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Posted by Angel & Mariel on 22:19:29 12/03/08
We went out last week looking for some year birds and also to go look for the Fork-tailed Flycatcher at Pelican Island NWR. We also birded ENP, Cutler Wetlands and the surrounding areas. We had an awesome time observing the Fork-tailed while it caught insects off its favorite perch. At one point we watched the Fork-tailed catch an insect up side down, that was amazing. The bird was in hot pursuit of an insect when it did the best aerial maneuver we have ever witnessed, it flipped upside down like Tom Cruise in Top Gun and caught the bug. Awesome we both said! The bird spent time in the field to the west off the parking lot the whole time we were there, at one point the bird flew up close allowing for some nice photos. We watched it drink water from the pond in the field for a while and eat berries from a palm; it was awesome to spend some time observing such a cool bird. We also found the Eastern Palm that Andy B posted about; second one we see this year. Had some nice flyovers of Raptors, White Pelicans and lots of NRW Swallows. A Peregrine Falcon put on a show for us as we crossed the Indian River Lagoon Bridge; the bird made repeated dives and banked from right to left all at breakneck speed. Super cool!
Recently we birded some with Toe and had some really cool finds in ENP. Early in the morning before the sun had come up to say hi, we had a Lesser Nighthawk and two Whips right off the bat. We were out looking for Short-eared Owl with no luck again (our nemesis bird) we decided to check the fields to see what Sparrows we could turn up. We found four Sedge Wrens which was almost too easy and a great county bird for us. A few Grasshoppers, Savannahs and a Swamp were the only sparrows that we found there. Groups of Tree Swallow streamed overhead indicating that winter is here, House Wrens were making a bit of noise from all over and a couple of Yellowrumps made an appearance along with some Pine Warblers. We had some nice birds around research road and by the mound as well with the best being two Snail Kites, a Swamp Sparrow, a Limpkin, 5 Black-crowned Night Herons, an American Bittern and Wilson s Snipe were numerous. A Red-tailed Hawk soared right over us giving us great looks.
From there we decided to head out of the park when we got word from Larry that there was a Canada Goose at the wastewater treatment plant! After making a quick stop to look for the YH Blackbird which was in the same place as last week, we then off to the see the Canada Goose. As Toe posted earlier we arrived and did not see the Goose after spending a while looking for the bird we were walking away with our heads held low, feeling the deep, dark gloom slowly creeping about us, wallowing in our despair, I looked one last time just before reaching the bridge and there it was! The Canada Goose was foraging in the grass, couldn t miss that big black neck and white chinstrap. Awesome! With a triple Hi Five we celebrated and talk about it all the way to the cars. The day was great two County birds and a Life bird we hardly could wait to get home for a celebratory libation. Before we could take off to the hacienda we had to stop over at Cutler Wetlands as it was Gullicious. The place was covered in Gulls, we managed to pick through them and find two Franklin s, three Great Black-backed and one Bonaparte s Gull mixed in with the Laughing, Ring Billed, and Lesser BB Gulls. With a great day of birding done we headed home. A Bell s Expedition Stout would be our brew of choice, with our glasses held high Mariel and I enjoyed some relaxing music while we talked about the great time we had. The above photos are some of the photos from the weekend hope you all enjoy. Look closely at the FT Flycatcher pic of the bird upside down it is truly awesome, wish it would have been sharper but the moment will still be burned in our memory!
Thanks to Larry and Christine for the call and Toe for being Toe! You guys are awesome.
Nature is Awesome
Angel & Mariel
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