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Posted by Roxanne and Jeanette on 16:16:04 05/09/10
Jeanette and I counted birds in our neck of the woods, Palmetto Bay. Jeanette started her day at 5:15AM with a 4 mile bike ride around her neighborhood. Then she headed over to Bill Sadowski Park and ended up at Palmetto Bay Village Center. I started much later. (gotta get my beauty sleep) We ended up with 35 species; 437 birds. Just after dark, Troy and I went down the block and got our Eastern Screech-Owl. The weirdest part of the day for me was while driving through my neighborhood, I spotted a double bird cage sitting in someone's driveway filled with 25 beautiful yellow and orange birds flapping away. I rolled down my car window to get a better look through the binocular. Then I noticed an elderly gentleman standing in the driveway near his garage. Since he was suspiciously staring at me, I waved. I then turned off the car's engine and walked up to where he was sitting in a lawn chair in the threshold of his garage. I told him about the NAMC when I glanced to my right. Inside his garage were about 30 pet cages filled with little colorful birds. Several cages had what looked very much like male Common Yellowthroats, but just ever so slightly different. When I asked him what kind of birds they were he replied, "Cuban Meadowlarks." He said the yellow and orange birds in the driveway were canaries. The other cages contained little finch-like birds colored scarlet and brown with black. To me the whole experience was very weird. I think he was giving the birds their daily airing out.
Anway, here's our list:
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Great Egret 1
Little Blue Heron 1
Cattle Egret 7
White Ibis 6
Muscovy Duck 8
Cooper's Hawk 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Killdeer 2
Rock Pigeon 11
Eurasian Collared Dove 145
White-winged Dove 2
Mourning Dove 54
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet 6
Monk Parakeet 7
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Great Horned Owl 2 (Thanks Trey)
Chimney Swift 5
Red-bellied Woodpecker 7
Pileated Woodpecker (heard)
Great Crested Flycatcher 2
Purple Martin 13
Blue Jay 19
Northern Mockingbird 34
Loggerhead Shrike 4
European Starling 29
Palm Warbler 1
American Redstart 1
Northern Cardinal 21
Red-winged Blackbird 3
Boat-tailed Grackle 7
Common Grackle 17
Bronzed Cowbird 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
House Sparrow 12
BIKE MILES 4
FOOT MILES 2.5
CAR MILES 3
TEMP hot 85-90 degrees
WIND nil to slight
CLOUDS (Ha! A few rainclouds in the afternoon sprinkled a few drops of rain on my patio.)
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