Horses in the Snow

Many young kids dream of owning a horse but I wasn't in that camp.  I preferred running through the woods and playing basketball with the boys than riding horses.  We had a horse named Strawberry and though she was kind, she didn't feel like mine.  My father would have us train her and it felt more like work than fun.  

Even though I never really liked horses I did come to learn to appreciate them for their intelligence, their sheer size, and their good looks.  Last week I waxed poetic about cows and even though horses don't quite create the same feelings in my heart, I still think they are beautiful.  

I was especially fond of these horses as they rolled in the snow and galloped around like it was summer.  This day was particularly cold but they didn't seem to mind it one bit.  These horses were big and well fed.  They seemed to like the company as I sat idling in my car snapping photos.  But I didn't come out in the freezing temperatures to look at horses so I said my goodbyes.

Though my trip was mostly to relocate a Snow Owl and Gryfalcon (which I dipped on both!) I was given the consolation prize of a field of turkeys.  These Wild Turkeys were a welcome sight and new for the year list!  Andy is only ahead of me by two for the year so I hope that means the tide is turning!

Whooping Cranes in Florida

With all this talk about Whooping Cranes I bet you wonder if I actually SAW a Whooping Crane. Well better than that, I saw three of them near St. Cloud, FL at the Double C Bar Ranch. The above shot was taken from the road entrance. If you look out across the fields you can spy a few white cranes.

These aren't the best shots but they were taken via digiscoping. I was happy with the looks and a Wild Turkey even walked right by in the frame as well.

For those not famaliar with digiscoping it's fairly simple. You take a camera, hold it up to the scope, and try to focus it, and take a shot.

The birds were pretty far off but the shot below is my best of the bunch. If you click on the photo you should be able to make out the red facial markings. It was a great weekend of camping and these Whooping Cranes were the icing on the cake.

Florida Roads

I love cows. There, I've admitted it to you all. I don't love them in the way that you want to hug or kiss something but I love looking at them. I like the different colors, the sizes, the young, the bulls; I just like cows. My grandfather had cows when I was young and every summer we would wake up with him before daylight to drive out to the farm. Our job was counting the cows. He said it was to make sure they were all there but now that I'm older I realize it was probably just to give us something to do.

The other big job while we were cow gazing was to name the newborn calves. Granted the next day we barely remembered their names and would often re-name them something different. But it was fun and it passed the time and even now I still enjoy looking at cows. Cows remind me of home, of my grandfather, and of summer days in South Carolina.

While searching for Whooping Cranes in Central Florida last week I couldn't help but take pictures of all the lovely cows and the fields and of the horses. Sometimes a simple farm image takes me right back to South Carolina.

While looking for Whooping Cranes we found quite a few Sandhill Cranes walking about. Sometimes they were solitary but often they were in pairs.

Not everything seen by the road was alive. We found this nice flock of Black Vultures enjoying a dead, probably car-hit, feral pig. Feral Pigs are found in every County in Florida.

Just before the Turnpike and our departure from the lazy Florida side-roads, I saw a snake cross the road. The Black Racer was small and I flipped the car around hoping to get a better look but the snake had already made its way into the grass. However a dead Black Racer was found only a few feet away.

I miss driving the country roads, the livestocks, the farms, even the interesting animals dead or alive that can be found right out the car window. It sure beats the traffic, the buildings, the interstate, and the irritated drivers that I deal with on a daily basis. Maybe I'm starting to understand why most of my high school classmates still live in the same small town in South Carolina where the country roads are at every turn and life is just a little bit slower.