It was indeed a Super Sunday for me when I made a pre-Super Bowl trek to the Orlando Wetlands on Feb. 11.
While the Chiefs and 49ers were busy getting ready, I was busy photographing four species of raptors at the Wetlands: American Kestrel, Osprey, Bald Eagle and Red-shouldered Hawk.
The Kestrel is one of my favorite birds to photograph. It’s the smallest and most colorful falcon in North America. Some describe them as about the size of a Mourning Dove. But they can be very skittish, so I was lucky that this Kestrel posed for several minutes in a pine tree close by.
The Bald Eagle was flying around the Wetlands and ended up getting into a mid-air skirmish with an Osprey — trying to steal that’s bird’s freshly-caught fish. Unfortunately, they were pretty far away for their air battle and I did not get good photos of it.
The Red-shouldered Hawk flew over my head to land on a pine tree, then took off again right over me.
The Chiefs won the Super Bowl but I feel like I won the Birding Bowl.
