogs. Surprisingly, that is the only reference to frogs in the play.

As I contemplated this little froggy and he me, I was reminded of the puzzlement of the Fairy Queen in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, the fairy Iolanthe is banished by the Fairy Queen, because she committed the sin of marrying a mortal, from fairyland to a place of her choosing, she chooses to live beneath the stream with the frogs. Nobody knows why.

Fairy Queen: “…and the frogs! Ugh! I never shall enjoy any peace of mind until I know why Iolanthe went to live among the frogs.”

So delightful. But soon it is revealed that the reason is that Iolanthe wanted to live near her son, Strephon – the sacrifices mothers make. Strephon is half human half fairy and this leads to the great and marvelous chaos of the play. This centers around Strephon being sent by the Fairy Queen to Parliment where he magically passes legislature making the House of Lords merit-based. Imagine the implication of that to the American Congress in our times!

It was something to think about as I left the little smiling froggy alone, much to his relief, and of course, the words of the Dance of the Peers rang through my head as I resumed my walk down the path.

“Bow, bow, ye lower middle classes!
Bow, bow, ye tradesmen, bow, ye masses.“

There are so many lovely birds in Southwest Florida. Today I return to the shore birds and specifically to the ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres). The wikipedia defines the turnstone as a cosmopolitan bird. Photographing it with the skyscrapers of Fort Myers in the background makes you think cosmopolitan might refer to “near city,” but in fact, it means “widely distributed around the world.”

You are seeing lots of brownish birds along the Gulf Coast shore and some of the rangers and volunteers carry pamphlets showing size, leg size, beak length, and beak curve as a means of identification. I found the ruddy turnstone of Figure 1 amongst some mangrove debris from the recent hurricane at Lovers Key in Fort Myers, FL

My image today, Figure 1, is of a mating pair of blue-winged teals. Again this was captured at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. I thought that I would deviate from the usual male female, side-by-side, capture and show my pair with the female’s head under the water. These are quintessential dabbling ducks and this beneath the surface movement of head and bill as a means of searching for food is referred to as “dabbling.”

I find that there is something beautiful about ducks and I am always delighted to encounter a new, for me, species. The plumage of the blue-winged teal is particularly spectacular, and this pair, whose image did not really require “sharpening” was made to really “pop” by Topaz PhotoSharpen.

On the subject of pelicans we have the other common pelican species in Florida, the American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos). And OK the latin name might lead us to as, why not American Red-nosed Pelican? I photographed the one of Figure 1 also in the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. There is something truly magnificent and magical, even mystical about these birds. Part of it is that they remind us of pterosaurs, of something not quite of our time and place. For the human soul a sojourn by the sea or upon the beach is medicinal and rejuvenating. Finding the pelican, white or brown, there is a symbol an encounter of what is to come.

The brown pelican of yesterdays post was intentionally ethereal and ghostlike. So I thought today that I would post a more typical image of the Atlantic Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis). This bird is a giant despite being the smallest species of pelican. Mature individuals measure one to one and a half meters in length and have wingspans of two to two and a third meters. And in follow-up to yesterday’s poem, it is a misconception that pelicans store food in their gular pouches or sacs. They do not.

The pelicans, both West and East coast, are always fun to photograph, and I love it when they engage me with their eyes. I photographed this Atlantic brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis), complete with little Mohawk, at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, Florida. He was swimming in the shadows when he spotted me and started swimming towards me. I liked the eerie bluish shadows that the shade trees caused – very ghost-like and other worldly. Like the white, ibis whom I recently posted about, he clearly has his eye on me, in this case I think curious. But perhaps I feed my ego and he is merely indifferent.

A wonderful
bird is a pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican.
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week;
But I’m damned if I see how the helican.

Dixon Lanier Merritt

Another impressive bird of Southern Florida is the limpkin (Aramus guarauna). I encountered this one in Fort Myers at the Six Mile Cypress Slough. Now that I am returned to birding in the Northeast, I am even more impressed with the diversity and the density of Florida wildlife and this despite the very obvious decline of both. It is a very gnawing sadness.

“Try as she will, the trackless world delivers
No way, the wilderness of light no sign,
The immense and complex map of hills and rivers
Mocks her small wisdom with its vast design.”

A.D Hope Death of the Bird

In the wildlife refuges of Southwest Florida everyone is looking for the colorful Roseate Spoonbills (Platalea ajaja). It’s almost an obsession. They always seem to be either hidden behind trees or somehere off in the distance, as if they are challenging you to get a good photograph. I find them, as I think Figure 1 taken at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge indicates, kind of clumsy fliers – seen here crashing into the trees because of its huge wingspan.