Titmice and Chickadee

Heading out of the house again and I heard the birds moving toward the feeder so I had to run back for the camera. This time I was able to ease out of the front door to get some closer views. The Tufted Titmice were first to the feeder and eyed me briefly.



It quickly grabbed a sunflower seed before taking it back to the shrubs to eat it.



Then the continuing Carolina Chickadee joined in as the Sun began to dip behind the trees.



Still enjoying the Chickadee. Stick around, little guy. The new tail feathers look good on you!

Chickadee at Home

I was heading out to the store and heard an uncommon call at the house. Along with the calling Tufted Titmice there was another call. Could it be? Yes! A Carolina Chickadee!

Not the best shot as I had to take it through the screen but good enough for an ID. It is also molting out its tail.



A few years ago a group of us found one at Mead Botanical Garden and that was considered the first sighting there. It seems they are spreading throughout the region and I am a few miles south. We now have some at my bird banding site in Altamonte Springs. This is the first sighting of a Carolina Chickadee at the house. Hope it sticks around for a while.

In Search of Nuthatches

For some reason, I had the urge to go hiking out at Wekiwa Springs State Park. Perhaps it was because we heard the calls of Eastern Towhees at the banding site last week. When we banded at Wekiwa we heard them constantly but this was a first for us at Lake Lotus. I also figured I could check on the old stomping grounds and set a main goal of finding Brown-headed Nuthatches and trying for better shots than I have gotten in the past. This would mean a lot of walking. Been too long. Need the exercise.

This would require a long hike. Nuthatches only show up in the pine flatwoods portion of the park way out along the hiking and horse trails. Most of it is in the open. First, you have to cross a small creek and head out. As soon as I got to the other side of the creek I heard calls all over. Calls of Carolina Chickadees!



Easy to hear and see, not so easy to photograph. There were several pairs of adults being pursued by hungry chicks. I tried to get the begging behavior they show but most of those were obscured. I got one chick in the open for a few seconds.



Fun. But also in this section was a wall of Deer and Robber Flies which zoomed around and onto me relentlessly as I tried to photograph the Chickadees. Time to hike into the open and be free of these pests. After about 20 minutes of hiking I heard a White-eyed Vireo in a bush up ahead. I was happy to think I could get a close shot of one of these guys today, too. Just before I got to the bush, a small shape dropped out of the sky and then back onto a branch of a pine tree. Nuthatch!



I was listening for their 'squeaky play toy' calls but this family was not making a sound. If not for that bird dropping out of the pine I would have walked right past them. Now I had to try and get a shot as they zipped around the branches and kept their backs to me when actually in the open. I still like this shot for the color and the feeding behavior it demonstrates.



Flying around with the Nuthatch family was another bird you would expect here. A Pine Warbler. They were calling all over the place today but tend to also stay way at the tops of the pines.



A bit of patience (not my strong suit) finally paid off with a shot of a Nuthatch looking my way with a seed ready to eat.



They soon headed to the tip-top of the trees so I headed on. The vireo moved on so I continued up the trail and toward the water. I was actually kind of disappointed with what I found. The map shows Rock Springs Run along the property but all you see from the trail is a little open spot of water to put in your kayak, I guess. I had hoped to have the trail go all the way down the run where I could see it. At least a Pearly Eye made it more interesting.



I walked all the way to Camp Cozy and back out into the open and began my turn back to try and find more Nuthatches or other birds. A 1/4 mile down the trail a Summer Tanager flew in for a brief minute and then headed off into the distance.



I heard another call up ahead but didn't recognize it right away. Finally I could see it. An Eastern Bluebird! The bird would never let me get closer than this but it stayed along the trail occasionally perching and singing before flying ahead of me again.



The next stand of pines revealed a couple birds that I thought were Nuthatches but turned out to be Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. Easy to find but I noticed it was flying back to a spot on a high branch, flying out for food, and flying back to the same spot. I could finally tell it was returning to a nest! More interesting is that this is a male, told by the black eyebrows.



