A month ago, I went to The Biggest Week in American Birding with three of my friends. We arrived in the mid-afternoon and headed right to Magee Marsh. Unfortunately, storms were rolling in and we got in only a little bit of birding before it started to rain. That did not dampen our spirits at all – we ended up finding a good bird to chase just as the rain broke. A Henslow’s Sparrow was down the road. This was a life bird for one of my friends (the rest of us saw one last year at Magee). This time, the bird was in the perfect setting and we watched it sing.
Henslow’s Sparrow near Ottawa NWR
More rain was coming, so we decided to check into our hotel, finalize registration for the event and hang out at the evening social. We heard about one of the Maumee Bay Eastern Screech-Owls hanging out in the open, so we went out to the boardwalk to check it out before dinner.
Red-phased Eastern Screech-Owl
For the next couple of days, we birded the Magee Marsh boardwalk, Metzger Marsh, Oak Openings, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and other hotspots along the way. We ran into some bird and human friends alike. This year, photography was a bit slow, but we did see tons of birds! Sometimes, I decide to just enjoy them rather than photograph them. Here are some of the songbirds that I did lift my camera for.
We also saw a few more birds that you don’t normally get to admire out in the open.
Gray-phased Eastern Screech-Owl (#2)
Gray-phased Screech-Owl (#3 – yes, I photographed 3 different Screech-Owls!)
Common Nighthawk right on the trail
Yeah – that’s “slow” for the Biggest Week – as you can see, we did see tons of birds. We also reconnected with old friends and made plenty of new ones. The evening socials were hopping with great vendors and, as always, Optics Alley was a great place to hang out.
One of the many awesome vendors at the evening socials – the birder chicks (here with my friend Renee) were one of our favorites!
One of the birds that I really wanted to see in Florida was the Reddish Egret. I was hoping to get at least a glimpse of its very animated fishing tactics. They will run, jump, spin and pluck a fish out of the shallow water. I did get to see this bird multiple times, with a couple of really awesome photo ops. The bird was a bit difficult to photograph since it was constantly in motion, but I was able to get many satisfying photos! I will warn you that this post is going to be photo-heavy. I took so many photos of this bird and I cannot narrow down which ones I want to share.
The first Reddish Egret we saw was at Merritt Island at Shiloh Marsh. This was an evening visit after birding at Orlando Wetlands all day. The lighting was behind our subject, but it was great get our life bird as soon as we arrived at the coast.
Reddish Egret running in the water
The next time we would see this bird was probably the best experience we could ever ask for. It was our first time driving Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island. We had no idea what to expect and where to find the good birds. We quickly found where the key spot to photograph in the morning was. The water was calm, the sun was at our backs and the birds were cooperative. We watched as a Reddish Egret fished right in front of us.
Using its wings to reduce glare in the water
Running across the water
Grabbing a fish
Down the hatch!
Looking for fish
Grabbing nothing but water
Going after a dragonfly
Bowing down to get a fish
A successful catch
Other birds caught our attention when the Egret left, but it soon returned for more fun.
Coming back close to us
Searching in perfect light
Running with wings spread open
Running left
Running right
About to pounce
Looking for some fish
Running with wings open
Shielding the sun
Stopping for a moment
I never thought I would experience that – especially in the perfect light with the perfect reflections. It was magical!
Later on that day, we came across another Egret. We were able to get fairly close in a blind. In fact, the bird came up really close to the window that I was photographing from.
Right outside the blind window
Looking for fish
Got one!
The next morning, we went right to the calm pool where we watched the egret at sunrise. This time, a Tricolored Heron stole the show, but a younger Egret did show up. This one was not as animated as the adult.
Young Reddish Egret
We did, however, find an adult down the road who let us watch him for a few minutes before taking off.
Rousing feathers
Rousing Feathers
Taking off
The bird sill “pops” in the distance
Our final encounter with the bird was at Gator Creek on our last day. It was a great way to say farewell to this beautiful bird.
Diving in
Running on water
Going for the strike
Grabbing a fish
Stopping to preen
The Reddish Egret quickly made its way to the top five of my list for favorite birds. What a fun bird to watch!
Bitterns are difficult birds to find and photograph – especially out in the open. I’ve photographed an American Bittern at Magee Marsh a couple of years ago, but never had a good opportunity with Least Bitterns. For the most part, I would catch glimpses of them flying or parts of them through the reeds. A nice run-in with this bird at Viera Wetlands changed this. We came to a spot that had three Least Bitterns hunting out in the open. I wanted to put together a post to share these beautiful birds that we do not see often enough.
I never though I would get two Least Bitterns in the same frame – along with another secretive bird. See the Sora behind them?
It was so great to watch them stalk the fish…
..and guzzle a few down.
But most of all, I enjoyed seeing how they clung to the vertical perches and moved from reed-to-reed with no trouble.
