A Full-time Life

Category: Florida birding

  • MORE “YARD” BIRDS

     

     The whole Ibis clan was out for a morning walk last week:

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    Now that the "snowbirds" have left, these birds are  fine strolling down the middle of the street.  There's not too much traffic in the Park:

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    On the same morning walk, I spied this red-shouldered hawk in the wetlands: 

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    The little mockingbird wasn't worried about being so close to this bird of prey.

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    He seemed to know that the hawk had his eye on something in another direction.

     

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     And there he goes.

    **

    Stewart is the host of WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.  Visit his blogs and those of the other birders who link up to the best birding on the web.

  • YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON

     

     

    We've seen yellow-crowned night herons before, when we were purposely out and about looking for birds, but this is the first one I've seen on our Canal.   I really expected it to fly before I could get my camera out.  

     
    First sight

     

    But instead, he seemed to want to pose for me.    

      


    Profile left

     

    Is this my best side?

     


    Profile right

    Or does this one show my white plume better?

      


    Left framed

     And check out my  beautiful feather pattern.

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    Spotted on an otherwise ordinary morning walk along the canal and sharing with WORLD BIRD WEDNESDAY,  the best birding on the web.  Thanks to Stewart.

     

  • WALKING WITH WOODPECKERS

     

    Woodpeckers seem to love Upriver this time of year!  The morning walks last week were not so much about exercise as about chasing them……stopping every few steps  to marvel at these flashes of bright red and occasionally trying to take their picture.


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    I'm pretty sure that the ones on the left and on the picnic table are red-bellied woodpeckers. The top one is a pileated and the other two are red-headeds (a new bird for me).  

     

    I'll keep chasing these beauties as long as they (and we) are here.  The perfect picture remains to be taken.  Meanwhile it's fun trying.  (And I can always go for another walk in the evening, for exercise!)

     

    FOR:  WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY, thank you to Stewart for hosting.

  • SANIBEL OSPREYS

     

    We stopped to check out this Osprey nest just outside of the Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island.     At first we spotted only this guy:

     

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    With those wild eyes and disheveled feathers he looked like he'd just woken up.  I wondered if he was alone in that big nest.  And then his mate emerged from down below.

     

     

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     I waited and waited and waited for Osprey #2 to turn,  so  I wouldn't have to post a 'butt-shot.'

     

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    Finally she took a break from her  work and turned.  

    Unfortunately, so did Osprey #1.

     

     

    Linked to  WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY, where pretty much everybody else is talented and patient enough to wait for that perfect shot!     It's the best birding on the web.  Thanks to Stewart for hosting.   

  • MIXED BAG OF BIRDS

     

    We almost never go on weekend daytrips, but Sunday we needed a break from our Canal Cottage project, so we decided to drive to Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island.    It was late morning by the time we got there, and already starting to get hot, so it wasn't our best birding day ever.  Not even the best birding day at that particular place.   

     
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    But the red mangroves and beach flowers were pretty, the horseshoe crabs were putting on a pretty good swim show, and we saw a mixed bag of shore birds.

     

     
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    Along with these two juvenile white pelicans, who hadn't flown North yet  (left behind by their parents!).


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    Nothing new, nothing wildly exciting, not even the best close-up views.  But any bird is better than no bird … and a whole passel of shorebirds is even better.

     

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    Most importantly, we got outdoors in the sunshine.  And we remembered why we love it here (and why we're working to make our Canal Cottage more livable.)

     

    Thanks to Stewart at  WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY, where the clicks will take you to terrific views of birds from all over.  Even if you haven't been able to get outside much to  do your own birding.

  • LET ME IN?

     

     Everywhere we went at Save Our Seabirds Sanctuary, we saw this inquisitive Great Blue Heron.  Not one of the "patients", apparently he just flew in to visit friends …

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    …  Or perhaps to see what the facility was all about.  Or maybe he wanted to be let in because he was hungry or tired of the rainy day (it had poured off and on all that day).  

     

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     Everytime we turned a corner, there he'd be, a few steps ahead of us.  We stopped each time  to let him visit for a while before we walked on.  I wonder what they were saying to each other.

