Category Archives: Florida_Birds

Hasta Luego, Florida Birds

While we have been home a while, I still have some photos of neat birds we saw. This is the last group – time to focus on Vermont birds.

Two Purple Gallinules
A Snowy Egret and a Common Gallinule.
A Glossy Ibis.
A juvenile White Ibis.
A Little Blue Heron foraging.
A juvenile Little Blue Heron – first winter. You can just make out the yellow-green legs.
A Green Heron who blended in very well.
And finally, a Limpkin – which we only see in Florida.

More Cedar Key Birds

With temperatures in the forties in Vermont, it’s fun to recall the warm days we had just a couple of weeks ago — 1500 miles south.

We’ve got some Great Blue Herons back but not spiffed up like this one – yet.
We certainly don’t have White Ibises cruising overhead.
Brown Pelicans greeting a fishing boat which just arrived.
Most of the American White Pelicans had migrated northward. These are juveniles who are nonbreeding birds who will remain through the summer.

Florida Yard Birds – Part 2

One of the birds we enjoyed watching was this Spotted Sandpiper, who liked to admire his image in the antenna cover next door.

Another we watched for some time was this Tri-colored Heron – hunting a short distance from our deck.

Just a block away, a flock of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks came through one morning.

And out back in the yard, these folks were chowing down. I’m not sure what they are but loved their design and will try to look them up.

Florida Yard Birds – Part 1

The place where we stay in Florida has wonderful birding right out back – a tidal estuary which at times, can tax the ability of a northern birder who hasn’t seen a shorebird in six months. We decide just to enjoy them and not worry about getting everything sorted out – in fact that’s our general approach to birding.

It’s Florida and cool but no snow in sight — perhaps a Snowy Egret.
On the far bank at low tide, hundreds of egrets, herons, ibises, and an occasional Brown Pelican congregate.
On this morning, a few Roseate Spoonbills, one of our favorite birds, joined the party.
But then, you look out again and there’s a gaggle of dowitchers, dunlins, willets …
Some birds, like this Willet, get in closer and next post I’ll share some up close and personal yard birds.

Another Nice Surprise

Yesterday, we combined a grocery trip to Gainesville with a birding visit to a new spot for us: Sweetwater Wetlands Park, a birding mecca of 125 acres of wetlands and ponds right in the city. While we saw dozens of neat birds, the star attraction was this small Sandhill Crane family.

As we approached, we saw several birders watching a Sandhill Crane.
Then we noticed that they had a chick.
There were two chicks.
A family portrait.

Last Day Bird Groups

This morning, there were all sorts of birds out back at low tide. This group had Wood Storks (the ones with black on the back), American White Pelicans, Roseate Spoonbills, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and White Ibises,

Groups of Roseate Spoonbills came and left.

Later we went downtown and found these groups of Double-crested Cormorants and Brown Pelicans hanging out in the sunshine.

We’ve seen 65-70 species here this week, more than half from our deck. We’ll head north in the morning after a nice stay in Cedar Key.

Florida Birding sans camera

We are enjoying good weather and birding in Cedar Key but an extra leash tug from Ginger ended up with a dropped camera and a jammed lens on my SX60 Canon. So it’s iphone time and the birds here are out there a ways.

We’ve been enjoying pelicans, ibis, oystercatchers, ospreys etc from our back deck and going on some nice outings, but missing the Canon.

We have an Osprey who spends hours on a post just behind the cottage. Here’s a shot of him – sorry about the quality.

Right beside him this morning was a yellow-crowned Night Heron.

We drove out to the little airport today and found hundreds of shorebirds whirling through the wind and alighting on the tarmac. There were hundreds of Semipalmated Plovers, and many dowitchers and sanderlings. Who knows what else was huddled in that avian mass?

A storm is coming and birds are seeking shelter. Here are a lot of Royal Terns huddled on a roof.

New camera time when we get home.

Some Morning Birds

Yesterday morning, it was cold (40) here at Paynes Prairie Preserve when I went out for a walk. I was bundled up and the birds were puffed up. A Red-Shoulder hawk eyed me as I headed out.

I never tire of seeing Anhingas catching the rays.
“hey, you lookin’ at me?”
Palm warblers were out in force
Great Egret in the usual spot.
I think this ie an immature Little Blue Heron.

Weather is finally turning away from parkas toward shorts weather and we, and the mosquitos, can’t wait.

Florida Birds

I often tell folks that I don’t chase birds and generally that is correct. However, when I planned the 1500 mile trip to Florida to trade my truck in on an Airstream Interstate RV, I started to put a short target list together. I have never birded Florida so I wanted to grab a few of the common birds in the short time I would be there — I put a list of Limpkin, Wood Stork, and Florida Scrub Jay on a scrap of paper.

Well, the first early evening there, before the purchase was settled, I heard some sharp calling just outside the motel and got a new life bird of Nanday Parakeet. These are a lot like the Green Parakeets we see in Texas – the first time you see and hear them it is exciting, then it gets old pretty fast.

I had decided that if the transaction went ok, I’d stay in the area for a day or so. After a long Monday morning, I took possession of the new rig and drove about an hour over to Myakka River State Park and within an hour, was walking with the dog and finding two new life birds, Wood Storks and Limpkins.

 

Dozens of Limpkins and their young live in the park and are easy to spot as they forage.

Dozens of Limpkins and their young live in the park and are easy to spot as they forage.

There are many trails where in addition to birds, you might see opossum, alligators, raccoons, and plenty of squirrels. 

There are many trails where in addition to birds, you might see opossum, alligators, raccoons, and plenty of squirrels.

The next morning, we got up early and walked down to a fishing access area which was teeming with birds. Hundreds of Black Vultures (wait for a later post) were interesting to Penny but I found a new life bird foraging. I have seen many Common Gallinules but have never seen a Purple Gallinule. It was neat to see them on the same morning and note the very apparent difference.

Purple Gallinules are pretty striking looking birds.

Purple Gallinules are pretty striking looking birds.

 

This White Ibis was pretty showy in the early morning light.

This White Ibis was pretty showy in the early morning light.

So we packed up and headed out about 8 AM with four new life birds, in less than a day. Then, as the day’s fortune continued, I saw another life bird, a Swallow-tail Kite, right overhead as I drove up I-75. About a half hour later, I saw another one low over the road. They are tough to miss — lovely birds — and a nice bookend to a short Florida birding stop.