Searching for a New Life Bird

We were over on the Gulf Coast for the Thanksgiving holidays and there were reports of another potential Life Bird hanging out near Fort De Soto. A Great Cormorant was flying back and forth around Bunches Pass just before you reach De Soto. Knowing most everyone would be sleeping in on Thanksgiving I got up before dawn and headed out on my own. Being the holiday, there were not many others out on the road at sunrise. I looked for the Cormorant but failed to nail it down. Maybe that speck out on the piling? Too far to confirm. Dolphin were passing by, though.



Not wanting to pay $5 just to park and walk around at the boat ramp, I drove slowly through and took note of birds as they presented themselves. It was nice to see a Sandwich Tern after so long away from the coast.



On one of the dock pilings, a Royal Tern refused to wake for the morning light.



Four docks down held a Brown Pelican just arriving from an early breakfast.



Just before exiting the parking lot I spotted a Belted Kingfisher. Of course, they spot you, too, so you usually only get shots of them bolting for the next distant perch.



Since I was there, I decided to actually spent the $5 to go into Fort De Soto itself to see if there were any interesting birds. The Sun was shining brightly on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge but there were not too many birds at the East Loop.



Over at the Gulf pier, I found a few Double-crested Cormorants either snoozing on pilings or posing on street lamps.



A young Brown Pelican cruised past just overhead.



The Double-crested Cormorant was not amused. I find the yawn of these birds to be one of the more unusual sights around.



Off to the side of the pier was a Willet chasing the surf.



A noisy Osprey caught my attention s I headed toward the car. The male was calling while perched on the electric wires near the boardwalk.



The female Osprey was just above on the nest platform gazing out into the distance.



European Starlings were gathering on the wires as I was about to leave. I almost didn't notice the Brown-headed Cowbird trying to blend in among them.



European Starlings left me with a nice bit of symmetry against a bright blue sky.



I stopped at the end of a bridge on the way out and found a Great Black-backed Gull sifting through the seaweed rack.



A few more feet out in the shallows, a White Ibis probed the mud on the lowering tide while reflecting nicely.



Later, before the turkey and fixin's were consumed I refilled Dad's bird feeders and eventually a few birds stopped by, including a juvenile male Red-winged Blackbird.



I was disappointed that I couldn't definitely verify the Great Cormorant but still had a good time. I might still have a chance to try again as we are here for a few more days. Fingers are crossed. I missed two possible Life Birds last year during the holidays.

2014 Orlando Wetlands Festival

Where the last few weeks go? Past me too quickly, that's where. Finally, our first off-site banding for the year out at the Orlando Wetlands Festival. I have a whole other post over at the banding blog that focuses more on the visitor interaction if you are interested and you can see that by clicking here.

I also wanted to show some shots that were not on that post by adding them to my regular birding blog. I didn't take many shots as I was busy banding birds and giving info to the visiting public and thought I would share here. So...

For many years, we have been doing banding demonstrations at the Orlando Wetlands for their festival. The wetlands are a pretty amazing spot between Orlando and Titusville and is primarily used to treat waste water as it leaves residential homes around the area and is cleaned up before it reaches the St. John's River. It is a wide expansion of land and marsh and draws many bird species throughout the year. This year, they are modifying some of the ponds and a large amount of new birds are feeding throughout the property.



The forecast was for ZERO rain for the day but wind. By mid-morning a ranger reported a storm coming in. Great. We had to close the nets for a while and I took the opportunity to do a little walking about for bird watching. I was very happy to see large numbers of Blue and Green-winged Teal near the shoreline. I have a bad track record of getting good shots of these birds as it always seems that when I see them it is when there is poor lighting. I tried anyway.



Even worse, when I got back to look at the photos I realized that I had neglected to reset my camera from when I was taking indoor shots of my oldest during a concert. Tons of noise. Blech.



The storm began to clear and the winds picked up in earnest and led to Black Vultures taking wing in the gloom.



Black Skimmers rested along a bank out in the pond. They are not often seen this far inland.



