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!

This, That, and A Positive ID!

I thought I'd try to post about every 2 weeks, but HELLO! It's been a month since my last post. My bad?! Anyway, some new birds for the year's count have been sighted -- no photos dang it! -- and one, just this morning during my stroll around the 'hood, is also my first positive ID of….drum roll please… the Eastern bluebird! Oh yay! I've seen this "mystery" bird a few times over the past year-ish, but every time I saw it, it was an overcast day and I could not, no matter how hard I squinted, actually make out the color blue. ARG! Today, I saw BLUE! What other bird has the russet "bib" and white belly? I was like 99.9% sure it was the bluebird but me being me, I HAD to see that pretty blue top-side before claiming I'd sighted one.

Also, a couple days ago, also during my morning walk, I spotted not one but two pileated woodpeckers! I spotted one in a neighbor's pine tree last year, and one at the WA Oaks Gardens State Park as well. Gotta love that 'do! These two were near each other, about 2-3 houses apart, so am wondering if they were a pair. They were both hammering, or I'd never have seen them...

I just have to mention that I received a book in the mail the other day, from my 90 year old, dear dad. He sent me his copy of A Field Guide to Western Birds by Peterson. The point of my mentioning this is that this particular edition is copyrighted 1941; the newest edition is 2010. The book arrived the day after I'd spotted the two pileated woodpeckers…there was a small note tucked into the book like a bookmark…the page it was tucked into happens to be page 104, under the Pileated Woodpecker…!

Oh, also seen recently…the first batch of wild turkeys!

A thank you goes to Bob P. for helping me with the correct ID on my previous post…the small tern is a Forster's not the common tern, which isn't so common it turns out…at least not in FL...

Ok, on to some photos…mostly blurry due to taking them through a window…

The birds are eating us out of house and home…and, we now have a male downy woodpecker visiting the suet feeder! I saw him 1-2x last year, but he has been showing up occasionally this early spring on a fairly regular basis.  :-D

The pine warblers had been scarce lately, but seem to be making a come-back…they're here year-round technically at least…

I ran out of suet Wed., the day before I went grocery shopping, and after watching several birds at the empty feeder, I felt guilty enough to make my own suet, ha! The Carolina wrens sure seemed to like it…I even had two at once at the feeder. They are definitely becoming more brave at the feeders this year vs. last year when they were very skittish and scarce.

You know it's spring when the squirrels start pigging out on the maple tree seeds! And I mean PIG OUT…they don't quit until the seeds are all gone, just like the robins and the red berries. Last year, we worried whether the tree would still grow leaves…this front yard tree is still leafless but the back yard, larger maple has it's new leaves.


We have been to the beach since my last post…

Is it me or does this hunkered down pelican look like a feathered football?!

There was a large cluster of sea birds, including a few immature brown pelicans…this one has a leg band…

…Lots of laughing gulls, which are getting their solid black "helmets" back for summer…in case you're wondering why they're called laughing gulls, well just try hanging out for a few minutes with a flock of them…they don't shut up, and they sound kind of like they're laughing when they squawk at each other. Which is constantly. OY! Just another fun day at the beach!

Another Day at the Beach

As luck would have it, good friends of ours, R and L, have purchased a monster RV and are taking delight in "camping" at a beach-front park in our area. They live near Orlando, and like many Floridians, lease their house out to snow birds…so they've been taking 4-7 day trips to escape the hustle and bustle of a more urban life. And we've been visiting them during their stays…the weather was nasty (but hey, no snow!) during their 3rd and 2nd-to-last visits, but it was just warm enough weather a week ago, during their most recent visit, when we met them on the beach….I didn't go far at all to take some photos of the shore birds at hand...

A large, mixed cluster of sea birds were just chillin' less than 50 yards from where we planted ourselves, including these two royal terns and their hilarious 'dos…they never cease to amuse me…once summer plumage takes over the 'do will be a solid black cap up to the bill...

This little Forster's tern will also have a solid black cap come summer, but they only winter along the Florida coastlines...

The black skimmers were still in presence, in a larger number than my previous visit...

…Again, a lone willet among the larger gulls and terns…the willets seem to be tireless feeders at the ocean's edge, and this was the first time I saw one head up onto the sand, and seem to think to itself "Hmm, this looks like a good spot…"

…And then proceed to settle in for a good rest.

There were also the usual small number of ruddy turnstones (and sanderlings) skittering about, and the one brave rogue who came close to see if a snack would be tossed its way…this shot was taken from my beach chair...

And so was this shot, I admit…out of nowhere this brown pelican flapped down to the sand, stood in one spot checking things out…and then took off…you never now what will come along at a Florida beach…we saw Northern gannets diving into the ocean, too far out for photos…and the token osprey made its appearance, also not quite close enough…

Just another day at the beach!


Back at our humble cottage, today...

I believe this is an Eastern phoebe! A lifer! It visited the back yard briefly…no seeds for this one tho. The yellow-rumped warblers, however, are flocking all over the place and even visiting our feeders these days.

 I also discovered that the Carolina wrens aren't as scarce as I thought…they're just busy nibbling insects on the north side of the house.