Showing posts with label Brown Pelican. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brown Pelican. Show all posts

Monday, December 26, 2016

Largo Birding

Where to go the day after Christmas? I couldn't decide so I visited several spots all around Largo. First stop: War Veteran's Memorial Park where I have spent time during Christmas Bird Counts. It was not too birdy, but the Brown Pelicans feeding out in the channel.

Brown Pelican

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.

Black and White Warbler

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.

Black-hooded Parakeet

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.

House Finch

Down in the freshly cut grass and brush were several Western Palm Warblers hopping around and feeding.

Western Palm Warbler

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.

Downy Woodpecker

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.

Wide angle

Heading back to the parking lot I spotted a Pied-billed Grebe swimming down the creek toward me.

Pied-billed Grebe

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.

Little Blue Heron

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.

Eastern Phoebe

I turned toward the car and had a Northern Mockingbird pop up out of a bush. Who can resist that shot?

Northern Mockingbird

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...

Ring-billed Gull

...or to the left?

Ring-billed Gull

I love how this Common Gallinule looks like it was carved out of wax and the color scheme really works for me, too.

Common Gallinule

Up in the pines was a lone Anhinga just relaxing.

Anhinga

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.

Ring-billed Gull

This one is definitely an older bird

Ring-billed Gull

Not a bad way to spend a long morning of birding. However, it will soon be time to head back to Orlando and home.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

2016 St. Pete CBC, Part 1

That time of year again! Time to head to St. Pete to count as many birds as we can in our selected count circle for the Christmas Bird Count. This year I was assigned to Area #5 in the very urban St. Pete area near Tropicana Field. Being so city like, we didn't get some species I would have expected nearly anywhere else (no Carolina Wren?) but we managed to get some nice birds along the way.

We began at Crescent Lake before dawn searching for owls in the neighborhoods. No luck. Right at dawn we returned to the lake park and started counting every thing we could see. Besides the huge number of Muscovy and Domestic duck all over the Northern side, we had a Wood Stork on a tree as the Sun rose just behind the treetops.

Wood Stork

Nearby, a few Green Herons lurked in the shadows.

Green Heron

As we tried to ID a warbler in the underbrush we flushed a Black-crowned Night Heron that flew out to rest next to the stork.

Black-crowned Night Heron

There were other species added to the list but this little Gray Squirrel insisted on getting its photo taken. Fine...

TK

Small flock of wintering duck were scattered around but we decided to come back later when the light was better for some photos. They will appear in the next post. For now, we headed to Coffee Pot Bayou to the roosting spot of Brown Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants. There were a lot but I enjoyed having a couple right next to the road for some good shots.

Brown Pelican

We also spotted a Roseate Spoonbill trying to hide in the mangrove roost and numerous Anhinga.

Brown Pelican

Next, we headed to the beach as the tide was low and we hoped to get some good shorebirds to add to the list. Killian took up a spot on the end of a jetty to record bird numbers as Jim called them out while peering through his scope.

Killian

Many birds, like this Dunlin, were close enough to not need a scope.

Dunlin

There were a lot of Least Sandpipers in the close flock. I can't recall having so many shorebirds stay so close to me. They usually scatter upon approach. I guess this area is so full of visitors that the birds take little notice.

Least Sandpiper

If something else would startle the flock they would quickly return right next to us.

Least Sandpiper

There was a nice gathering of birds loafing farther down the beach so we headed in that direction. Along the way, a Eurasian Collared-Dove strolled the beach as a Loggerhead Shrike sat atop a light pole.

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Our main target was counting the 65 American White Pelican jammed at the edge of the sand spit. There were also scores of terns and Black Skimmers behind them.

American White Pelican

A Reddish Egret soon flew in and began its dancing through the shallow water in search of a meal.

Reddish Egret

We also spotted a single Herring Gull resting with a few Laughing Gulls and some Royal Terns.

Herring Gull

We were hearing Monk Parakeets near the parking lot and Killian found them on our second trip out here. They were in a tree right over a few folks getting in some training. Not a care in the world.

Monk Parakeet

Most of the Monk Parakeets were by themselves but I liked this cute pair getting their feathers blown about in the breeze.

Monk Parakeet

Then they would snuggle and preen one another.

Monk Parakeet

But, we needed to head to our next stop which was a small park by a boat slip. Not too much around but a Northern Mockingbird, some Mytle Warblers, and few White Ibis.

White Ibis

Finishing up our first areas so quickly, we decided to head to the golf course a little early. We were told to return later, however, as a lot of golfers were still arriving and they thought it would be better for us to return in the afternoon. OK. Time for lunch and then back to look for a Sapsucker and other birds at the lake.

We thought the golf course might not hold that many birds, though, so we weren't totally enthused about it anyway. Boy, would we be in for a surprise. All that in the next post!

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Yearly Birding Stop at Ft. DeSoto

My father and I left dark and early to get to Fort DeSoto and the Tierra Verde Duck Ponds to try and find anything. I always try to get over here at some point when we visit at Christmastime. We stopped by the ponds first so we got to the Loop a little late but there was still a nice sunrise going on with our 3rd sundog of the weekend.

Sunshine Skyway Sunrise

I was really hoping to find a Franklin's Gull somewhere. We missed the one that was here last year and many are being seen on the Atlantic side of the state. Unfortunately, all we could find were Laughing Gulls.