And just in case you wanted a couple of more photos…
You never know what you will run into while out birding. I saw many wonderful examples of bird behavior throughout my trip to Florida – both expected and not. One of the more unexpected experiences took place at Viera Wetlands. As we were driving, we noticed two cars stopped at the side of the road. We slowed down in time to see a Turkey Vulture swoop down inbetween them and land on the carcass of a Coot that was at the edge of the marsh.
The Vulture attempts to claim the Coot
The bird seemed to be a bit on edge, keeping its wings stretched out above the carcass. It took the kill and moved it further away from the water.
The Vulture drags the Coot away from the water
Turkey Vulture protecting the carcass
We spotted the reasoning behind its concern nearby in the water. An Alligator was chomping on a wing of the dead Coot. Perhaps the Gator was how the Coot met its end.
Alligator eating a Coot wing
Alligator eating a Coot wing
The Vulture cautiously ate its findings.
Turkey Vulture eating a Coot
Turkey Vulture on a coot
Not long after the Alligator finished the wing, it moved up the bank, closer to the Vulture. He wanted the rest of his meal.
The Alligator moves up the bank
The Vulture, not wanting to give up the meal, continued to mantle over the carcass. The Gator’s size was not exactly very intimidating, so the Vulture held its ground.
The Vulture protects the carcass
The Vulture protects the carcass
The Alligator gets in closer
All-in-all the results were a bit uneventful since the Alligator eventually backed off, but it was still very cool to watch two completely different animals have a small face-off.
Last December, I realized that I had a lot of vacation days that I had to take – five of which could be transferred to the first quarter of 2015. With those five leftover days, I decided to plan a trip for March to the state that I have drooled over when it comes to photographing birds – Florida. Two of my friends and I took off from work during the third week of March. The original plans were to go to the Gulf Coast, however, that seemed to be where all the spring breakers wanted to go. Since we only planned two-to-three months in advanced everything was booked, and anything left was too expensive. We looked to our friends on Facebook for some help and they recommended locations that would be spring-breaker free.
Our first location was in the vicinity of Orlando where we birded both Lake and Osceola counties. Our friend, Gallus, who is doing a Lake County big year, offered to take us around and show us some birds. I made a wishlist of birds that I would possibly like to see and Gallus weeded out everything that was not possible, let me know which ones would be givens and which we would have to work for. I am pretty sure that we saw most of the birds that were possible – we just had to save some for next time – Gallus did an amazing job!!
We were on our own for the evening that we arrived (Saturday, March 14) and got our feet wet at Brinson Park off of Lake Tohopekaliga. It gave us our first good looks at a Tricolored and Little Blue Herons, White Ibises, Anhingas, a cooperative Limpkin, Wood Stork and others. It was a nice start to what Florida has to offer.
A very cooperative Wood Stork
My first Tricolored Heron close-up!
White Ibis, photographed later in the trip at Venetian Gardens
Limpkin, photographed later in the trip at Venetian Gardens
An Anhinga pops its head up from feeding
On Sunday, Gallus picked us up and we were off for some birding. Our first stop was Clearwater Lake Recreation Area where we were greeted by a singing Yellow-throated Vireo. I am not used to hearing this bird so early in the year! Our goal was to find the nesting Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. On our way to the Woodpecker cavities, we ran into small flocks of migrants and nesters and also saw Pine Siskins flying overhead – this was a great county bird for Gallus since they can be hit or miss. Red-headed Woodpeckers and Brown-headed Nuthatches stole the show – these are birds that us northerners are not used to seeing.
The beautiful forest of Clearwater Lake Recreation Area
This Pine Warbler was part of the mixed flock
Along the trails, we heard a life bird singing – the Bachman’s Sparrow – many of them, actually. One eventually showed himself so that we could officially add him to our life list.
Bachman’s Sparrow on a nice perch
We made it to the Woodpecker spot were we found three birds who gave us great views. We hung around that spot to watch them some more.
This pair of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers were photographed later in the trip
After a successful first stop, Gallus took us to Venetian Gardens for the Purple Gallinule. We easily found these birds and also got great looks at White Ibises and Limpkins, as seen in the photos earlier in my post.
The beautiful Purple Gallinule
Our next stop was Lake Apopka with small hopes of seeing a rare bird, even for Florida, the Groove-billed Ani – I say “small” hopes because the bird had not been reported for two weeks. It was mid day and the trail offered no relief from the sun. The Ani location was almost one and a half miles in. As we were walking, a Grackle-sized black bird with a blunt bill flushed out of the grasses – the Ani!! He gave us nice looks then moved deep into the shrubs. We waited him out a little and were rewarded with even better looks, out in the open.
