[Birdtalk] Florida Birding -- the one I meant to send...

[Connie McManus]

Sorry about that... I hit some key on my keyboard that autosends the mail..
heres the rest of the adventure:

On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 9:55 AM, Connie McManus <connie.mcmanus at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I have returned home from a great vacation to Florida visiting my
> father-in-law and enjoying the birding there.  Around my Dad's house were
> NORTHERN CARDINALS, NORTHERN MOCKING BIRDS, GREAT TAILED GRACKLES, SANDHILL
> CRANES,  and other birds I can't find in Sibley's.  I saw one at a feeder
> that looked much like SAY'S PHOEBE, but it was small and had a white eyering
> and a black line parallel with the beak and smudged into the nasal tuft. It
> had a light colored abdomen with peach-colored sides, gray head and mantel
> with a ruffed up crest (flycatcher-like).  It didn't look like say's, but
> due to the pale orange coloring, that's all I could think of.  The Birders
> in Florida tell me they rarely see a Say's Phoebe, so I would think it
> unlikely that's what it was.  I saw another bird that looked like a
> red-breasted nuthatc, except it disn't crawl down the tree head first. Also,
> It seemed a bit large for one, but I can't find anything in Sibley's that
> looks like it except a RedBreated Nuthatch.  The SANDHILL CRANES own the
> neighborhood there (a retirement village call John Knox Village).  On all
> the streets yellow signs reading "SLOW --- SANDHILL CRANE CROSSING" are
> posted.  And sure 'nuff, I encountered a pair of SHCranes just meandering
> along the road at their own pace, taking up the entire road and not
> concerned in the least about the cars or anyone coming up to them.  They are
> semi-tame there.  I thought it was great fun to seem them up close for as
> long as I wanted.  However, when I tried to get a photo of them, they were
> nowhere to be found.   There were at least 4 types of warblers in the
> neighborhood that I could hear, but never saw.  The trees are all around
> 80-100 ft tall and the branches are trimmed high, so seeing what flies in
> the upper story is a bit tough for one who only owns binoculars. So, I just
> listened and enjoyed.
>
> On Saturday, I signed up for a trip with the Orange County Audobon Soc. to
> Lake Apopka Restoration Area.  There were only 10 people allowed on this
> trip as this part of the lake is closed to the public while the Division
> Natural Resources reclaims the area from agricultural use to a natural
> wetland.  This area is HUGE and will be a real site of interest to all
> nature lovers. There were a lot of different birds there, many we get up
> here as migrants, but some were birds we never or rarely see and others were
> rare even for Florida.  I managed to get a couple of Lifers, or so, from
> this trip.  The leader of our tour, along with everyone else, was really
> excited over the KING RAIL and the Limpkin (sited in the same area
> together), so these are very rare finds in florida and were visible only in
> a spotting scope.  So, heres the list..
> * = lifer
>
> * King Rail    1  http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i2080id.html
> * Red-Bellied Woodpecker     3
> * Pileated Woodpecker   2
> * Black-bellied Whistlin Duck   5
> Boat-tailed Grackle    xx (they were everywhere - lost count at 30)
> Red-winged Black Bird   xx
> * Purple Galanule     1
> Glossy Ibis    > 9
> Great Egret    > 3
> Great Blue Heron  > 3
> Green Heron   >35
> Semipalmated plover   1
> semipalmated sandpiper  >20
> * Anhinga     7
> Common Moorehen    >15
> Osprey     4
> * Great-crested flycatcher   1
> Caspian Tern     >100
> White Pelican    50
> Snowy Egret     >10
> Great Egret    10
> * Roseate Spoonbill   24
> Wood Stork     10
> Black Vulture   10
> Turkey Vulture   15
> Blad Eagle    1
> * Limpkin      1
> Killdeer     1
> Least tern    1
> white Ibis 1
> * Least Bittern   1
> Cattle egret 3
> * Little Blue Heron     6
> Red-shouldered Hawk  3
> Black-crowned Night Heron 2
> Northern Parula      1 (heard 4 that others in the goup sited)
> Eastern Towhee    1 (heard only)
> *  Tri-colored Heron  5
> Florida Scrub Jay   3
> Bob-white quail   1 (heard only)
> Eastern Meadowlark  1
> Northern Cardinal   5

*  Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1

Other wildlife:   alligators  - lots of gators and big-uns too! I learned
all about fire ants and Spanish  Moss spiders -- the hard way. My sunvisor
blew off my head (the wind was blowing  some) and fell to the ground.  I
picked it up, put it on my head, walked under the Spanish Moss -- all very
big mistakes.  The critters got in my hair and had quite the feast on me.
By Tues AM (the day we had to fly home), I was so swollen, I looked like
some big-headed space alien from Dr Who.  So we went to the emergnecy room,
the doc gave me heavy-duty steroids (prednisolone) and atarax.  I'm still
not normal, but much improved.  I'm such a klutz!  I hope that if anyone
goes to Florida, you will remember these lessons!
       Anyway, back to the adventure...

>
> On Monday, Bill and I went to the Space Coast and visited Canaveral
> National Seashore and Merritt Island Wildlife Preserve.  For Memorial day,
> it wasnt as crowded as we had thought it might be, but then, it's a mighty
> big place!  The birds at CNSS were not as many as I would have thought, but
> I saw a few lovelies.   Besides, this trip was mostly to enjoy the ocean and
> for Bill, who really isn't as excited about the birds as I am.
>
> CAPE CANAVERAL NATIONAL SEASHORE


Semipalmated sandpipers   >10
Turkey Vultures   2
Grey Pelican    8
Wood Stork   1
Cattle Egret   4
Royal Tern  2
Caspian tern 1
Black Skimmer 2

Merritt Island Wildlife Preserve is also huge with lots of lakes and islands
with levees to drive along.  We only got to drive along a couple of the main
trails due to time and milage on the rental car, but it was still fun and
beautiful.  We could see the Cape Canaveral Space Launches from some points
and made a very interesting backdrop to the scene.


> MERRITT ISLAND WILDLIFE PRESERVE



>
> Tri-colored Heron    11
> Black-bellied plover   1
> Black-necked Stilt      >15
> Great Egret         4
> Snowy Egret      > 50
> Little Blue Heron    34
> Roya Tern       2
> Great Blue Heron  27
> Golden Plover     4
> Greater Yellow Legs   4
> Dowitcher    5
> White Ibis     10
> Semipalmated plover      >50

Double Crested Cormorants   6
semi-palmated plover     45
yellow-crowned night Heron   10
Green Heron     5
Roseate Spoonbill 5
Willet     2
Black Skimmer    4
glossy Ibis 5
Common Moorehen 2


So, I'm home, not ready to go back to work tomarrow but must and thougt I'd
share with you the birds I saw.  I'll have pics up on my Google Photos page
shortly.  I got a new camera and am still trying to figure out how to focus
the thing.  I'm pretty disappointed with it so far and am thinking about
returning it, but that's another story.

Great Birding to You All!



-- 
Connie McManus
Nibley, Cache County, Utah
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