Laughing Gull

Ospreys are nesting now and thy often fly by in search of a meal.

Osprey

We enjoyed watching the large flock of Brown Pelicans on the rocks next to the pier.

Brown Pelican

Just after we pulled into the North Beach parking lot I spotted a bird off to the right. It was an American Kestrel that actually stayed put after I got out of the car. That never has happened before!

American Kestrel

Not too long ago (OK, maybe a couple years) I heard that Pinellas County was going to try and get rid of all the non-native Australian Pines. You could the difference right after we parked. The whole wind-break before the beach was gone and once we got to the sand all we found were stumps.

Australian Pines

They cut those larger trees but it looks like they are just poisoning the smaller ones. Sorry, I have a soft spot for Australian Pines. I recall growing up along the shoreline and listening to the wind going through the branches. A wonderful sound to me.

Australian Pines

We continued walking and there was this single Ring-billed Gull out that just wanted to have its picture taken. OK, with me.

Ring-billed Gull

On the way back I decided to test the macro function on the new camera. My first subject was a chunk of Sand Dollar.

Sand Dollar

I spotted this grouping of Mangrove stems sticking out of the sand on the way out and the shadows just pulled me down for a close shot.

Mangrove

Tiny shells sit above ripples caused by the waves.

Shells

Suddenly a Forster's Tern got near and was feeding along the edge of the waves. It finally was in a pretty good position to try for a shot.

Forster's Tern

We headed toward the duck ponds again but that will be in another post. When we got back to the house I was trying some more macro shots when this silly Northern Mockingbird popped its head out from a bush.

Northern Mockingbird

Stay tuned for the duck story following soon!

Sunday, December 20, 2015

St. Pete CBC

My 9th Christmas Bird Count in St. Pete was windy and chilly and overall counts were down not only on the coast but all over Florida. Warm weather seems to have kept most migrants North but we venture out to count every species we can every year in hopes that the data will give us some insight of bird populations and movements.

Every year is different. Sometimes warm, sometimes freezing, but always interesting and I like getting over to the coast to see birds I don't always see in Central Florida. But, honestly, there were nota lot of birds that I couldn't find anywhere else this year. However, 9 hours walking all over Pinellas County is still fun.

We started our day out at Joe's Creek Preserve and first heard and then discovered a Great-horned Owl nest but never saw the bird.

Great-horned Owl

As the Sun continued to rise I spotted a Red-shouldered Hawk searching for breakfast in the distance and tried to get as close as I could before it flew off.

Red-shouldered Hawk

I didn't realize I had walked right by an Apiary until I turned around. It had not been here in the past few years that I was here. Hmmm.

Apiary

On the other side of the mound, a few Eastern Phoebes were feeding and perching around and on many trees.

Eastern Phoebe

Birds were beginning to move about and we had a few Roseate Spoonbills flying over.

Roseate Spoonbill

We drove over toward the water treatment plant and were surprised to find a big feeding flock of warblers. Most of them were Pine Warblers.

Pine Warbler

I don't think I have ever seen so many Pine Warblers at one time before this morning. They were everywhere!

Pine Warbler

Taking a pause from trying to get a shot of the warblers (in bad light) I glanced upward and spotted a nice Circumzenithal arc overheard.

Circumzenithal arc

Just before we left that spot we found a Blue-headed Vireo joining in on the feeding frenzy.

Blue-headed Vireo

Brazillian Pepper has been encroaching many areas in the state but I was amazed by how much they are taking over in this county.

Brazillian Pepper

We had to make a stop for gas and I took the chance to walk behind the store to a check of the canal. Good thing I did. A Mottled Duck was drifting by.

Mottled Duck

Heading over to Veteran's War Memorial Park we hoped to find some shorebirds but there were not a lot of them. I had to settle for a couple of Willet feeding near the shore.

Willet

How can I resist a shot of a Brown Pelican flying by?

Brown Pelican

One of the birds we always hope to find here is the Great-horned Owl. We thought it might be hard to get since we missed it the past couple of years but as we stepped out of the van...

Great-horned Owl

Another view of the sleepy Great-horned Owl.

Great-horned Owl

Heading back to the shore we were greeted by a few nice birds to add to the list, including a quick moving Yellow-throated Warbler.

Yellow-throated Warbler

Suddenly, a flock of American Goldfinches came in to view and began feeding on

American Goldfinch

As much as I liked watching the Goldfinches, I was also focused on another bird flitting about. A Prairie Warbler.

Prairie Warbler

Then quickly back to an American Goldfinch stuffing his face.

American Goldfinch

Nearby, we stopped at a strip mall to check a pond that usually holds interesting birds. Today we only had a few birds but did have a Mallard hybrid with ducklings.

Mallard Hybrid

Our count ended and I headed out to a spot where a rare bird was sighted a few days before. As I looked for the bird I could not resist taking a shot of a Palm Warbler that posed for me too easily.

Palm Warbler

I thought I had the rare bird in my sights but after looking through the shots and enhancing I discovered it was just an Orange-crowned Warbler. Oh, well.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Another CBC under my belt in St. Pete and a good time with other birders. Next year will be a 10 year anniversary. Until then...more birds back home!