Current Topic: Vultures

The Vulture and the Gator

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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.

Turkey Vulture

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.

Turkey Vulture

The Vulture drags the Coot away from the water

Turkey Vulture

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

Alligator eating a Coot wing

Alligator

Alligator eating a Coot wing

The Vulture cautiously ate its findings.

Turkey Vulture

Turkey Vulture eating a Coot

Turkey Vulture

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.

Turkey Vulture

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.

Turkey Vulture

The Vulture protects the carcass

Turkey Vulture

The Vulture protects the carcass

Turkey Vulture

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.

Turkey Vulture

The Turkey Vulture continues eating

Birding Florida – Lake and Osceola Counties

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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.

Wood Stork

A very cooperative Wood Stork

Tricolored Heron

My first Tricolored Heron close-up!

White Ibis

White Ibis, photographed later in the trip at Venetian Gardens

Limpkin

Limpkin, photographed later in the trip at Venetian Gardens

Anhinga

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.

Clearwater Lake Recreation Area

The beautiful forest of Clearwater Lake Recreation Area

Pine Warbler

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

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.

Red-cockaded Woodpeckers

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.

Purple Gallinule

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

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

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

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.

White and Glossy Ibis

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

Eastern Meadowlark singing

Black Vulture

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

Cattle Egret and cattle

Sandhill Crane

Sandhill Crane

Impaled Beetle

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

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

Snail Kite with nesting material

Snail Kite

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!

Blackpoll Invasion and Other Fall Migrants

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I usually like to think of one word that describes migration in my yard – this fall it is “Blackpoll.” I had days where I lost count at 20 individuals in only one small section of my yard. There were a ton of them.

Blackpoll Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Inbetween all of the Blackpoll Warblers, I would see other birds – usually only once or twice. Many of them came up to my windows or deck and posed nicely for me. The following are some photos of the warblers who cooperated for me.

Chestnut-sided Warbler & American Redstart

This Chestnut-sided Warbler photo-bombed the American Redstart

Black-and-white Warbler

Black-and-white Warblers were early migrants

Blackpoll Warbler

Another Blackpoll Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Tennessee Warblers showed up often

Black-throated Green Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

And another Blackpoll Warbler

Ovenbird

Ovenbird near my feeders

I also had plenty of visits from Blue-headed Vireos. One stayed in my yard until the end of October. These birds were very cooperative!

Blue-headed Vireo

Blue-headed Vireos like to pose nicely

My resident Hummingbirds stocked up at my flowers and feeders before they left and other migrants also stopped by.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird gearing up for migration

My biggest surprise was a bird who would often visit my garden. I was hoping that it would stick around, but I have not seen it in a couple of weeks.

Winter Wren

A new yard bird, the Winter Wren

While Common Nighthawks were migrating through the area, I saw some flying around my house as I was driving home. I safely hurried home in time to get the yard bird from my driveway!

Common Nighthawk

A Common Nighthawk during migration (not my yard bird)

I also kept my eyes in the sky for raptors and gained another new yard bird soaring with a Red-tail. This is another bird I did not have in New York.

Black Vultures

Black Vultures migrating over my house

It was another great migration season. With the new added birds, my yard list now stands at 93. I was hoping that I could have hit 100 by the end of the year, but I guess it will have to wait until next season. Still, not bad for a very small yard!

Blackpoll Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Birding in Delaware

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My friend and I took a trip to Delaware to go to Bombay Hook and Cape Henlopen State Park on Sunday. One of our goals was to both get a life bird in its northern-most range, the Brown-headed Nuthatch.

The day started off with a bang as we were exiting a highway in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I spotted a raptor perched on a utility pole and IDed it as a possible Peregrine Falcon. We pulled into a parking lot to confirm the ID and take some photos.

Spotting a Peregrine Falcon from the road

Spotting a Peregrine Falcon from the road

We then started our long drive to Delaware. This was the first time I visited the state for birding. After my total of a three-and-a-half hour drive, we arrived at the Nature Center at Cape Henlopen to watch the feeders.

Red-winged Blackbirds dominated the area and were extremely loud at times.

One of many loud Red-winged Blackbird

One of many loud Red-winged Blackbird

When they quieted down, we could hear a Great Horned Owl hooting in the woods. We did not want to step off trail to find it and instead enjoyed the feeder birds. I took this chance to photograph a bird that I do not see in my new yard anymore.

Cardinal on a sign

The Northern Cardinal was common in my NY yard, but not in my PA yard

I also remembered that I have no good photos of Carolina Chickadees and snapped a few of them too.

I don't have many photos of Carolina Chickadees

I only see Black-capped Chickadees near me, not Carolinas

After a little while more of waiting, the bird we were waiting for finally showed up.

Brown-headed Nuthatch at the feeders

Brown-headed Nuthatch at the feeders

We stuck around to try to get photos of them in a more natural setting, but that proved to be difficult since they would go directly to the thick of trees from the feeders. We had up to six of these birds in sight and calling back and forth at the same time. If you’ve never heard their call, I highly suggest you listen to it on Allaboutbirds.org. It is the cutest call!!

This Brown-headed Nuthatch kept posing for us

This Brown-headed Nuthatch kept posing for us

After a couple of hours, we left to go back up to Bombay Hook in search of waterfowl, shorebirds and possible owls. This part of our trip was a little quiet as far as photo ops went. We did see seventeen species of waterfowl and an early shorebird migrant.

Greater Yellowlegs are on the move!

Greater Yellowlegs with a bill that is covered in mud – it is longer than it looks from this photo.

Other notable sightings include a Red Fox, multiple Harriers, our first-of-year Gray Catbird and a couple of Bald Eagles flying in the distance.

Red Fox on the road

Red Fox on the road

Bald Eagle flying in the distance

Bald Eagle flying over-head

I won’t leave out some of the more common birds that seem to pose nicer than the waterfowl, which I did not take any photos of due to over-bright lighting and distance.

Great Blue Heron in the grasses

Great Blue Heron in the grasses

Black Vultures perched on a chimney

Black Vultures perched on a chimney

Mockingbird posing nicely

Mockingbird posing nicely

Yellow-rumped Warbler in the holly tree

Yellow-rumped Warbler in the holly tree

House Sparrows are pretty handsome

House Sparrows are very handsome