Florida for Christmas

We made the trip to Florida again for Christmas this year to see my Mom and Connie's sister. I make the most of the trip by going birding (what's new right?) Not much going on in The Villages bird-wise but we did get to see these Sandhill Cranes wandering around the Sheriff's Office parking area.

I also spotted these Cranes at Harne's Marsh this week. Look at how messy the juvenile's feathers are. They were honking at the park ranger's truck going by.

I also found a few other notable birds at the marsh including a life bird - Gray-headed Swamphen. I have seen a few before but never entered the sighting into eBird. Now, I can "officially" count it as bird # 1224.

There were lots of Tri-colored Herons at the marsh. This one was close to the path and didn't mind me and Peanut.

I also went to my favorite location near Punta Gorda - Babcock-Webb NWA. This is a huge wildlife management area that is a big hunting destination. This week, the park was so crowded that the campground was overflowing. I still had fun and saw some good birds. Anhingas were everywhere.

This Osprey was sitting quietly until he spotted another one flying past. Then, he started that squeeky crying.

Least Bitterns are very hard to see. They are secretive, camouflaged and stealthy. I caught this one jumping from one clump of reeds to another then spent time waiting for it to get into position to be photographed. This is the best shot I could get. I think you can get the idea of how small they are.

This was the best bird of the day for sure.

What Paulie Missed

I'm down in Florida visiting the old folks this week. I dragged Connie down here with promises of mending her broken ankle poolside rather than home. 2 days drive with Peanut in the back seat and 3 days of visiting.

My mother was very anxious to take Peanut to the new dog park that Dave found near their house. The park has a "nature park" attached to it too. Dave borrowed a golf cart for me, Connie and Peanut to bomb around in. Here is Peanut on her first ride.

Golf Cart Ride

We went. Peanut was just OK with the dog park but the nature park was a hit. Late afternoon was a good time to visit. Close up views of Grackles - you can see the purple iridescence when the Florida sun hits them just right.

Grackle

This female Merganser was showing off her 'doo in the pond. No males were there, so I'm not sure why she was so interested in showing off.

Female Hooded Merganser

The star of the show had to be 2 Meadowlarks in the grass at the park. They let me get really close while they hunted for bugs. This one cranked out the famous musical song right in front of me. Wow.

Meadowlark

The pond was full of birds including American White Pelicans, Wood Storks, Egrets and Cormorants. The Pelican is in flight.

American White Pelican with Storks

Paul and Linda are my mother's neighbors. A very nice couple from New Jersey who we see each time we visit. Paulie (as we call him) sent me a newspaper article from the local Villages paper about New Year's Day birding. He wanted to go along. We never made a plan so I knocked on their door New Year's Eve - no answer. I went by the house New Year's Day - no answer. Oh well, I went birding alone (frankly, it was a joy to be by myself for an hour). Here is what Paulie missed:
First bird of 2016 - Eurasian Collared Dove

Eurasian Collared Dove

 Loggerhead Shrike calling from a tree along one of the many golf courses near the house.

Loggerhead Shrike

 A gang of Ibis (or is that Ibi ? ) hunting the golf course edge.

White Ibis

Best bird of the day - this American Bittern in the marsh.

American Bittern

Blue-gray Gnatcatchers love Florida. They are in every other tree along with Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

This Osprey was poised to fish in the mist of the morning. Connie saw him/her catch a fish later in the day.

Osprey

The Villages are known for having very tame Sandhill Cranes that walk around the golf courses. They are so tame that the golfers have to shoo them off of the putting greens. They don't even move when a ball plops down near them. As tame as they are, they didn't like Peanut. Here are 3 of them squawking in unison as we walked past them.

Sandhill Cranes - upset with Peanut

Once Peanut was in the car, the alert was over and the Cranes allowed more photos. Clam as cucumbers.

Sandhill Cranes

All in all, day one of 2016 was a hit. Easy birding racked up 38 species plus I got to swim and a home made pork and sauerkraut dinner.  Too bad for Paulie. I hope he gets out birding soon.

Location, Location, Location

Research told me that I could find a few new species at a spot named "Storm Treatment Area 1E" along Rt 98 near West Palm Beach so I dashed out there before 7 AM yesterday. Research didn't tell me anything about the area not being open to the public. What a disappointment. I drove all the way there to find that there is no public access. Oh well, it wasn't a total bust. I did get a few photos from the roadside. This American Kestral was on the wire.

American Kestral

There was also a flock of Monk Parakeets on the wire and in the fields along the road. Someone reported them as Nanday, but they are Monk.

Monk Parakeets

These 2 are a couple of love birds.

Being coy

Grooming each other on the wire. I won't show you what happened next but needless to say it was X-rated.

A little peck

After meeting with a client, I had a few hours in the afternoon so decided to try another new place called Green Cay Wetlands Park. This one was a winner. It is a park managed by the power company and has a boardwalk trail that was filled with people. The birds didn't seem to mind. First bird that I encountered isn't rare or unusual - Pie-billed Grebes can be seen regularly in our area. However, this cutie was doing something interesting by floating around with his wings raised like this. I had to sit on the boardwalk and shoot through the slats on the railing to get this shot. 

Pie-billed Grebe

The next few birds along the boardwalk were also interesting. Both have "purple" in their names. Purple Gallinules have giant feet to walk around on reeds in the water. Check them out:

Purple Gallinule

I had no idea that they used those feet to climb up to the top of the reeds to eat the seeds. It was fun to watch them climb up, up, up and then make the stalk bend over and go splashing into the water. This bird found a sturdy stalk. 

Purple Gallinule

The best bird of the day was this American Bittern who made an appearance long enough for me to get this shot which is (in my opinion) awesome. 

American Bittern

All in all, the afternoon made up for the morning. Wouldn't you say? 

Can You See Me?

I'm an American Bittern.  Can you see me?

How about now?

Now that I turned sideways?

How about when I'm eating a fish?  Can you see me now?

American Bitterns (the subject of the photos above) are VERY secretive.  They live in reeds and tall grassy areas in marshes and are notoriously difficult to see.  Not this guy/gal.  This bird was mingling with all of the other very tame animals at the Everglades National Park yesterday.  Get ready for a flurry of posts about my trip there and the tame animals that I encountered.  But for now, I thought that I would focus on just this species. 

Notice in the first photo how difficult it was to spot the bird?  (Bonzi, are you still having trouble?)  That is due to the incredible camouflage plumage and the bird's defensive posture - which is to point it's bill skyward in order to blend into the grass.  The second photo is zoomed in to see the bird better but it is still pretty hidden.  The third photo shows the side view and still the bird blends into the background.  I probably have 100 photos of this bird - none of which are cropped.  The photos above are full frame. That is how close this bird was to the path where about 1,000 visitors walked past, oggled it,  and photographed it.  Alligators and other birds walked and swam past the bird and yet it just went about it's business.  I was lucky enough to watch it catch a garr fish and try to eat it which is shown in the last photo.  The fish ended up back in the water and gone after the Bittern dropped it.

Anyway, I guess you figured out that I'm in Florida. I'll be here for the next week and will be posting more.  Stay tuned. . .