Tag: possum branch preserve

Not a new duck but a rare one.

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

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I had only seen one Goldeneye from across a big lake and only had one blurry picture of it. I could barely tell what it looked like. When I heard that two of them were floating around in a channel right near my house I had dropped everything, grabbed my camera and headed out. I walked for a while looking through all of the ring neck, grebes, scaups and mallards until I saw them.  These guys are pretty rare around here. There was one last February in the area that was very skittish and stayed far away. These two were floating down the channel without really paying any attention to me.

Possum Branch Preserve

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography18 Comments

“Look at my big fish!”

Another view. I did not see him swallow this. He sat there for a few minutes and then flew off. I’m sure at some point he got it down.

The red winged blackbirds were being very noisy. I kept trying to tell them to be quiet so I could enjoy my morning. They would not listen.

Pied grebe floating close by. I have never noticed the black stripe on their beak before.

Sparrow – this is either a swamp, grasshopper or savannah. All of them were listed as being seen in this spot. The other birders there argued over which one it was. I’m thinking savannah since it looks like he has a little yellow around his head.

I turn around to start to leave and see a kildeer on the trail. I snapped the picture before he took off. When he took off, another one flew off with him.

Cute little Florida rat (alligator snack).

 

I thought I’d head back to Possum Branch to look for the green tailed towhee. I found him right after Christmas  but hadn’t been back to this little preserve since then. No sight of the towhee in the almost two hours I was there but I have read others have sighted him since then. That tiny little preserve on the corner of a very busy intersection is amazing. As soon as I walked in, I spot the great blue heron pulling something out of the water. I thought “This was totally worth stopping here even if I don’t see anything else.” There were sparrows flitting all around the bushes and lots of usual grackles and blackbirds. The canal that runs along the preserve had lesser scaup but they’ll be gone soon. I was surprised to see the kildeer there. I don’t see them often. I spotted 5 alligators in the two small ponds. Now I hear there’s a clapper rail there so another trip will be soon.

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New bird – green tailed towhee

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photographyLeave a comment
This is not a green tailed towhee. This is a hispid cotton rat.
My first view of the green tailed towhee.
A close up shot. Look at that rust head!

I had been hearing about the green tailed towhee for a couple of weeks. I didn’t have time before Christmas to swing by the Possum Branch preserve to see it. I had some time New Year’s weekend so I headed out early in the morning. Luckily, there were two other photographers there that had already seen it or I would have never found it. The directions on Bird Brains said follow the path to the canal, take a left and look at the first mulberry tree. He wasn’t there. He was hiding under brush next to the boat ramp. Everyone said if you see the rat eating bird seed, you’re in the right place. We waiting for about an hour until the towhee made an appearance. It was worth the wait even if he didn’t come out from under the brush.  I saw some other cool birds there but more on those later.