"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order." - John Burroughs
This morning my sister and I headed down to the local park for a hike and some birding. It was a little late -- around 9:15 or so, and quite damp and cloudy, but the woods were nonetheless alive with dozens of bird songs.
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Our first encounter was a female Pine Warbler gathering palm fibers for her nest. Although she was only a few feet away, she was incredibly fast, and my camera refused to focus correctly. I played with the settings, and only managed to get a couple mediocre shots before she disappeared.
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Further down the trail, we found a tiny juvenile ground skink. My sister caught it and we looked at it for a few minutes before letting it go again.
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The lake was incredibly dry, despite the rain showers we've been getting lately, but it provided us with a good opportunity to get off trail and hike along the bank. Where there had once been water was now filled with a huge field of yellow flowers and wire grasses.
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On the opposite side of the lake, we saw an incredibly pink Roseate Spoonbill land, so we decided to try and catch up to it. It took about a half hour to get close enough for the above photo (which is blurry, I know), before it flew off to the opposite side of the lake where we had just come from.
There was another, more intriguing bird that grabbed my attention though.
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Three dark wading birds were foraging along the shore, some distance away from us. Glossy Ibises! I haven't seen one of these since 2007, and I've never seen one in FL before. They were extremely skittish, and I was unable to get up close, but the pictures are decent enough to confirm the ID.
I'm really excited -- the Glossy Ibis is year bird #90!
The total list from the short hike:
- Pine Warbler
- Fish Crow
- Laughing Gull
- Osprey
- White Ibis
- Glossy Ibis
- Roseate Spoonbill
- Cardinal
- Great-crested Flycatcher
- Northern Parula
- Tufted Titmouse
- Mourning Dove
- Cattle Egret
- Ruddy Turnstone
- Tree Swallow
It's a relatively small list, but I don't really care. We had a lot of fun, and I saw a new year bird!
Until next time,
Happy birding!
Labels: birding, hiking, warblers, year birds
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