A Lucky Ducky Lifer

Our rambling RV'er friends returned to their favorite campground recently, and after a pleasant lunch, hubby headed off to work while I hung out awhile…the three of us enjoyed some relaxation at the beach, needless to say…

While lounging like lazy lizards, we noticed a dark duck shape come bopping along from the north...

….I had to get the photos home and cropped and looked up in a guide book to know that this was a lone female black scoter! Not only a lifer, but she was a bit off course…apparently they are rare but not unheard of this far south of the Georgia coastline…

After several moments, along came two males, cruising south behind the female! This is my second scoter, having seen the white-winged scoter some years ago on the N. Calif. coast. 

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Meanwhile, back at the ranch (or cottage)…

…the brown thrasher has been making an occasional appearance…

This No. cardinal recently showed up, touting an exceptionally bright fiery red...

An indigo bunting showed up, just when I was lamenting the possibility of not seeing any again…he seemed interested in the bottle brush blossoms...

The squirrels continue to do their acrobatics to reach the blossoms at the end of skinny, flexible branches...

…As do the No. mockingbirds…the blossoms look like a vampire sucked the life out of them…deflated and faded red…

I'm tickled that I continue to see a grey catbird occasionally…managed to get slightly better photos than before.

The anoles are back out, green ones and brown ones…there's always one who claims the top of this sprinkler for an outlook post.

Birding Bonanza

The past few days I've been seeing more "new" birds at the feeders, or under them…! Friday I dropped hubby at the park and went here and there in the general area of Flagler and Ormond Beaches, my first real birding outing since moving to NE Florida, away from the Atlantic shoreline. Not far away, but…

First, let's see what I've found close to home…starting with the most exciting visitor(s)! 

Imagine my shock and excitement to see an indigo bunting, a lifer!!

It puttered around the ground below the feeders for quite awhile…I saw the lone bunting two days in a row, then nothing for a few days, and then...

A trio of indigo buntings! After this sighting, a few days ago, there's been nothing since, but they are a summer resident of Florida…

At least one No. mockingbird has become brave enough to check out the feeders…this is a first…I think he really wants suet but seems awkward at the suet feeder...

I took photos of this small dove because it was clearly so much smaller than the mourning dove…turns out it's the common ground-dove, a lifer! It isn't so common in the US actually (see your bird guide)...

Here's a comparison shot of a mourning dove (top) and the ground-dove (bottom)…

I spent some time outside hoping I could catch a brave bird or two w/o the glass window between us…and got two iffy shots of what turns out to be the palm warbler…the birds and squirrels love the bottle brush flowers (boo-boo)! The palm warbler only winters in FL so I'm no doubt only getting a fleeting look at them…they summer much further north in Canada...

I was lucky to catch a brown thrasher at a feeder a few days ago! This is my 2nd sighting of them...

A Carolina wren was bold enough to climb up the screening on our back porch, perching briefly on the light under the awning...

A couple pale Amer. goldfinches visited recently…they've been pretty scarce this year...

Here's a squirrel caught in the act of ravaging my lovely bottle brush tree…they like to snap the entire blossom off; there's dozens on the ground, grrrr!

So, Friday about 8:00 am I began my birding outing…this is a view of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway from Gamble Rogers State Park…as lovely as this is….

The only bird I saw was this No. cardinal….humph!

So, I moved on south to No. Peninsula Salt Marsh...

Since I wasn't supposed to walk out towards the marsh, I had to take distant photos, starting with this one of a killdeer...

…And an immature bald eagle…

…And a great blue heron…

….A lesser yellowlegs…(or greater? both winter here)…

…Hmm, a black-bellied plover? Feel free to correct me...

After the salt marsh, I headed back north a bit…while passing the N Peninsula, on the W side of A1A, I spotted a Florida scrub jay (!!!) way up on the power line! A lifer! They are known to inhabit that area so I will have to make an effort to find one closer up...

I proceeded to a really nice boardwalk that leads over the Intracoastal marshes and oyster beds towards the open waterway…

And found this tri-colored heron (1st for 2014) fishing….

…and another one…

…As well as this snowy egret, that kept flapping its wings but didn't take off...

Walking back towards the parking lot, I scared a pileated woodpecker from a dead tree by the boardwalk…scared myself too! Had to take a long-distance shot once it landed again…

While walking on a dirt path under the hammock, I looked up through the foliage in time to see an osprey flying over, with a fish in its talons…I grumbled about missing that shot…a bit later I looked up as I walked under a dead tree... 

Directly above me, 30 feet max., I discovered the same osprey having its brunch...

Ah yea, sushi! Mmmm….

…For some reason, the fish needed to be given the stink eye…

The light was too harsh to get a great shot but it was a pretty cool experience…except for when a mature gentleman came along walking his dog and I pointed the osprey out to him…and he replied, "But isn't that a bald eagle?" Uh….no. It's not the first time someone tried to tell me that maybe an osprey was an eagle. Wishful thinking!

I then moved on to a town park with a nice foot path, partly along the west side of the Intracoastal...

I took a short walk to see what was about…a great egret was perched on a bare tree on the opposite side….

On my way back, an osprey flew over….

And joined the egret, giving it a visual lesson about hierarchy...

Despite the poor or lack of photos, it has been a pretty nice birding week!

A Cat and a Chick

I've added four new birds to my list…the common nighthawk, the brown thrasher, the palm warbler, and the gray catbird! I was expecting to see the thrashers; they visit front yards around the 'hood. The Stokes guide says they're here year-round, but I only have seen them in the spring. Anyway, the other day I looked out at the feeders and -- !! -- immediately realized there was a gray catbird trying to get suet. I did get a few crummy shots thru the glass…

Also, about a week ago, I drove hubby to work in the early AM…as we were creeping down a gravel road in the park (did I mention he's a state park ranger?), the headlights caught a familiar, unique shape nestled down on the road…the bird promptly flew off. The shape was unmistakeable, it was a common nighthawk. The nighthawk is a permanent resident of the park. There's a slight chance it was a Chuck-will's-widow, but most likely a nighthawk. This, from the park's bird check-list I found on-line. Hubby's got strict orders to acquire a hard copy for me…many birds I haven't seen! Yes, yes, I need to get seriously serious! The #1 to-find has been, all along, the FL scrub jay…but there's also buntings, L. shrike, WE vireo, BG gnatcatcher, RC kinglet….!!

Ok I just looked outside at the feeders and the gray catbird was back…took more photos, still crummy! Stokes guide says they do not come to feeders (no feeder symbol) but this guy seems interested in the suet…they winter in FL so maybe he needs fuel before heading north...

Finally, a thank you to Laurence B. for the info re: my "chipping sparrow" that you believe is actually a  morphing palm warbler! Woo-hoo! I thought it was "off" for a chipping…looked up many images on Google and it does match the morph male palm warbler, which winters in FL.

This shot's blurry, obviously…but you can see the reddish-brown patch under the gray catbird's tail...

And there's the black skull cap...

…Does it just figure my clearest shot is of the back side...

Along came a Carolina chickadee while I was trying to capture the catbird…you can see the mealworm feeder above it…all crumbs…someone's eating them but not the bluebird, ARG! At least, not as far as I know…I've seen other birds checking it out.