#4 of Florida Birding

With many places to go and lots of birds to see I have combined several different trips into this posting. 


Caspian Terns where a very common inland bird around any waterway and I was able to photograph this one behind my daughters home as it worked up and down the canal.

Caspian Tern molting into breeding plumage

 The first time I spotted one of these very small doves I was very excited to see it as I was under the impression they were quite rare and difficult to find. I found this not to be the case in my adventures and ran into them in quite a few places.

Common Ground Dove

 One of the many places I visited was John D. MacArthur State Park by Jupiter Florida. This park borders the Atlantic Ocean and a very large lagoon area. I made the trip a little late in the afternoon and was surprised to find out after parking my vehicle that I still had a mile long trek across this board walk to get to the beach. Shouldering my camera equipment I set off and after arriving at the beach I was greatly disappointed by the lack of bird life. I was able to see Great Blue Herons feeding out in the lagoon and a few gulls would come soaring by. The only surprise was a Frigate-bird that came flying by which I was later to learn are very rare for this area. All in all was a very pretty area and if I hadn't been packing 15 lbs of camera equipment it would of been much more enjoyable.

Looking into the mangrove just before going out to the beach area.

View in the lagoon.

The next series of photos were taken out at STA-5 which is very rich with a great diversity of bird life. In this first photo there are Caspian Tern, Glossy Ibis, Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Long-billed Dowitchers, Greater Yellow-legs, Avocets, Black-necked Stilts and just out of view to the right were hundreds of Black Skimmers resting on this little strip of land.

A gathering of birds

Black-skimmers

Black Skimmer

 I was really surprised by the places I would find Cardinals as this one was found feeding on this plant out in the marsh. I must say this is one bird that I do miss it's song from when I lived in the south as a boy.

Northern Cardinal

Osprey were to be found everywhere and I do mean everywhere. If there was water you would usually find an Osprey close by. This one perched every morning in a tree behind my daughters home. I spent many a mornings trying to get a photo of this bird in the early morning light and it seemed that mother nature was bound and determined I wasn't going to get the light I wanted. The sun could be shining and by the time I got my equipment together and made my way over to where this Osprey perched a wall of clouds would roll in. I sat there waiting for the sun to come back out only to have the bird leave just before the clouds rolled away.

Osprey

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, what a beautiful bird and what a story goes with this sighting. This was on the day I had gone out to STA-5 with John Schwarz to find Snail Kites. We had left STA-5 late in the afternoon and where just turning onto the highway when John asked me if I had ever seen a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher before. I informed him that I had on many occasions in Oklahoma and in Texas. He informed me that they could be found in this area and he was just wondering. He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when we looked up on the power lines paralleling the highway and there they were 5 Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and two Western Kingbirds. Wow what a surprise.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

 The Snail Kite was one of my target birds and I was able to my get fill of them out on STA-5. This area is a major nesting area and there many birds to be seen and photographed.

Dinner is served, Escargot to go!

Snail Kite fly by.

Snail Kite

Also to be found that day out on STA-5 was a Stilt Sandpiper which was a life bird for me. I was amazed at how excited the group I was with would get over a Black-necked Stilt, Avocets and Cinnamon Teal. I then had to stop and realize how excited I was getting over Snail Kites, Crested Caracaras and such! :-}

Stilt Sandpiper

Awe yes the Crested Caracara. Man I think this is a cool bird. I don't know what it is about it but I like it and even though I had seen one before several years ago I wanted to see more and get some photos. I think all-together I ended up seeing probably 14 or 15 birds. This particular bird was looking to snag so groceries off of another Caracara about 150 yards down the road and procceded to stroll all the way to it. The other Caracara had a very large turtle it was feeding on.

Crested Caracara

Got milk?

One site I was awed with where the amount of Butterflies and Dragonflies to be found in Florida. They came in so many shapes and beautiful colors.

Zebra Longwing Butterfly, Floridas state butterfly

Aaahha, yes it is a Green Heron. Unlike the one that eluded me all of last summer out on the Bear River Refuge I was able to see many of them in Florida and even got some photos of a baby in the nest which I will post at a later date. They are sure a gorgeous bird I think!

Green Heron

Another sunset this time out on the Loxahatchee WMA.

 Cattle Egrets are like pigeons around here. They are everywhere and sometimes quite approachable. This particular bird was at a nesting site at Wakodahatchee.

Cattle Egret

Now this was quite the surprise and I wasn't expecting to see a mother River Otter with three kits. I was sitting and waiting very early one morning at one of the STA sites to try and photography a Black Skimmer I had seen a couple of days before when out of the cattails came this rustling noise and a lot of commotion. My first thought was Alligator but out popped this mother otter with her babies. She wasn't quite sure as to what I was and kept the little ones in the cattails and maneuvered them around me. I was able to get plenty of photos of her but none of the young.

River Otter

Northern Shrikes were to be found also in great numbers and I had several pairs that would allow me to approach them for some great photos. The one with the lizard took it over to its mate, who begged like a young bird wanting to be feed. I was able to find several nesting sites but had to leave to come home before there were any young.

On the hunt, Northern Shrike

Taste like Chicken

Red-shouldered Hawks were also very numerous and could be photographed at several of the sites I liked to visit. This first bird is a young bird and through the following photos it can be seen it made a big mistake of getting into an adult birds area and the fight was on. I got to watch them come together in the air and tumble into the reeds were they flapped and fought with each other. In a matter of a about 60 seconds out of the reeds came this youngster with adult male hot on its tail. To rub the humiliation in even further the youngster got escorted out of the area by a Red-winged Blackbird

Red-shouldered Hawk 1st year bird

The fight is on

And stay out!

Getting the heck out of town!