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.

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.