Everyplace Has Something Unique

From time-to-time you hear the unmistakable sound of bird poop hitting the water.

I’m in Boynton Beach just west of Military Trail. Not long ago this was swampland. The communities that now fill the area were planned and executed. Little was left to chance. Within each is a Stepford-like level of conformity.

Yet even here at the condo where one unit looks like the next there is something unique! My parent’s condo complex features a single sprawling tree at the edge of a man made pond housing an amazing flock of egrets.

As long as I’ve been coming I’ve been heading to the tree. As my photographic skills get better I’m able to bring more of it online for you to see.

The tree is desolate during the day, but as sunset approaches the birds return. One-by-one they fly toward the tree changing direction at the last possible second to land into the wind.

Every night the tree is loaded with egrets. Mainly they perch silently with their head tucked into their feathers. From time-to-time you hear the unmistakable sound of bird poop hitting the water.

Sometimes a bird will shift position forcing his neighbors to shift as well. The tree gets busy and wings being to flap for fifteen or twenty seconds. Then it’s quiet again.

These three shots are long exposures with my camera on a tripod allowing me enough light to see the birds in the dead of night.

I photograph these birds every time I visit!

24 thoughts on “Everyplace Has Something Unique”

  1. Wow, that’s a lot of birds. It’s great that you can appreciate their uniqueness among the look-alike condo’s. Thanks for sharing!

  2. Hey Geoff,

    Do us a favor and magically create a jet stream that will bring some of that warm FL air to CT in time for Tuesday and Wednesday? Please? We all know that you meteorologists create and control the weather, right? 😉

    Thanks!

    (Enjoy Florida and SoCal. We’re jealous!)

  3. What are the differences between the Egrets in Florida and the Egrets in Connecticut? Just curious. I really enjoy the “fisheye” shot in the center with everything in view. Nice lighting. The colors are exotic compared to all this white stuff we have in view at home in Connecticut.

  4. See, I didn’t have to wait long for the photos! 🙂
    So, what you’re saying is Fla is for the birds? (joke, little joke!)
    Enjoy!
    Can’t wait to see more….

  5. Ah yes……..This is the time of winter when the cold and the snow stay long enough that I wish for a getaway to a warm climate. Boynton Beach is the place to which my former co-worker from Caldor retired some 20+ years ago. He was definitely on to something!!!

  6. Me neither Maureen. I have two words for Channel 8 and they’re not “hi there.” Anyway the photos are very cool. Hard to imagine in this long cold month there will be warm weather again.

  7. Geoff, I think the first picture would be interesting set up as a time lapse series, i.e. start before the sun goes down and then put all of the stills together into a video. The fish-eye view might work that way too.

    I’ll remember you taking pictures on the beach while I’m running my snowblower Wednesday!

  8. Geoff, we have recently, (2 Years), relocated out of that cold and heavily taxed state of Ct. We do keep an eye out for some “Hope for Ct.” and came across your website, unfortunately for the wrong reason. We had been avid watchers of TV 8 and your nightly weather forecast for many years and we’re sorry that you are leaving. Anyway, these pictures of the Egrets reminds us of our lovely main entrance to Sun City Hilton Head in Bluffton, SC. They are truly a magnificent site. But just imagine also as many Turkey vultures in the same view. Nature’s own environmental cleaners!
    Good luck on your future ventures and may I suggest you look into some TV stations in Savannah, Ga. and Charleston, SC.. There are a lot of opportunities for “betterment” in your expertise!

  9. It’s interesting how in the second one it looks like there are lights on the tree. We’ll have too try some more tomorrow.

  10. hi geoff,

    thanks for sharing those pics…i hope you are enjoying yourself

    will miss you on channel 8…..guess its time to switch channels for us! what are they thinking!?

    all the best….

  11. Geoff, thanks for sharing the picture. Egrets for me are spiritual, especially when one flies overhead at a particularly difficult moment, somehow I know all is well. I live across from a marshy area oin the Q river, and wait all winter for them to return int he spring. We call the “the girls.”
    I figure this way: if you have so many of the girls around you, only good can come your way. Here’s to new good stuff ahead!
    Fran.

