February 14, 2014

Today's excursion was to A. D. Barnes Park. I was surprised by how few species I saw, but maybe the cold was a factor as well as my lack of expertise with the small birds. It was bird nest central though, so I'll have to return in a few months.

One of many, many nests

Muscovy Ducks and feral cats, what a horrible sight to see

Common Moorhen

American Coot

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Anhinga, male

Palm Warbler

Juvenile Palm Warbler?

Mourning Dove

Great Blue Heron

Blue Jay

Raccoon

And for your Valentine's Day, squirrels being adorable

Post-script: This is my 7th outing and so far, I've captured 45 bird species! Monday should be a big day for the blog!

February 13, 2014

Today I went back to Matheson and took my time. No breeding activity (at least to my inexperienced eye), but I have to remember it's only February. Patience is a skill I still need to work on. I walked the west side forest trail first, but no birds seen (which might be because of the habitat or the early hour).

Kestrels, kestrels everywhere

White Ibis.

Northern Mockingbird

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Male Northern Cardinal

Eastern Phoebe

Palm Warbler. A wise birder once told me that 90% of warblers I'll see will be Palm Warblers

Ring-billed Gull

American Crow (again, I'm assuming)

Eurasian Collared Dove

Great Blue Heron

Double-crested Cormorant

Turkey Vulture

Little Blue Heron

Kildeer

Also a Palm Warbler, but this one has the rufous crown that is part of their breeding plumage. Two questions: Isn't their breeding season later in the year? and Do both males and females have the crowns? From what I'm reading, it seems they both do...

Is this a Willet?

Brown Pelican

February 7, 2014

Today's excursion was to Matheson Hammock's west side in the hopes of a Great Horned Owl. No such luck. I did get lost in the woods for a little bit there.

Pileated Woodpecker.

Red-bellied Woodpecker.

Gray Catbird. Once again, AutoFocus goes for the plants. I'll have to learn how to manually operate my camera.

Bird nest or squirrel nest?

Juvenile Eastern Phoebe.

Then my millennial attention span took me to a new spot, David Kennedy Park where I got the following pictures.

Juvenile Palm Warbler?

Pied-billed Grebes.

Spotted Sandpiper

Tri-colored Heron.

Exploring the county is nice, but I need to not forget this is about finding breeding birds. My next excursion will be more focused.

February 6, 2014

Several sources seem to suggest that Mount Trashmore (and surrounding areas) is THE place to bird. Unfortunately, I could only squeeze in an hour before work and whatever invisible biting bugs they have there drove me to within an inch of my breaking point. No breeding evidence, but a couple okay pictures. Most of what I shot was backlit by the rising sun and before that, the fog was killing me. But maybe you guys will get a kick out of them.

Fog killing my shot. Great Blue Heron.

Turkey Vulture. I wonder if that's a methane burner that sometimes kills/injures raptors that sit on them.

Red-bellied Woodpecker.

Northern Flicker on the bottom left (with the spots and yellow butt). I need to get better at my small bird pictures :-(

Gray Catbird. A shot to be proud of :-)

What kind of juvenile raptor is that?? Sorry about the quality, but I took this from WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY far away

Dear AutoFocus: Nobody cares about the plants. Focus on the birds. Always. Sincerely, DM

European Starling. I hate non-natives

American Coots.

Common Moorhens have the red faces. Green-winged Teal are the brown-headed ducks.

Unknown warbler.

Could this be another Eastern Phoebe?

You can kind of tell by the captions that I wasn't 110% this morning. Hopefully soon I'll  be able to survey one of these sites at a relaxing, leisurely, thorough pace.