The distinctive Crested Caracara “combines the raptorial instincts of the eagle with the base carrion-feeding habits of the vulture”. Called ignoble, miserable, and aggressive, yet also dashing, stately, and noble, this medium-sized raptor, with its bold black-and-white plumage and bright yellow-orange face and legs, is easily recognizable as it perches conspicuously on a high point in the landscape. In flight it can be distinguished by its regular, powerful wing-beats as it cruises low across the ground or just above the treetops. Known locally in some areas as the “Mexican buzzard”, the Crested Caracara is an opportunist and is commonly seen walking about open fields, pastures, and road edges, feeding on a variety of invertebrate and vertebrate prey, as well as on carrion, often in the company of other avian scavengers. The name “caracara” is said to be of Guarani Indian origin, traro-traro, derived from the unusual rattling vocalization that the bird utters when agitated.

I found this one along Joe Overstreet Road in Osceola County , Florida.

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The Loggerhead Shrike is the only one of the world's thirty species of true shrikes that occurs exclusively in North America. Like other shrikes, it inhabits ecotones, grasslands, and other open habitats and feeds on a variety of invertebrate and vertebrate prey. Compared to most birds, its head is large in proportion to its body size-hence the name Loggerhead, which also means "blockhead." Popular names for this species include butcherbird, white-rumped shrike, French/Spanish mockingbird, and thornbird.

Throughout most of the southern part of its range, the Loggerhead Shrike is resident; northern populations are migratory. Where resident, this species usually lives in pairs on permanent territories. Some pairs spend the entire year on a single territory; outside the breeding season, mates may defend neighboring territories, which are coalesced at the beginning of nesting.

This shrike, like others, is a small avian predator that hunts from perches and impales its prey on sharp objects such as thorns and barbed-wire fences. Although such predatory behavior mimics that of some raptors, impaling behavior represents a unique adaptation to the problem of eating large prey without benefit of the stronger feet and talons of raptors. In addition, the hooked bill, flanked by horny tomial projections and functionally similar to the notched upper bill of falcons, further sets shrikes apart as distinctive in the order Passeriformes. Being both passerines and top-level predators, these birds occupy a unique position in the food chain.

Despite its wide distribution, the Loggerhead Shrike is one of the few North American passerines whose populations have declined continentwide in recent decades.

I found this one along Joe Overstreet Road in Osceola County, Florida. Not sure what he has in his beak.

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The Florida Softshell Turtle is one of the largest freshwater turtles in North America, and the largest of the Apalone genus. It has a dark brown to olive green, leathery carapace. The underside (plastron) is white or cream. They have a long neck, an elongated head, with a long nose. Juvenile turtles are olive or yellowish with grey spots and a yellow lined carapace, and a gray plastron. The juveniles also yellow and orange markings on the head. The markings fade as the turtle ages. Florida Softshell Turtles may bite when threatened. These turtles have strong, knife-like mandibles that are almost as powerful as the jaws of a snapping turtle. Avoid handling them. They are equipped with vessels in their bodies that actually absorb oxygen, which allows them to stay submerged for hours. They are fast moving on land and in the water.

Size
length 15cm - 63cm

Environment
Found in ponds, streams, rivers, lakes and swamps. They prefer still water. Florida Softshell Turtles are mainly aquatic and only come onto land to bask or to lay eggs.

Food
The Florida Softshell Turtle is carnivorous and eats fish, crustaceans, snails, insects, amphibians.

Breeding
The nesting season is during spring or summer. Females lay 4-24 eggs in a nest in sandy soil in sunny position.

Range
Eastern United States. Mainly in Florida, but it also found in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

I found this female enjoying a mud puddle along Peavine Road in Osceola County, Florida.

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Now officially known as simply a Snail Kite, the subspecies from Florida and Cuba (Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus) formerly known as the Everglade Snail Kite was listed as endangered in 1967. The range of the Florida population of Snail Kites is restricted to watersheds in the central and southern part of the state. Because of a highly specific diet composed almost entirely of apple snails (Pomacea paludosa), survival of the Snail Kite depends directly on the hydrology and water quality of these watersheds, each of which has experienced pervasive degradation as a result of urban development and agricultural activities.

The slender, curved bill of this medium-sized raptor is an adaptation for extracting the kite's primary prey, the apple snail, from its shell. The bill is a distinguishing characteristic for field identification of adults as well as juveniles. Although sometimes confused with the northern harrier, the Snail Kite's flight is slower and characterized by more wing flapping, and the head typically is tilted down to look for snails while in flight. Snail Kites do not plunge into the water to capture snails and never use the bill to capture prey. Rather, they use their feet to capture snails at or below the surface of the water.

The principal threat to the Snail Kite is the loss or degradation of wetlands in central and south Florida. Nearly half of the Everglades have been drained for agriculture and urban development. Everglades National Park preserves only about one-fifth of the original extent of the Everglades. The present-day system of canals, levees, and water-control structures has disrupted the volume, timing, direction, and velocity of freshwater flow. The natural sheet-flow pattern under which the Everglades evolved over the last 5,000 years no longer exists. The loss of freshwater to seepage, flood-control releases to tidal waters, and extraction for irrigation and urban water supply has led to salt-water intrusion in some places. Regulation of water stages in lakes and canals is particularly important to maintain the balance of vegetative communities required to sustain Snail Kites.

I found this Male at Joe Overstreet Landing, Lake Kissimmee, Osceola County Florida.

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At first it looks as though this Green Heron has perched itself on a "Live Wire" (A wire carrying electric current), but thank goodness for the little "Greenie" the look just comes from a little morning Preening.

I don't normally post too many photos of birds on power lines but don't think I have ever seen a Green Heron perch on one. Maybe a common thing just never seen it before.

I found this one at Lake Marian. Osceola County, Florida.

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