The trail led me back to where the Chickadees were and it forks off to a blue trail blaze I have never been on so I decided to take that. It goes back into the trees along the creek a couple of times. Down in the creek at one spot I discovered an Ebony Jewelwing resting in the one spot of sunshine. These are very large damselflies and so green it is amazing.



Now up into the palmetto scrub section of the park and I finally got a White-eyed Vireo to come down to eye level for a moment. Still need a better shot but it was off in a hurry.



I also began to hear Eastern Towhees the closer I got to our old banding territory. Luckily, a male jumped up out of the scrub and sang while I got to a good spot for a shot.



Another stoke of luck. Just after the Towhee flew off two White-eyed Vireos flew in with competing songs and in search of bugs. One flew fairly close to me and I managed to catch a shot of that bright, namesake eye.



I was almost back at the banding trail and hoped to find some Red-headed Woodpeckers. No luck there but I did find all the old net poles still where we left them many years ago. The trees have grown up over the paths but if you know where to dive in... I did like the patterns on the young Pine Trees now growing in various locations.



Whew! Long post. 7 miles of walking. Tired but I got what I came out here for with the Brown-headed Nuthatches and got some other fun experiences, as well. Now, still nearly an hour drive home...

My Surprise Chickadee

We took a little trip to the Panhandle for Spring Break. Never made it to the beach but we saw some cool things along the way. I tried to do a bit of birding but nothing hardcore. I don't think I even tried for too many shots of birds at all.

We discovered that there was a small park near Tallahassee so we swung in there not long before dark to see it we could find something new. We were in search of a White-breasted Nuthatch which are said to breed in the park. They may, but we discovered that the park is around 10 acres of trails and we only had 40 minutes of light.

And still had to get to Gainesville, hours away.

So, I decided to just do a quick search of the nearest trail. Mosquitoes were getting bad so no one else would want to hang around. Luckily, right on the edge of woods was a familiar sound. A Carolina Chickadee was calling like crazy. Soon, it was almost directly overhead.



My son and I did not find much else on a short walk and the lake on the map was apparently very low due to the lack of recent rainfall. However, there was a bright male Eastern Bluebird on the top wires on the way back!



I need to make a plan to get back to this area again someday to visit a couple of other areas and hope to be back here to find those Nuthatches.

Let's Get Back to Wilder Birds

Yeah. I have more BirdCam photos to share. Frankly, I am bored of them for now. So 'all-the-same' for so long. Have been busy trying to get Life back in order and I haven't had a chance to get out and about much but today I was forced to make a check on the banding site. Glad it happened.

By the time I got to the banding table, the place was humming with activity. Titmice, Prairie Warblers, Gnatcatchers, woodpeckers, and some bird flycatching in the midstory of the trees.

I was thinking it was our Great-crested at first but then it began to look different. Then I thought it was maybe an Acadian. Later study of photos and confirmation from Bruce Andreson revealed it to be an early Eastern Wood Pewee!



I had forgot to bring the binoculars so I could not ID some of the other members of the big flock. Other than the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds high up in the oaks.

Further down the trail I heard a sound I did not recognize at all. I spent a few minutes pinning it down to one section of branches. To my surprise it turned out to be a Carolina Chickadee!



I was just recalling, not long ago, that we don't see them here as compared to Wekiva. Note to self: keep making these statements to prove me wrong!

Loads of birds were also in the area. Carolina Wrens, Cardinals, Parula, and my first Ovenbird of the season.

Can't wait to see if all of these birds stick around until Sunday.

Thanks For the Parent's House

Stopped by the parent's house after Thanksgiving for a visit and it turned into a good move. Especially after getting a new bird I have been searching for over the past 2 years.

I was reading the paper early in the morning and noticed just a few Mourning Doves at the feeders. A bit later I had a feeling that I should look toward the feeders again and there was a small tail sticking out from the feeder. Just a House Sparrow but other birds were moving about in the shrubs.

