A Feathery Tail…or Two

 Well, I'm finally back at my Blog, updated my bird sighting list and now posting the latest photos collected in the past month or so…I saw my first bald eagle in Florida about a week ago! I was driving, so no photo…the eagle was soaring over the coastline, hunting breakfast no doubt...

A recent round of beach therapy…in-between Arctic Vortex blasts…resulted in a first sighting of 3 black skimmers at Flagler Beach, since moving to the area. I'd seen a couple at Fort Lauderdale Beach a couple years ago, but didn't have my camera then (gasp!) 

The larger birds shared the shoreline with the usual sanderlings, ruddy turnstones, and this lone willet…

Meanwhile, back at the "ranch"...

The titmice are showing up a bit more, flitting in and out as rapidly as ever...

…And the pine warblers are back, equally good at flitting about…although, this fellow allowed me to get within 8 feet to take photos...

…Along with the pine warblers there is an occasional Carolina Chickadee, scarce really…

and still about impossible to photograph...

The fairly abundant pine warblers and No. cardinals chow down daily…

…The feeders can be so busy that there is literally a queue in nearby trees…the chipping sparrows are back in abundance this winter as well…

…The red-bellied woodpecker couple is back…they're suet lovers...

…And the squawky, pushy blue jays…have been seeing a pair together at the feeders more often than I did last year…but they still don't seem to like to share with one another...

…I know we're getting more than one type of mottled brown sparrow at the feeders but can never seem to get a clear shot…is this a song sparrow? Or…? Probably just a "vague" chipping sparrow…

…Hubby likes the olive-colored female cardinals...

…Like last year, a downy woodpecker has made a few scarce appearances, not 

at the feeders, but pecking at our small trees...

…Not to be left out, the brown-headed cowbirds are back, sporadically as usual...

…The Carolina wrens are also scarce and flitty, seen in the background mainly but also they take a peek at the feeders, not sure they actually eat anything (don't think so)...

…The yellow-rumped warblers arrive at dusk, mobbing the maple and small trees in our front yard...

The American robins are back too…these lovely red berries don't stand a chance…as soon as they were ripe, the robins came, conquered, and left…in 3 days the tree was BARE. Well they're still about town, just not at this property now that it's been wiped clean.

Catch Up but No Fries

I confess! As anyone can see by the date on my last post, it's been over 2 months that I've been MIA...Nothing drastic has happened, I've just been extremely lazy about keeping up with my Blog. I have done very little birding outside of watching the backyard birds at the feeders, or the few varieties of birds seen at the beach, but what deliberate birding I have done ~ namely visiting two different birding spots on the Great Florida Birding Trail ~ has produced very disappointing results as far as visual and photographic issues goes...

Hubby and I just visited No. Peninsula State Park a few miles south of Flagler Beach...this is where the FL scrub jay can be found supposedly. We heard and saw many birds but not well enough to ID any, except for some black vultures and a blue jay.  ARG! Discouragement reigns supreme!

Ok I really shouldn't whine, we have quite the variety of birds coming and going at the back yard feeders, and neighboring trees...

The most common birds, the chipping sparrows, arrive daily...

Yellow-rumped warblers are about town...but are rare to our feeders...

We are suddenly seeing a No. mocking bird here and there...not at the feeders, but

this fellow came in for a vigorous bathing...

The tufted titmice grab a nut and zip away...

The American goldfinches have appeared recently, still pale...

The male pine warblers are very yellow now...

The blue jay couple continues to show up daily, usually separately...

When together, they don't seem to share well or tolerate one another...

Despite there being two separate platform feeders...

The same goes for the red-bellied woodpecker pair...this is the female...

Another No. mockingbird, this one in our blooming bottlebrush tree...

(I was very excited when it started blooming!)

We're seeing a few brown-headed nuthatches now...

In S Dakota I saw white and red-breasted nuthatches,

So was excited to see this little fellow to add to my lifer list...

The male red-bellied woodpecker up in our backyard maple tree...

The squirrels have STUFFED themselves with those pink seeds from the front maple tree...

Wiping out the entire tree's seed supply, except for what is

Scattered all over the driveway and front lawn...we saw up to 5 squirrels

At a time in the front maple...the back maple already has leaves...

Will the front yard maple grow leaves?!

A handsome male No. cardinal on a feeder arm covered in morning dew...

The new feeder pole has 2 criss-crossed arms and holds 8 feeders...

I'm going broke just using 5 of the hooks...

A chance visit from a yellow-bellied sapsucker, looking for a drink...

The robins rarely visit, but when they do it's a good-sized flock,

Descending upon the bird bath and ground feeding...

They're in and out for a short period just one day...

Then gone again for weeks...

This photo includes a female brown-headed cowbird...

The females are like the robins, wham, bam, gone...

Except for very recently...we're now seeing males & females,

all over the feeders, daily.

(Queue the theme from "Jaws" ...)

The bad boy of the bunch...a sharp-shinned hawk (I don't think it's a Cooper's hawk due to the small size)...he appears to have a mockingbird perhaps...these guys scout backyard feeders for prey...we have seen him swooping thru the yard a couple times since this deadly visit...

Even tho we didn't see any birds of interest today at No. Peninsula St. Park,

On the way back home, heading along Flagler Beach, we stopped so I

Could attempt to photograph the No. gannets...still too far away for decent shots...

Only to discover that a small pod of porpoises (our guess) was cruising by...

3-4 of them were actually surfing in the waves! Cowabunga!