I was taken aback by the lack of other birds in the park. The only other fun bird of note was a male Black and White Warbler moving at high speed near the point. Very little other activity in all of my hiking this morning.
Since it was pretty quiet at that park I headed over to Largo Central Park Nature Preserve. Things were a bit more interesting here. I walked around the back side of the park and found a number of Black-hooded Parakeets up in the power station.
I started through a recently cut portion leading back to the park and noticed some small birds darting into some brush. It took me a bit to nail it down but was pleasantly surprised to discover it was a House Finch.
Down in the freshly cut grass and brush were several Western Palm Warblers hopping around and feeding.
Halfway along the boardwalk in the woods a Downy Woodpecker dropped next to me and began pounding away on a tree. I took many, many photos just wanting the bird to look my direction at least once but he would not cooperate so I ended up with most of the shots becoming blurry.
One of my presents was a wide angle lens. It should be fun to play around with from time to time. Have to practice some exposure times, for sure.
Heading back to the parking lot I spotted a Pied-billed Grebe swimming down the creek toward me.
Just beyond that was a juvenile Little Blue Heron feeding so intently that it never paid attention to me as I took a couple dozen shots.
Just nearing the restrooms I saw a bird flash out and back to the trees. It was an Eastern Phoebe plucking insects from the air and returning to its perch.
I turned toward the car and had a Northern Mockingbird pop up out of a bush. Who can resist that shot?
I then headed over to John S. Taylor Park. It is a park that is hidden in plain sight, almost. It is surrounded by office buildings and homes but is fairly large and holds different birds than the other parks. Like Ring-billed Gulls which were relaxing all along the shoreline and atop signs. Which profile do you prefer? To the right...
...or to the left?
I love how this Common Gallinule looks like it was carved out of wax and the color scheme really works for me, too.
Up in the pines was a lone Anhinga just relaxing.
There wasn't too much more to look find so I had to take more shots of the gulls on the way out. This one seems a little younger than the others around.
This one is definitely an older bird
Not a bad way to spend a long morning of birding. However, it will soon be time to head back to Orlando and home.
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