First a Cardinal but then a Titmouse. Then a Palm Warbler. Then something else. A House Finch. This shot is through the back window with a screen but a good document for their house.



Filling the birdbath seems to be paying off.

Next sighting was a Carolina Chickadee. Not common in this area but they are moving their range southward. I got a shot of it out front a bit later.



An easy way to find any present Chickadees is by following the sounds of the Tufted Titmice which were gleaning from the shrubs and holly trees. Then moving on to the feeders.



Best find, though, was a single Pine Siskin hanging out with the Goldfinches that arrived with the feeding flock. No photos but a Life Bird for me. I have been trying to find one for years and there it was in the backyard 100 miles from my house.

Thankful for that, at least.

St. George Island Vacation, Pt. 4

The boys and I took one last walk down the shoreline on the northern edge of the island. I had only been over there during high tide and wanted to see what might be feeding there on the mudflats. There were a different variety of species on this side.

Out on the far edge of the flats were Killdeer and a Semipalmated Plover.



A bird I find more and more attractive as I photograph them, Willet, feeds in great morning sunlight.



Out at the tip of the island, a large gull fed on something mysterious on the beach. As we got closer the gull walked to the edge of the beach and I could see it was an adult Herring Gull. I am used to juveniles on the Atlantic side of the state so the adult version was throwing me for a minute.



But what was it feasting upon? Yum! An octopus!



On our walk back, we had many other birds fly past us. This Brown Pelican made a close pass.



As did this Laughing Gull.



We got back to the campsite and packed up and began our trip home. There were a couple of stops I wanted to make along the way so we headed over to Bald Point. The weather was taking a turn for the worse (it had been raining inland for a day or so) and there were not a lot of birds to be found.

The best spot was the main entry to Bald point which was alive with sparrows, Blue Birds, and more. I stepped out to investigate and heard a familiar voice. A Carolina Chickadee!



Finally, I found some Brown-headed Nuthatches. Not the Siskins I was hoping for but something nice all the same.



A great trip. Some day we will have to get back here and really go through the other bird sites such as St. Marks. Until then, back through the rain, into the night, and home.

New Birds at Wekiva

Birds continue their southern run and we had a few new birds for the season out at Wekiva today.

I was bringing in a Veery when I heard some noise over at net 10. I strode over to see a Chickadee in the net about midway down. I was hanging the bag containing the Verry when it up an bolted straight back out again! Dang.

Don't fear, though, as our day ended with a return visit.

The Veerys were increasing in numbers. I was very pleased with this shot. Make it look so soft and fluffy.



The first real surprise of the day was our first of the season Worm-eating Warbler. I think we may have had only 1 last year but it could have been zero.



That was good enough but the best was yet to come. The guys making a net run showed up all excited and announcing they had retreived an Acadian Flycatcher. Excellent! However, when it was brought out of the bag it looked a bit more suspicious to me.

More like a Traill's Flycatcher. Different feather coloration than an Acadian. Different shape to me, too.

We took measurements to eliminate certain species but I kept seeing that open mouth every other time I turned around. Very yellow-orange. Not pinkish. That screamed Alder (one of the two types of Traill's) in the back of my head.

We took a ton of photos from every possible angle and I sent some off to be double-checked. The reply came back: Probable Alder. Definitely not Acadian. Alder it stall be.



Had a growing count for the day but that missed Chickadee still bugged me hours later. I ran the net lanes one more time to determine if we should stay open or go home. I figured it was time to go. On the way back I was told there was a bird waiting for me to take a picture of.



Ain't he cute? Caught in the same net as the bird I lost earlier. I will pretend it is the exact same one.

We had one more surprise before we left. A pair of Eastern Kingbirds flew into the tree above net 9 right next to the banding table before continuing on their journey.



That's what I call a good day.