Jetty Park 1/20/14

I headed out to Jetty Park on Monday morning, hoping to find the Purple Sandpiper that has been hanging out on the rock jetty the past few weeks. This Little Blue Heron was on the rocks near a group of people fishing.

This immature Brown Pelican was resting on the rocks.

Along the fishing pier we saw two Green Turtles foraging along the rocks.

As we made our way down the pier we saw one adult and one juvenile Great Black-backed Gull. There were numerous Ruddy Turnstones looking for scraps. We reached the end of the pier with out any sign of the sandpiper. As we made our way back, I saw the Purple Sandpiper emerging from behind a large rock along the south side of the rock jetty that runs parallel to the pier.

We found the sandpiper just in time...just as my son's patience were being to expire as he really wanted to get to the beach and play in the sand.

There was one large group of gulls and terns on the beach. The gulls were limited to small mix of Ring-billed and Laughing gulls. I counted 80 Royal Terns and only 5 Black Skimmers.

Click, Click Clicking at the Ponds

We stumbled upon a sweet family of fourteen nestled along the shore of the Click Ponds last week. I took a few photos from my car window as we did not want to disturb them. Black-bellied Whistling Ducks are late breeders in Florida, but this seems really late.

I love the stripes on these ducklings. It's amazing how different they look from the adults.

Seeing these tiny little ducklings go bottoms up was too funny.

The birds at the ponds are pretty sparse these days. A Little Blue Heron, numerous Greenies, and a handful of Pied-billed Grebes...

And this Killdeer that was standing in path, and did not want to move.

I walked along the heavily vegetated exterior to see what creepy crawlers were lurking.

There were several of these Gulf Fritillary caterpillars munching away.

Not exactly a fuzzy caterpillar...

I also saw this Gulf Fritillary that was still drying its wings.

There are so many different species of dragonflies buzzing around the ponds right now.

Viera Wetlands 8/16/12

My son and I took a long overdue trip to the wetlands this morning. I had planned on walking the loops, so I was happy to see the "open to foot traffic only" sign waiting to welcome us. The birds were very active at this early hour, especially with the absence of human activity. The first cell continued to be occupied by a plethora of Great Egrets mixed with a few other waders, including Spoonbills, Snowy Egrets, and Ibises. We saw a large flock of female Red-winged Blackbirds gathered together in the reeds.

Female Red-winged Blackbird

We came upon this young Loggerhead Shrike, a cute little fellow,  standing on top of a headless palm.

Juvenile Loggerhead Shrike

Several cells had very low water levels, which appeared to be attractive to a group of Least and Spotted Sandpipers.

Least Sandpiper

This lone Black-necked Stilt stood nearby.

Black-necked Stilt

The Stilt was soon join by a second Stilt. The Stilts were enjoying the company of one another, until...

Black-necked Stilts

A Tricolored Heron tried to join them. But, as the saying goes, three is a crowd.

Black-necked Stilts & Tricolored Heron

 The pair of Stilts decided to move along.

The action was not limited to just the land; birds were passing by overhead continually.  Unfortunately, I was a little to slow to capture most of them.

Roseate Spoonbill

Little Blue Heron

Viera Wetlands 7/27/12

Things seemed to have picked up quite a bit at the wetlands this week. We saw large populations of the regulars as well as a handful of birds we do not see quite so often. The first cell near the entrance was packed with Great Egrets, we counted close to 50, as well as a mix of Wood Storks, Snowy Egrets, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Great Blue, Green, and Little Blue Herons, and Common Gallinules.

Little Blue Heron

This young Wood Stork was relaxing right next to its parents. The juveniles are almost as adorable as their parents:)

Juvenile Wood Stork

I rarely see Black-necked Stilts at the wetlands , but I counted 8 of them today. This one, which I believe is an immature one, was foraging near 2 adults. These shorebirds are quite intriguing looking. They have such delicate features; got to love those super long, thin legs!

Black-necked Stilt

Roseate Spoonbills are occasionally found at the wetlands. This one was enjoying spending some time all alone, away from the other birds.

Roseate Spoonbill

I wonder how hard it is to clean your feathers with a spoon...