    I didn't get very good pictures of the Sandhill Cranes, so I included  portions of a couple of signs to show why most of them are there:

     
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    And to explain better than I could why so many of them need help:

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    SHARED with Stewart's WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY and Lesley's SIGNS SIGNS.  Thank you to the hosts.

  • SOS – GREAT HORNED OWLS

     

    Save Our Seabirds in Sarasota is a rescue and rehabilitation facility for injured wild birds  (not just sea birds, although that's how they started).    We saw these three great horned owls there — and although they weren't flying free right at that moment, the goal of SOS is to return them  to their real home,  so I am linking to Stewart's WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.

    great horned owls, Save Our Seabirds

     

       They reminded me somehow of pictures of the "See No Evil…."  monkeys.  

     
    Save Our Seabirds entry

     

     

    Below are two   links for further reading about SOS:

      web page for:   SAVE OUR SEABIRDS, SARASOTA 

    newspaper interview with SOS president

  • THE EAGLES HAVE FLEDGED

    For Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

    Our neighborhood  eaglets  have left the nest.    Hope and Honor hatched the week of New Year's Day.   Both  flew to neighboring trees within a couple hours of each other yesterday (Monday) morning.   

     

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    I wasn't out early enough to see their very first flights, but was there early in the afternoon.

     Hope (or maybe it was Honor) was perched in this tree about 90 yards from the nest.  She  (or maybe he; nobody knows for sure) seemed to be a little hesitant to take off again.   Other watchers said she'd been there for a couple of hours.

     



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    She would spread those magnificent wings and fly to the end of the branch.  Once she flew up and bumped her head on the little branch above.  And then, as her adoring audience watched,  she sort-of tiptoed out to the end of the branch and  … just flew away.   Clear across the pasture and into the neighboring woodsy area.   

    You can go to the Southwest Florida Eagles Facebook page or the many YouTube links to see wonderful photos and videos that others — with better cameras and faster reaction times — have taken.  But I watched her first long flight and wanted to share a little of the awe-inspiring moment.

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    Here are the eaglets one week ago yesterday.  At that stage, they were practicing to  fly by "branching"…kind of flapping up to the branches above the nest and then exercising their wings while sitting there.


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    On that day, I saw both Ozzie and Harriet (the parents) perched on nearby trees as they watched the nestlings learn.   Yesterday, I saw one of them drop off a fish lunch (the other eaglet had returned to the nest).   The parents will continue to bring food to the nest for about a week and the newly-fledged eagles will return  for food every once in a while as they learn to make their own living out in the great wide world.     

     

    Thank you to STEWART for hosting WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY and to MICHELLE for NATURE NOTES.  Click the links!  You'll be glad you did.    

  • HOODED MERGANSER

     

    Spotted on a canal near Martin Marina in Clewiston.

    Hooded Merganser Martin Marina

    I didn't do anything to these pictures except crop them.  It's the same water, the same bird, and the same stop on my walk.    It's funny how the light changed the color of the water over just a few minutes.   

     

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    The Hooded Merganser was a new bird for me,

    so he gets the honor of being linked to WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.  Thank you Stewart.

    We also saw a lot of the usual (but beautiful) suspects on our boat trip along the river.  I posted some of them here yesterday.   

  • BIRD ROOKERY

    For WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY hosted by STEWART.  

    Peace river boat trip w UR feb 20131
    It is a mystery to me why birds choose one area for their roosts instead of another.  Sometimes you'll see a mangrove island with so many nesting birds that there's almost no space for the birds to move around (or so it seems to my eye)   — while just down the river there's another islet that looks exactly the same except that it is completely empty of bird life.  



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    They must have a good reason because it seems to be working for them.

     


    Roseate spoonbill and storks

    We passed several woodstork rookeries on a recent trip down part of the Peace River.  There were a few roseate spoonbills sharing the same mangroves.

     


    Roseate spoonbill

    I  remember how amazing it was to see these pink birds for the first time.  They still amaze me!

     


    Stork wing display
    Just a little bit of woodstork courting ritual caught on camera.