Finally saw that duck

I headed over to the Dunedin causeway to look for the elusive black scoter. I had recently driven down to south St. Pete to look for him without any luck. Then a few days later I hear there is one right at the causeway nearby. The first thing I saw was this turkey vulture eating a fish that must have washed up on shore.

The dark clouds had started to move in so it was hard to tell what was floating around out there. The two above were a pair of cormorants.

Was this it? No, I realized as I cropped it up on my camera. Just a common loon but still a cool find.

There she was. The black scoter that I could finally add to my list. She was pretty far out and these are extremely cropped up but she counts! Not a pretty duck by any means. I would have probably thought it was a female lesser scaup if I wasn’t paying attention. She’s a fairly rare duck but there were two sightings in two weeks. Unless, she’s the same one that was down south that ended up here.

The rocky beach on the north side of the causeway was littered with these fish. This was at the end of December when red tide was creeping north up the beaches. Luckily it didn’t hang around too long and is gone.

I stopped at nearby Possum Branch Preserve for a quick walk since I hadn’t been since May. It’s too hot and void of birds in the summer and I missed fall migration due to my shoulder surgery. I was meeting Brett for lunch so I didn’t stay long but it was good to get out there and walk the trails.

I saw this ibis with his lunch as I was leaving.

Inspire Me Monday

 

A 3 park morning.

It was early December and I was ready for another morning out with my camera. My first stop was the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. I ended up only taking a few pictures while I was there. I was busy looking for birds of which I found none.

I left the gardens and stopped at nearby McGough Park to see if there were any birds there. No birds but a lot of other critters. The bees have taken over this owl nest box.

A few of the turtles in the turtle pond.

Some of the permanently injured animals that live here (the nature center here houses animals that cannot be released back into the wild). Both owls had injured eyes.

On the way home I stopped at the Largo Nature Preserve and did find a few birds here.  You can usually find limpkins along the boardwalk here and they are use to people walking by. This one was sitting on the railing and made no attempt to move as I walked by. This is not cropped.

Not surprised to find the usual birds here. A blue gray gnatcatcher, a black and white warbler and a yellow rumped warbler.

Another usual bird, a pine warbler, was pigging out on caterpillars. He ate several while I was snapping and I was lucky enough for him to show them to me.

Alligator Alley trail is back open.

Birds up high.

A few down low.

Wild hogs hiding in the bushes. Not sure where the term “pigtails” comes from?

One of the main trails, Alligator Alley, was finally back open after closing in September of 2017. When Hurricane Irma came through, the trail was washed out and a lot of damage was done to that part of the park. The raised trail across the marsh was finally rebuilt and it was great to walk down it again in late January.

Out on the dock you could see the bald cypress trees going bald for the winter.

SkyWatch Friday

New Year’s Day “Name that bird”

Female belted kingfisher (Males do not have the brown stripe across the chest).

Female red bellied woodpecker (Males have full red on his head).

Male common yellowthroat (Female does not have the black mask).

Limpkin

Crazy green heron.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher.

Female ruby throated hummingbird (Males have a bright red stripe across the chin).

A very young white crowned sparrow (a fairly rare one here).

A young red shoulder hawk (very common around here).

All taken on a recent visit to Circle B Bar Reserve.

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

My favorite little birds.

dsc_0804 dsc_0806

My favorite little titmouse coming to check me out.

dsc_0819

dsc_0828

dsc_0830

My next favorite blue-gray gnatcatchers. They would be my favorite but they are so annoying the way they don’t sit still for a second.

dsc_0844

dsc_0846

dsc_0848

dsc_0849

dsc_0853

Other usual birds at the park: white eyed vireo, cardinal, eastern phoebe, female red winged blackbird and the always present red bellied woodpecker.

dsc_0792

It’s hard to ignore the cute squirrels.

Stuff at Chesnut Park in early January.

