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!