Dickson Birding

Northern Cardinal

Florida, the first week.
The morning I arrived was to partly cloudy skies and great temperatures in the high 70's . Well in Florida that can be short lived, as the afternoon comes on and as I was soon to find out, in rolled the rain clouds and down came the rain. This did not stop the birds from coming in to feed in the backyard though. The birds where coming into two trees that grow in the backyard, not native to Florida but introduced from Australia, the Bottle Brush Trees, for its bottle-brush looking flower that are full of nectar.
I'm well aware of the birds that can be found around my daughters home but was surprised to find Palm Warblers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Northern Cardinals, Common Grackles, Northern Mockingbirds, occasional Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Monk Parakeets and European Starlings coming into feed on the flowers. I was able to sit on the patio or stand by the side of the house and get most of these photos. The warblers and woodpeckers were quite accommodating when it came to my presence in the area.

Northern Cardinal in Bottle-brush tree

The birds that were coming into it to feed on the nectar or searching for insects in the branches and bark. There was a pair of Mockingbirds that had a nest in a bush next to one of the Bottle-brush Trees. I was hoping to of been,able to photograph their chicks after they hatched, but unfortunately a pair of crows found the nest one day and that ended that. I don't know how the crows found the nest, because I had to look hard to find it after the incident with the crows.The Mockingbirds fought hard to drive the crows away but lost the battle.

Northern Mockingbird

Palm Warbler

Palm Warbler in the Rain

In the Bottle-brush Tree

Red-bellied Woodpecker

I tried hard to get photos of the parakeets as they feed in these trees but they would either see me and flee or where so blended in I couldn't get a photo if them. They are very vocal and raise quite a lot of noise no matter were they where.

Monk Parakeets

Further out in the yard I was to have Limpkins searching for Apple snails and preening on the railing that goes around the swimming pool. White Ibis grubbing for worms, herons and egrets searching for their meals along the waters edge of the oxbow in the canal that runs behind the house.

Limpkin with snail

Hopefully this video works. I had my 600mm lens on at the time and so there are spots where the Limpkins head gets cropped, but it shows how they shake and stab at the snail to get it loose from the shell. I would find these shells everywhere. These are not true Florida Apple Snails but a species that was introduced, as the Florida snail number are down, to help save the Limpkin and the Snail Kite which are doing quite well now. In fact Limpkin's are like pigeon's in a park, everywhere!