This guy then came along with an apparent disregard for the Spoonbills personal space. The White Ibis looked sort of like a lost, confused tourist, as it walked right into the photo and just stood there...

Speaking of Ibis, there are tons of White and Glossy Ibises at the wetlands right now. Other species noted include: Ospreys, Black Vutlures, Cattle Egrets (tons and tons of them), Tricolored Herons, Red-winged Blackbirds, Boat-tailed Grackles, Least Terns, Mottled Ducks, Belted Kingfisher, and lots of American Alligators.

White Ibis

Gulf Fritillary

Birding the Local Patches

We made it out to several of our local birding patches this past week. We started the week with a visit to the Moccasin Island Tract area. The drive out to the tract often times offers opportunities to view numerous species in action. Today, however, we only observed numerous Cattle Egrets as they mingled with the cattle. Eastern Meadowlarks were the highlight of our stroll along the trail. The Meadowlarks perch on fence posts that runs along the trail, singing to one another.

Eastern Meadowlark 

Our next stop was at the "Click" Ponds, which are location at the entrance to the tract. The ponds continue to be occupied by several varieties of herons and egrets. The Little Blue Herons continue to molt into their permanent blue plumage.

molting Little Blue Heron

The Green Heron and a Snowy Egret took turns chasing one another from this desired perch.  It was a rather unpleasant exchange between these two birds and the Snowy Egret seemed to have the upper hand.

Green Heron

Green Heron

It's always a good idea to scan the bushes, because you never know who my be lurking, like this Red-shouldered Hawk!

Red-shouldered Hawk

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was our next stop. We arrived late morning and it was not a very active time for the birds. The highlights of our trip were seeing this Eastern Kingbird....

Eastern Kingbird

and this foraging pair of Black-necked Stilts.

Black-necked Stilts

St. Sebastian Preserve State Park was also on this week's agenda. I blogged about my birding adventure at the park on my monthly post at Birding is Fun!. Have a great weekend!

A Fabulous Fulvous Surprise

After a trip around the Click Ponds this morning, I decided to make one quick loop through the wetlands. We came across our regular egrets, herons, Grackles, Coots, etc. We saw about a dozen Black-bellied Whistling Ducks occupying the tops of dead Palm trees. As I drove along, a small group of Coots huddled together caught my eye as I noticed one cinnamon colored duck standing out among the crowd.

Fulvous Whistling-Duck

I stopped to get a better look and was surprised to see this lone Fulvous Whistling-Duck, a new life bird for me!

Immature Little Blue Heron

Little Blue Herons are actually pure white their first year, then change to their dark blue, adult plumage. I saw two Little Blues in the process of this transformation at the Click Ponds.

Green Heron 

I also saw 5 Green Herons in various sections of the ponds. This guy was posing nicely; if only the reeds could have cooperated! 

Great Blue Heron

 This Great Blue walked about 5 feet in front of me as I sat in the grass watching the Green Heron.

Green Heron

There is a pumping station at the ponds and the Green Heron tend to congregate beneath the structure. 

J. N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge

I finally had a chance to visit the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge last week. It's located on the barrier island of Sanibel, Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. I've really wanted to visit here for quite some time and was not disappointed. I was only able to visit one day and was lucky to have  great weather that day! I made two trips through the Wildlife Drive, one early morning and one at low tide, which is reported to be the best time to visit. The crowds were quite large at low tide, so the early morning visit was much more enjoyable.

Great Egret
JN Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

This Great Egret decided to start early on his New Year's resolution to eat less.

Immature Little Blue Heron
JN Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

This immature Little Blue Heron was hoping to do better than the Great Egret.

Little Blue Heron
JN Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge 

This nicely hued fellow was fishing right next to his nonhued immature buddy.

Osprey
JN Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

The Osprey appeared to have really enjoyed his catch of the day. Good to the last bite!

White Pelicans
JN Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

Apparently personal  space is an issue with this White Pelican.

Double Crested Cormorant
JN Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

Through the crystal clear, shallow water I was actually able to watch this Cormorant swim underwater. Pretty cool.