Before leaving the Dry Tortugas, I saw this Brown Anole, watched it for a few minutes, as it displayed its dewlap, several times, finally catching it with my camera. This was harder than it sounds, as my G-12 camera has a bit of a delay in shooting, not the best for shooting moving birds or speedy reptiles! 5/1/22 www.sparhawkphotography.com
This is a view from inside the outer walls of Fort Jefferson on Garden Key of the Dry Tortugas. The inner area is quite large, and after walking around outside, it was lovely to sit in the shade of a tree by a water feature and have birds come for a drink--a variety of warblers, mostly. There were also Cattle Egret on the grass, hawks flew over--even a Peregrine Falcon flew into a tree nearby! The open air compartments were, historically, quarters for soldiers and officers, and later, for prisoners. One of the more famous inmates was Dr. Samuel Mudd, the doctor who was imprisoned for treating James Wilkes Booth, after the assassination of Abe Lincoln. After he attempted to escape, he was shackled in one of the first floor enclosures called "the dungeon". 4/30/22 www.sparhawkphotography.com
The whole time I was on the Dry Tortugas, flying overhead were multiple soaring Magnificent Frigatebirds. In this image the all-black one is a male, and those with white are females. I love their angular wings as they fly--I counted as many as 30 birds flying at a time!. About 100 pairs of these birds nest on Long Key, not far from Garden Key, where the ferry docks. 4/27/22 www.sparhawkphotography.com