Groove-billed Ani
All of that walking in the hot sun was totally worth it. We also tried to get looks at King Rails, which would have been another lifer, but they would not show themselves. Our next stop was the Green Mountain Scenic Overlook where we hoped to spot a Short-tailed Hawk. Here, a platform was built over the forest. The view is beautiful!
The view from the platform at Green Mountain Scenic Overlook
Our next target bird was the Florida Scrub-Jay, with the promise of some Florida oranges from a non-private grove. I think it’s safe to say that we had both.
Florida Scrub-Jay with tangerines
We also found our first Loggerhead Shrikes along the road. We ended our day of birding with attempts to find Burrowing Owls. Unfortunately, they did not return to the area we tried. We did, however, get both Least and American Bitterns in one pond. It was my first time hearing them calling.
Just throwing in a photo of a White and Glossy Ibis to end the days trip report
The first day was a huge success. Gallus added four more birds to his big year list bringing his total to 181, as of that day (he has since added even more). To read his trip report, see his blog 2015 Lake County Big Year.
Since we found most of our target birds on the first day, we spent the next day chasing other probable lifers – the Snail and Swallow-tailed Kites, Short-tailed Hawk and Burrowing Owls. Our first stop was Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area. Here, we had even better looks at the Red-cockaded Woodpecker and got some great photos of Eastern Meadowlarks. There were a ton of Vultures, some Osprey Eagles and other Hawks, but we did not get any of our target birds.
Eastern Meadowlark singing
Black Vulture in a tree
We tried another Burrowing Owl spot with no luck. We did see a ton of Cattle Egrets Crested Caracaras, Southeastern Kestrels, more Loggerhead Shrikes, Meadowlarks and Ibises.
Cattle Egret and cattle
Sandhill Crane
Leftovers from a Loggerhead Shrike
At this point, we were on a mission to find the Kites and checked out a few more hotspots. Gallus made the joke that we will see one from a parking lot without expecting it. We arrived at Brinson park and sure enough, a Swallow-tailed Kite flew by… while we were standing in the parking lot.
Swallow-tailed Kite
Gallus was pretty sure that he had a Snail Kite in the distance, but it was just too far. We tried our very last location at Lakefront Park – as we were driving, we spotted what looked like Harriers hovering over the marsh – NOPE! – they were Snail Kites! We parked and went over to where we saw the bird. Eventually, five different kites were in the area all at once. We watched as they hunted and even saw one transporting nesting material!
Snail Kite with nesting material
Snail Kite hunting
What a great way to end the first part of our trip! I have a ton more photos to share from the second part of our trip as we headed to the east coast. This part was more birding, the next will be more photography. I am extremely happy with the photo ops I had – I will post them soon!
The Pileated Woodpecker has been a nemesis bird for my camera for a long time. I heard and saw them often at my old house in New York, but only had a decent photo op once, from across a creek while the sun was setting behind the bird.
My local Pileated Woodpecker from New York
Sure, it’s a nice enough photo, but it was the only time it happened — until I moved to Pennsylvania. My backyard is all wooded and backs into about an acre of a non-private, mature forest. With age comes dead trees and a ton of trees with dead limbs. I get a lot of Downy Woodpeckers, a couple of Hairy Woodpecker pairs, a Red-bellied pair and also Flickers – along with my favorite, the Pileated Woodpecker.
The Pileateds are very vocal – I often hear them banging on trees or making their “kuk kuk” sound. I can usually easily find them, especially when the leaves are not so full. There are two areas that they prefer – a very dead and large Oak tree behind my house and a dead stump in front of my house. I’ve gotten my best photos from these trees – especially the one in the back.
Just today, the female was flying from tree-to-tree all around the woods. Every tree she stopped on had either a dead limb or holes to inspect.
Female Pileated Woodpecker inspecting a hole
They are always finding really good grub to feast on!
The male Pileated Woodpecker with a mouth full of grub
Female Pileated Woodpecker with her tongue out
They really do make a mess – The large oak already has plenty of holes in it and it’s only a matter of time before it has no more bark left.
Male Pileated Woodpecker chipping away at the oak
Female Pileated Woodpecker making a mess on newly fallen snow
I take most of my photos from either one of my decks or from my bathroom window, which gets me a nice look at the top part of the dead oak. I can open the window and shoot away without disturbing the birds. They also never seem to mind me while they are busy chipping away at the trees, as long as I do not make any sudden motion toward them.
Pileated Woodpecker with her crest up
Female Pileated Woodpecker in a thin tree
Male Pileated Woodpecker
Female Pileated Woodpecker
I am so happy to share my yard with these wonderful birds!
I think I have an addiction – an addiction of photographing the Pine Siskins who have been visiting my deck this winter. My Flickr followers must be getting sick of seeing upload-after-upload of Pine Siskins (I try to break it up a bit with some other birds). How could I not photograph them though? I get anywhere from thirty to seventy visitors at a time. They are very active and don’t even mind it if I stand outside with them.