  12. Geoff,

    Enjoy your time in the warmer climate! I have to take this time to express my disappointment with WTNH in not renewing your contract. You have been a mainstay in my life for many years and I will truely miss your dynamic personality on the air. You have a great way of addressing your audience that made people feel like they knew you on a personal level. I wish you much success in the future. My favorit quote from your weather forcast is when you would do the 11 p.m. weather and during the teaser you would say “Don’t go to sleep yet, there’s more Channel 8 news…”

    Best of luck to you and your family!! You will be missed.

  13. Geoff

    Enjoy your well earned vacation. It gives me an opportunity to try out other CT news stations.

    Alas I happened to tune into WTNH, as the weather forecast was starting tonight. How can that “guy” replace YOU, WTNH does not even have a profile of HIM on its web page. Also, unlike you and the other weathermen, he does apparently does not know how to use a computer – to provide the daily weather emails I have received/found useful for years.

    You are not even gone and I MISS you…

    -dave

  14. Enjoy your vacation my friend…Lord knows you deserve it!It’s hard to make sense out of the ridiculous….still shaking my head over the insane decision that was made…but one thing I know is you will be a success no matter what. You are a true gentleman,someone I enjoyed seeing everyday! I feel like part of my family is leaving home! I have watched you since the first day and feel as though I know you and your family…and I thank you for that. All the best…ALWAYS. Beth

  15. Hey Jeff, It’s me again, I had to come in the house from danceing for the snow cause my bare feet are cold from danceing with my head dress and JuJu Beads, I might make a sacrafice to the great spirit, My meat loaf I made for the first time will quite nicely, It’s wrong to waste it. I aint gonna eat it ! LOL

  16. Wow, I saw the petition on facebook and thought it was just another facebook spam. Really? Is this what the “Finest Minds in Television News” could come up with? I hope you were not blindsided by this action and that it leads to a wonderful new adventure for you and your wife.

  17. I’ve been so wrapped up at work that I didn’t hear the sad news about your contract until today. I’m fifty years old and have been enjoying your forecast and science trivia for most of my adult life. When you go on vacations, I usually can’t wait for you to come back because it’s just not the same when you’re not there. I wish you the very best and hope that the reason for all this is that there are bigger and better things in store for you. Mostly, wherever you land, I hope it’s somewhere where we in CT can still see you. In the meantime, you have a new blog follower.

  18. Geoff, have counted on you for so long (along with Dave Price, the CBS2 early morning show weather guy, who lost his job just a couple of weeks ago) can’t imagine who I will look to daily for those weathercasts, but hope that this turn of events will lead to even better things in the future for you & your family.

    Enjoy your vacation, will watch when you return to 8 (even if it’s for just a short time) & will keep hoping for news that you will be somewhere in CT so we can all feel at home again.

  19. Geoff, Great Pictures. Thank you. I took a look at the NCEP Model from a link from one of your older posts. Looks like you choose a great time to be away from CT
    This looks like a big one coming.

    From NOAA 7 day detail,

    Tuesday Night: Snow, mainly after 8pm. Low around 25. East wind 7 to 16 mph becoming north. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.

    Wednesday: Snow, mainly before 4pm. High near 33. North wind between 14 and 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.

    Wednesday Night: A slight chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 24. Northwest wind between 15 and 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

    Enjoy your vacation.

  20. Looks like a big one for sure. Snow ratios in the 20’s? That’s nuts. And a pretty deep low pressure core just off Montauk Pt. I sure hope not!
    Enjoy your vacation with Family, Geoff.

  21. Geoff,

    I can’t believe that you are no longer on WTNH…you made the news interesting, energetic, funny & knowledgeable. Your happy-go-lucky attitude and excitement was a breath of fresh air compared to Ann “Sourpuss” Nyberg!! Obviously, I won’t be watching WTNH anymore…hope you come back to Channel 3, or 30 or Fox News & knock the stuffing out of their(WTNH) ratings. Good luck & God bless…………

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