Nashville Warbler

Once a month for the past couple years, there has been a census count for the birds that frequent Mead Garden in winter park. I try to get to as many as possible but those darned Scouts keep coming up with things to do!

However, I did manage to return for the February count to meet up with birding friends and count some birds. Waxwings and Robins were in full force as were American Goldfinches. We managed to find all of the resident Woodpecker species and most other expected birds for the Garden.

My favorite part of the count is to go out on the boardwalk which has been suffering from neglect since Hurricane Charley torn through our fair city. Jeanne didn't make things better. Only part of the walk is open for the general public but we are aloud to head into the more dangerous portions for the count.

Local birding expert Bruce Anderson and I chose to brave the closed portion of the walk while others waited near the butterfly garden. We tallied up all Waxwings and Robins and a few hawks as we made our way around the back portion of the walk.

Staring out across the Primrose Willows, Bruce called out that he had an Orange-crowned Warbler in front of us. I almost didn't look since we had a couple of those already but I slowly glanced up to check it out anyway. I noticed an eye-ring and for some reason exclaimed, "No, it looks like a Nashville!"

Granted, I had never seen one in person but I do stare at a lot of books. Nashville just seemed exactly what it was. Bruce and I looked for a little longer and he agreed with me. The eye-ring was that noticeable even from the distance we were from the bird.

Remembering I had a camera with me, duh, I tried a couple shots but was not sure they would turn out that well with the bird about 25-30 yards out. I was right.



Nonetheless, it was enough to confirm this uncommon bird in Central Florida. After I posted about the birds to the lists, there were a couple of other sighting of the same bird before it left the area.

I remembered to bring my copy of Bruce's book, The Birdlife of Florida, with me and asked him to sign-it for me. He wrote to "...remember our Nashville Warbler" and I will tape this photo next to that.

Any day with a Life Bird is a good day.

Berries for the Masses

Decided to take a walk around the office park. Don't get a chance to do that too often and with the temperatures at a very comfy level, why not?

One of my favorite stops has become across the street from our office. It has a larger pond that is divided by a roadway between parking lots. Part of the pond goes underneath a parking structure and the Hooded Mergansers use that part to hide from anyone or thing it fells is looking a bit too hungry.

On the northern edge of the pond is a row of Brazilian Peppers and just beyond that lies part of Lake Destiny. This time of year, the peppers are loaded with berries. In turn, they are full of birds.

I usually walk past the peppers and loop around behind them to view the lake and continue on with my walk back to the office. Today the birds were flying out right in front of me so I stopped and got the camera ready.

The majority of the birds were Myrtle Warblers who were greedily swallowing up berries as quickly as possible. Making it difficult for them was a very territorial Northern Mockingbird who would chase any Warbler it saw stopping on a branch. This was what was causing the birds to fly out in front of me.

Eventually, a few Waxwings signaled their approach with their high calls and landed among the branches above and next to me. They seemed to be trying to blend in and avoid the Mockers detection. It worked for a while and the Waxwings could manage a few gulps before being found out.

I thought it would be easy to get some shots of these close birds and, indeed, they were landing in plain view just feet from me. Excellent opportunities! Better than I ever have had. Camera up, press the shutter to focus, bird GONE!

Every time the Waxwing would come into focus, the Mockingbird would dive in and chase it off. This went on for almost an hour. I did finally get one photo that actually looked like a Waxwing but it was not easy.



I could have stood there all day had I not had work to do and a family to get to later. The number of Myrtle Warblers was impressive and the Waxwings were and added treat. Goldfinches called from the trees in the parking lot.

Time to break the spell and head back across the street.