I do not want to flood my Facebook followers with all of these Siskin photos since there are so many that I like, so I will share a bulk of them in this post.
I get plenty of photos of my Pine Siskins on the branches that are attached to my feeder poles.
When it snows, I get even more photos.
I set up my old Christmas tree, a Fraser Fir, in-between two of my feeders. The birds use it as cover and a place to wait their turn.
They often perch on the top branches.
And at the very top of the tree.
These birds are one of the most aggressive song birds I’ve seen at feeders. They spend more time defending their territory than they do actually feeding. I have five stations set up for them – two thistle feeders, two black oil sun flower seed tubes and a sunflower heart tube. They also go after the suet and seed cakes. Still, they decide to fight each other. If they spent less time fighting, they would not use up so much energy!
On a day that I had around seventy birds, I took a video with my phone. They did not seem to mind me and kept up their routine like I was not even standing there.
I hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I liked taking them!
Last month, my friend and I visited Island Beach State Park for the first time. As soon as we drove into the gate, we were greeted by a Red Fox who came right up to the car. We did not expect this at all.
This fox greeted us at the gate
We assume that people who visit the beach over the summer must feed them, making them not fear humans. This isn’t exactly a good thing, especially since the foxes walk freely on the roads and we did see one fox running after someone on a bicycle.
It did make for some great photos ops though, right from the car.
Red Fox on the side of the road
Red Fox near the road
They would go right up to the car while we were not moving. We did not bait these animals, feed them or try to pet them.
Red Fox close to the car
A photo of me taking a photo of the Red Fox above
We also ran into a fox while at a bird blind. At least this one felt a little more “wild.”
Red Fox taken from a bird blind
Red Fox taken from a bird blind
This was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to photograph Red Foxes. I was very happy to be able to do it so easily, but I am not that thrilled on how fearless they are. At least they live on an island and only have to deal with large crowds in the summer.
During a visit to the New Jersey coast last month, my friend Jon and I came across two very cooperative Snow Buntings on the beach at Barnegat. Jetty birding was extremely slow – likely due to the waterfowl hunters in the inlet. We walked up the jetty and decided to take the beach back to search for larks, buntings and longspurs. Just as we reached the vegetation on the beach, we located a Snow Bunting. It was foraging around a pile of garbage and debris, which didn’t make for very nice photos.
Snow Bunting in beach debris
Another bunting was foraging a bit further away at the edge of the beach vegetation. We waited as the first bird moved toward the other one.
Both Snow Buntings in a much nicer setting
The photos in this location were much more pleasing!
The birds would jump on the grasses and grab seeds. It was very fun to watch them.
Snow Bunting grabbing grass
Snow Bunting jumping on the grass
Snow Bunting eating grass
We laid down in the sand and stayed with these birds for around twenty minutes.
Eventually, one even made it’s way right toward me, it was so close that my camera did not want to focus.
Snow Bunting up close
I was very pleased with this photo-op – the buntings were very cooperative. These turned out to be my best Snow Bunting photos ever!
It is getting increasingly more difficult for me to see new life birds in my area. Many of the eastern birds that I do not have are tougher to get. Out of 67 new birds this year, 54 were seen in Oregon and Washington. Four were seen during the Biggest Week in Ohio and a few were found in Bombay Hook in Delaware. Until recently, I only had one new bird in Pennsylvania – the Worm-eating Warbler. And then I ended the year with three new birds, seen in my state during December, with a New Jersey lifer in-between.
The bird in New Jersey was a surprise lone Ross’s Goose at Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
A lone Ross’s Goose at Forsythe in November
Two of my life birds seen in Pennsylvania are rare species for the area. A Harris’s Sparrow has been hanging out at feeders on a private residence in Williams Township. We waited a few hours for the bird to show up while getting to know the host. You could tell that she loved showing people this bird – she was very accommodating and really does deserve all of the rare birds that happen to find her property (her yard list is well over 200 birds).
Harris’s Sparrow grabbing seed from a rock
Harris’s Sparrow on a platform feeder
The other is a bird that I just wrote a post about, the pair of Barnacle Geese that showed up at a lake 20 minutes away from me. For more on these birds, see my previous post.
Barnacle Goose at Weir Lake
All of these were great birds, but the best is the most recent bird I saw. Another friend-of-a-friend has been seeing a Northern Saw-whet Owl on his property. While we were out and about last Friday, my friend sent the host a message asking if we could see the bird. It turned out that he already located the owl that day and was showing it to a couple of other people; he invited us to tag along.
Northern Saw-Whet Owl at eye level
That was a pretty easy one to get! I never realized how small these owls were until I saw this one. Four local life birds in less then two months – what a great way to end the year!
