The Hang-Out
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Author Archives: Noni Cay
Slow Down
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Sunrise
The marsh is dry again with low tide.
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Key Deer Hang-Out
The place at the end of the block where I find the deer reminds me of the hang-out in the alley my teen-age friends and I used to meet, looking for boys. You could never tell who would be in the alley at any time of the day or night, much like this place on […]
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Out in the Marsh
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Key Deer and The Marsh
The water filling the marsh provides the perfect environment and opportunity for thousands, if not millions, of mosquitos to nest, breed and be born, as was evident this morning, forcing me to abandon my shoot. The three deer on the beach are the same ones I have been photographing for a few weeks now. I […]
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Key Deer Alive
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Life and Death in the Marsh
The marsh is slowly filling up with water again and I delight in seeing the rivulets criss-crossing the length and width and depth of the barren landscape. It feels like Death Valley out here or like the middle of any desert I have ever traversed (felt like 92 degrees). I went out seeking life and found […]
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Shore Birds
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At the Beach
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Reddish Egrets
The egret flew into the picture the same moment I snapped. It looks like he is expressing breeding plumage, trying to impress the female egret. Just yesterday, this pond was dry and since it didn’t rain I am surmising that the water flowing into the marsh this morning was from the underground supply and high tide. […]
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Ibises and an Osprey
You are a poor man if you have never seen an eagle fly…. JOHN DENVER
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First Baby of the Season!!
Key Deer Fawn
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There were dozens of small baby moon jellyfish out on the reef at Looe Key yesterday.
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Scarlet Tanager
This songbird, the Scarlet Tanager (related to cardinals), is probably on his way back to the mainland from South America, passing through Big Pine Key.
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Key Deer on the Beach
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Parrots
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Roseate Spoonbill
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The Laughing Gull and The Midnight Parrotfish
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Loggerhead Sea Turtle
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Bottlenose Dolphin
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The Laughing Gulls and the Rainbow Parrotfish
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Black-necked Stilts
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The Grackle’s Breakfast
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Key Deer
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Blood Moon
There was a lunar eclipse early this morning which made the moon look red from the reflection of the sun .
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The Gypsy Chicken
The chickens you may see roaming around the parking lot of the Winn-Dixie in Big Pine Key and on the streets of Key West originate from Cuba. In the mid 1800’s chickens were big business in Cuba. Originally brought there from Spain, it was bred with other European breeds for aggressiveness and to fight. This […]
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The Marsh
Black-necked Stilts, a Spotted Sandpiper, and an immature Ibis find the little water available left in the marsh.
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Key Deer
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The Marsh is DRY….
but the sun still shines!
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Blue-winged Teals
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The Place Where Key Deer Sleep
Deep in the middle of the subdivision, the Key Deer have indeed found a tropical refuge, lush with soft green grass and moist soil, shaded by the web of branches which overhang low to the ground. The earth adopts a musky smell when they are around. The herd has developed a highway of trails deep […]
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The Hermit Crab
I saw a beautiful shell underneath my stilt house and when I picked it up to investigate, a living crab was stuffed inside. I placed it closer to the water but the next day it was underneath the house again in the same place. I like to think that it might have been headed for […]
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Key Deer Brotherly Love
The absence of any females is a good sign that they are somewhere in the woods birthing and caring for the newborn Key Deer of this season. The mothers hide the fawns for about a month before reemerging to join the others. Notice all antlers have fallen off now. The males like to band and […]
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Hell’s Bay and the Florida Soft Shell Turtle
Kayaking into Hell’s Bay in Flamingo Park is called such because of the difficulty getting into it and out of it as the passageway is narrow and it is like being in a large maze constructed out of everglade mangroves. Sleeping on a chickee (a man-made platform built right in the water) a manatee slept […]
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A Herd of Key Deer
The antlers in this herd of 14 are in different stages. Some have already fallen off. One deer was rubbing his stack against a wood stump, trying to release it (photo#3). Another male is in the process of growing a new set and the velvet covering the growth is visible (photo#8). The more I get […]
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Sunrise, Key Deer and Water Birds
Even at the end of the island, the lone doe was looking for a baksheesh (hand-out) and came right up to the car. I admit that it can be extremely tempting to feed these docile Bambis, especially if children are involved.
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Osprey Nest Are Everywhere
The island is teeming with osprey. Perhaps the entire Keys are abundant with these Sea Eagles. The more I look, the more nests I see, from Key West to the mainland.
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Osprey Acrobatics (or The Tight Rope Walker)
This immature osprey was having difficulty staying on the line and gave a beautiful performance trying to do so.
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Key Deer and a Spoonbill
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Key Deer
Watching this herd of Key Deer down the block from my house is an incredible gift I feel bestowed upon me. Each moment is precious as I see the animals interacting with each other. I am amazed to witness two males grooming each other. I am still amazed even after living on this island for […]
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Life in the Glades
The baby anhingas I have been tracking are as big as their parents, difficult for me to distinguish who was who. One baby on the ground seemed as if it was unable to fly back up to the nest. When a bicyclist came by, the father anhinga flew screeching directly at the man, causing him […]
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Osprey in Flight
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Orb Weaver and Spotted Sandpipers
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The End of Antler Season and the Man who Feeds the Deer
When the man arrived home the Key Deer RAN to him as if they were his pet dogs. They waited for him outside his house, all eleven of them, mostly males. When I told the man that feeding the deer kills them, he denied doing so, even though he was holding a bag of food […]
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The Green Heron, The Anhingas, and The Great Blue
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The Little Blue Heron
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In The Rain
These baby Anhingas are the same ones I photographed on February 23rd. They have grown rapidly and are nearly the size of their parents. There was a total of five nests within feet of each other. The alligator was in a hurry to cross the road to get into the canal and out of the […]
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Where is the baby Osprey?
The mother seems to be wondering the same thing. The baby is too young to fly off and if it did it would still be nearby. Did something happen to it while both parents went fishing? It was not in the nest as I am always able to hear it and today it was silent. I […]
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Key Deer On The Beach
The yearling was getting scolded by his mother. She did not want him eating the plastic and actually lifted her leg several times striking him, trying to get him to move away and follow her into the woods. Just like horses, the key deer express a variety of emotions through their ear movements. Laid back […]
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