Just to their right were some terns. Royal and Forster's loafed along the other birds.



Just in front of the Terns and Skimmers were several Dowitchers, Long-billed, I think.



As I was watching the ducks and other species American Coots began to go crazy and call out in alarm and spooked most other lake birds. What? A shadow drifted overhead and I was greeted with the sight of a Bald Eagle on the hunt.



While the ducks and Coots headed for cover the other species didn't take much notice. The Sandhill Cranes continued to forage out in the marsh.



White Pelicans were seen way out in the waters beyond the Cranes and ducks.



With the water levels down, up to 200 Roseate Spoonbills have been seen in the area. I only found a few and got only one shot on my trek.



Hunkering down in the growing wind, a Snowy Egret



Nearby, a Great Egret hopes for the increasing crowds to move along.



I noticed a different kind of Ibis out in the distance. A White-faced Ibis was sitting calmly out on the flats. A rare bird from year to year.



The sunshine began to work its way in and I tried for some more shots of the Green-winged Teals.



If only I had the setting correctly set. I love to see Green-winged Teals, especially so close by.



I did a bit more searching and found some Gadwall and even a Northern Shoveler trying to stay hidden from prying eyes.



Later in the morning, a huge flock of White Pelicans soared overhead.



Finally, an American Robin stopped by the banding table for a quick view before we had to leave for the day.



The festival is always an interesting day but I hope that next year we have less wind and more captures during our stay. Time to get all the poles back for the next banding day next Sunday.

Viera Wetlands

Made a run out to Viera Wetlands for the last trip of the year to locate the Masked Duck drake that has been hanging out and first reported by fellow photographer friend, Donna Faylo. Nice spotting, Donna!

I got there right at sunrise so I swung around the Click Ponds to see if anything interesting was there. Not a lot of birds except for a lot of Wood Storks.



Once I got to the far side of the ponds I had a great view of the sunrise along with a large flock of Tree Swallows grabbing insects from the water's surface.



There were already a lot of car traffic near the Masked Duck spot but no duck yet so I made a short trip around the berms to see what else was waking. There were Caracaras flying over and the swallows here as well. Near the shore, a Limpkin grabbed and banged away at a snail.



Through my binoculars I could see photographers stepping out of their vehicles so the duck must have started its morning foraging. I made my way back around Cell 4 but was distracted by sparrows in the grass. There were several Savannah Sparrows hopping in the grass and dirt flinging dirt out of the way with each hop to see if they could uncover any breakfast. This one managed a nice treat.



On the opposite side, a Northern Harrier cruised overhead in the low light.



Closer to shore, a Great-blue Heron sat in a low palm tree.



I finally got back to the real reason I was here for the morning and the Masked Duck was out in the open.



Pretty little duck. Females were here a couple years ago but this is the first reported drake.



Right on schedule at 8:30 AM the duck began to move back into the reeds. This timing was observed in the preceding days, as well.



So, back to exploring the other cells before moving on. Other ducks are here, too, including the resident Mallards.



The wintering Blue-wing Teals were present in large numbers and often close to shore.



Green Herons are always a nice find but a bit more secretive most of the time.



Many Anhinga can be seen at close range drying their black and white wings.



Nearby, I spotted this small group of female Ruddy Ducks which were paddling just off of the shoreline.



One more bird to view on the way out of the Wetlands. A Glossy Ibis caught some sort of little eel (or something like it) and made a quick meal of it.



Time to head home but what is a trip to the coast without a stop by Merrit Island. Out at Parrish Park there was a large group of birds including Ring-billed Gulls and many resting Black Skimmers.



Just behind them was a very loud and begging Royal Tern. Another beautiful bird.



One more stop for the day (OK, two. I did go around Bio Lab Road but there was not much out there besides the alligators.) with a trip through Black Point. A lot of cars but not too much near the roads. There were Northern Pintails, Wigeons, etc. way out on the flats but not much more. Except for this nice flock of American Avocets near stop 7.



A nice way to round up the year. Time to head home and chill the champagne for New Year's Eve.