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ing

Common and uncommon birds at Chesnut Park

dsc_7616dsc_7461

dsc_7564

dsc_7546

Above are some of the common birds you see in the winter here. An Eastern phoebe, a catbird, a black and white warbler and a blue-gray gnatcatcher.

dsc_7428

dsc_7432

Another common year round bird, the pileated woodpecker. Most of the time I usually hear them screaming from high up in the trees. This one came down a little closer.

dsc_7453

A house wren is not that common.

dsc_7485

Yellow throated warblers are common in the winter but they tend to hide up in the palm trees and under the palms.

dsc_7522

dsc_7513

dsc_7538

I think these are all pine warblers.

dsc_7543

dsc_7581

dsc_7590

Not a common bird for me to see, a black capped chickadee. There were several high up in the trees near the boardwalk.

dsc_7463

A very strange but not uncommon bird flying over the lake.

Lots of little birds flying around Chesnut Park in early November (a few big ones too).

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ingLife Thru the Lens Link Up | Lisa Kerner | Simple Living Photography

A blue-gray day

dsc_6881 dsc_6891 dsc_6896 dsc_6897 dsc_6899 dsc_6900 dsc_6901 dsc_6903 dsc_6953

The blue-gray gnatcatchers have invaded us for the winter. They are everywhere. They are easy to hear and spot. They have a very distinct high pitch and are constantly on the move so you can see them bouncing from branch to branch. I have a ton of pictures of these little birds and always say I’m not going to take any more but they are so cute.  There were a few at Lettuce Lake Park recently that were very accommodating that came very close to the boardwalk and posed for a few seconds at a time. Any blue-gray day in a park is a good one.

Linking to Saturday’s Critters

Going home with “warbler neck”

dsc_5975 dsc_6020

Summer tanagers were posing for the crowd.

dsc_6042

Black and white warbler with a bug.

dsc_6072

Redstart hiding in the shadows.

dsc_6082

dsc_6086

Blue gray gnatcatchers eating bugs.

dsc_6102

A rare yellow billed cuckoo was the star of the day. I had seen one once before at Circle B Bar Reserve but there were many birders there that had their first sighting of one. He was high up in the tree but everyone was able to get a good shot.

dsc_6150

The one of many palm warblers that hang out here in the winter.

dsc_6166

White eyed vireos will be common to spot this winter.

dsc_6046

dsc_6175

I was told the two above were Nashville warblers. Can anyone confirm?

dsc_6205

A brief glimpse of a Tennessee warbler.

dsc_6095

My first Philadelphia Vireo. He was hanging around the cuckoo.

“We got fall out!” was the term used on the bird forums.  Fort Desoto Park was covered in birds that had stopped for a rest on their way south for the winter in early October. I got to the park around 8am and many people already looking up in the oak trees at the picnic area. I spent several hours taking tons of pictures and had “warbler neck” from staring straight up into the trees for so long. A nap after lunch got rid of that. It’s not often you get a day where you can stand under a tree and see so many different birds.

Little to big

DSC_9152The tiniest bird I saw that day. A blue-gray gnatcatcher looking up.

DSC_9145

Not too much bigger is the eastern phoebe. You can usually find them hanging out at the intersection of Marsh Rabbit Run and Heron Hideout.

DSC_9137A little bit bigger, there’s been a kingfisher hanging out in the same corner as the phoebe.

DSC_9331

This early fall, there’s been a purple gallinule family hanging out in the same corner as well.

DSC_9288

Getting bigger, I found these juvenile limpkins hiding in the marsh. They still have some baby fuzz on them.

DSC_9262

A parent was close by watching me.

DSC_9178

The American bitterns are back. This one was hiding in the marsh on Wading Bird Way. Another photog with a keen eye found him.

DSC_9247

Taken right into the sun, the anhinga was flipping his fish.

DSC_9316

“I’m the biggest one here.” says the turkey vulture showing off.

DSC_9225

“Bye, bye” says the ducks as they take off after an eagle flew over them.

Lots of the same ole thing at Circle B Bar Reserve in mid-November.

Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday Our World Tuesday Graphic

Also, check out more birds at Paying Ready Attention  for