Florida Life Bird #1

While driving south from Orlando to Ft. Myers through the heart of Florida on Route 17, I really had one bird species in mind. I knew that it was my best shot at seeing it on our entire trip, as they are not typically found in South Florida. The bird I was after? Crested Caracara

Lisa and I drove through lots of upland grassy areas where cattle were grazing and every vulture anywhere in sight I was double checking. Finally we were getting closer and closer to Ft. Myers, and I thought our chances were getting slim, when while cruising along we approached three birds on the road side. I saw white on the neck and knew we had found them!

I pulled off to the side of the road probably 50 yards past the birds, and was able to get a decent look at one adult and one immature Caracara feeding with a Black Vulture.

Florida Reptiles

I recently returned from eleven days in the Sunshine State. Needless to say it was a great time. I could post hundreds of pictures (and will post more), but I wanted to begin with something a bit out of the ordinary for me: reptiles.
During my trip, Lisa and I of course happened upon probably a hundred of these guys. We kayaked among alligators , heard them bellow, and enjoyed watching them hunt a bit.

Much more surprising than the crocs, however were two snakes we happened upon. The first one surprised us while we were hiking on a trail. I had been looking down at some Brown Anole lizards, was about to take a step forward when this guy really scared me --I was about to put my foot down pretty close to his head. I'd like to know what species you think he is. I have my guess:

The second snake sighting happened about an hour later. You might recognize this one by the rattle on the end of his tail! This was less of a scare, as we were in the car and it was crossing the road. I got some decent shots of him as well as a video (e-mail me if you want it)!

Photo ID quiz

Alright guys, here's a little photo quiz. I used photos that I took in the winter (That could be a slight hint). I will do these periodically. The first picture, ID the primary bird of prey in the picture. The second, ID all four species in the picture. Do NOT look at my flickr and cheat at all :) E-mail me your guesses, then I'll post the answers on here in a day or two. I want full participation!

Yard birds galore!

Well the snowy day didn't let me down! Recorded 32 species in the yard today.

Geese were non-stop flying west all day long. Counted for about 90 minutes this afternoon. 1235 Canada Geese and 205 Snow Geese. 2 Mallards were in the mix as well.

Feeder birds were also good with at least 146 individuals visiting the feeders. Our Fox Sparrow, a solo Pine Siskin, 53 DE Juncos, 20 WT Sparrows, 2 WB Nuthatches, 2 Downy and 2 Red Bellied Woodpeckers, and a nice Chipping Sparrow. Another interesting sighting was 2 pure white Pigeons (they are neighborhood birds but I've never had them at the feeders).

5 Eastern Bluebirds were hanging on the front wire for awhile as well.

Odds and ends

It's been pretty quiet overall lately, since all the lakes in South Jersey are frozen solid....

But, the backyard has been busy still. The solo Fox Sparrow and Red Breasted Nuthatch continue and a flock of 25 Pine Siskins visited the feeders for about an hour yesterday.

An adult Sharp Shinned Hawk has been staying nourished. I've seen him hit a DE Junco and a RW Blackbird in the last few days, which is pretty cool.

A trip to (predominantly frozen) EB Forsythe yesterday was pretty quiet with only 32 species. However, great looks at 3 different Eastern Meadowlarks were awesome, a distant light-morph Rough Legged Hawk was really cool, and a handful of songbirds made it interesting including 10 Savannah Sparrows, a Swamp Sparrow, a Grey Catbird, 2 Hermit Thrushes, 2 Eastern Towhees, and a Brown Thrasher. Ducks were scarce though. Outside of Geese and Black Ducks, just a few Greater Scaup, a solo RB Merganser, and 2 Snow Geese.

That's all for now. I'll be watching the feeders all day tomorrow. Maybe somethin odd will show up!

Early Christmas gifts

I received 2 early Christmas gifts today. The first came as I was exiting the lane to go to the PO. A beautiful Bald Eagle was soaring not too high over the woods in back of our neighbors' houses.

The second I owe to my young neighbor, Tim, who appeared at my door to tell of an owl that he had just seen. I zipped down the lane and ran across the field with him and, after a minute of scanning the tree line, spotted a Great Horned just as it flew down from its roost across the hedge row. Unfortunately I lost it due to the almost dark conditions.

However, a short time later, I spotted the same (or another) Great Horned Owl overlooking Ted and Tim's goose blind. Quite a sight, as the full moon was rising.

It's been many years since I saw a Bald Eagle and a Great Horned Owl the same day. (That would have been a World Series of Birding day). In addition, one black vulture sailed over the house and I spotted two more as I was driving today.

Psyched for a New Year's Day count in the not so distant future.

Backyard tidbits

Since I returned from an international trip (perhaps a post about the birds seen on that soon), I haven't done much birding. However, it was nice to see a Red-Breasted Nuthatch yesterday in a pine by my work place (the Wild Bird Center).

My wife and I live in an apartment complex, where we're not supposed to put up bird feeders. After talking with the landlord, they seemed ok with us putting out a little seed, so long as it wasn't drawing squirrels. Well, last year the squirrels eventually did arrive, and over the summer we stopped our feeding. However, this fall I am armed with the latest seed option: spicy salsa chips. They are sunflower chips coated in hot pepper.

I put some on the balcony a few days ago, and today the birds rediscovered it. I was really happy to have chickadees, titmice, House Sparrows, juncos, and a Carolina Wren all present today. I do hope that I'm around the first time the squirrel returns. I want to see if he is repelled or not.