Songs in the Key of F

Beach Birds

2012-03-17T13:01:00.000-04:00

...Not to be confused with snow birds,

Which I admit I still feel like I'm one of those...

Even tho we now have our Florida license plate

And Florida driver's licenses,

Making us "official" now!

Spring has sprung in S. Florida,

And I hope to get around the 'hood to get flora fotos soon.

In the meantime, we've been to Ft. Lauderdale Beach

A few times recently...

The laughing gulls' heads are blackening...

So are the royal terns, but this one is still in transition...

During our last trip to the SW coast, we checked out Bunche Beach,

Which is on the Great Birding Trail...

An osprey flew over, and a brown pelican,

But otherwise it wasn't impressive

Even if I did smile for this pic...

I thought I was taking a shot of a Calif. gull,

After once again failing to find any skimmers

Since I saw the two and had no camera...

BUT, this is actually a lifer!

Checking my Stokes guide,

I then thought it was a great black-backed gull...

But the legs are yellow, not pink...

So it is a lesser black-backed gull!

Now this royal tern has it's spring/summer black cap on...

This spiffy moth was in the driveway recently...

Ru remembers being afraid of these as a kid, cause they look like a wasp...

This is actually a polka-dot wasp moth!

Bokeelia ~ Pine Island

2012-02-28T13:46:00.003-05:00

Another trip was made to the SW coast,

This time to check out Cape Coral...

C.C. is located on the E side of Charlotte Harbor...

What we saw we did not care for,

But we mosied on over to Pine Island

(The largest island on the W coast of FL)...

Bokeelia is on the N tip of the island,

At the mouth of Charlotte Harbor...

It is one of five communities on the island...

There are two piers; this one has a locked gate...

The other pier, you can walk out on part way...

At its gate you have to pay $8 to enter...

While we ate a seafood lunch at the rustic restaurant

Across the street from the piers,

Ru saw a fin out in the water between the piers...

We finished our lunch and went to watch

A porpoise! It was hunting,

And I couldn't get any photos besides of the fin...

...and the splash as it caught a fish,

After zipping at warp speed towards shore...

We did see the fish flip up into the air...

Nearby, and further back down the road, there are two huge osprey nests...

I was able to get photos of the osprey at the nest by the piers...

I did see an osprey in the nest, being fed by the one I photographed...

The osprey flew around nearby then landed on a nearby post...

...And another nearby post...

Here's a perspective shot of the nest...

A brown pelican between the piers.

The porpoise sighting was my first ! Very cool.

* * * * * *

A special thanks to Caroline for ID'ing the "duck" in my previous post (Feb. 21) as an Egyptian goose! I KNEW it was a legit bird, not a hybrid, but the memory was too hazy to roll off the tip of my tongue, and it wasn't in either of my two bird guides (where on earth did I see it then?)

Another aside...we have made the tough decision not to buy a home in Port Charlotte/No. Port,

Due to the communities mostly being on well/septic water, something we're both uncomfortable with.

I'm pretty disappointed, but we will push on and have another area to check out on the NE coast...

I soooo wanted to live on the SW coast but the water and Chinese drywall issues are putting the kabosh on that....

Parking for Feathers

2012-02-21T10:42:00.002-05:00

Now that we have bicycles, (Mine's a bright orange w/ white-wall tires :o) )

Ru and I have been putting around the 'hood here and there...

Two nearby parks could be deemed

A birding junkie's emergency "fix"...

The sports park, where the monk parakeets hang out,

Did have the monks "chanting" at the top of the field net recently...

Not good lighting but hey, proof of the parakeets

(Also called quaker parrots)...

At the other park, I followed a tri-colored heron as it fished...

Or tried to...

This pair of awesomely colored ducks was cruising about...

I was hoping it was a legitimate breed

But looks like they're a hybrid...?

Nothing in N American bird guides anyway...

* * * * *

An aside...the house we made an offer on, didn't pan out; we had to drop the bid...

We were disappointed but deep down knew that house wasn't really for us

Despite how much I looooved being so close to Ollie Pond....

Good news is, we're making an offer on another house, still in Charlotte Co.,

So everyone cross your fingers, your toes, and your eyes for us! Happy Thoughts!

A Laughing Lifer

2012-02-15T15:20:00.002-05:00

We made it back to Ft. Lauderdale Beach today...

We both could swear we'd seen a sign

ID'ing it as Dania Beach but

That was probably the area just south of

The parking lot we'd used last time

And this time...

Anyway, I put the camera in a small backpack

And we hoofed it S on the beach again,

But not one skimmer peeked out

Among the terns....sigh...

But the skimmer is supposed to be found

On all of Florida's coastline,

Year-round......

In the meantime, I did realize the other day

That I needed to pay closer attention to the gulls....

Above is a laughing gull in winter plumage...

I'm pretty sure I "saw" them during the last beach visit,

But my eyes didn't connect to my brain,

So this is untechnically a lifer...(right?)

This laughing gull is morphing from winter to summer....

The legs and bill have just a faint tinge of red to them as yet...

But the head is obviously solid black.

I sat for two hours in the sun, one hour in the shade of a palm...

Got a lovely sunburn to prove it;

Don't ask why I didn't put the 'screen on, I had it....

Fortunately my face didn't fry...

I wear a $35 light-weight baseball cap

I love the cute floppy summer hats

Many stores sell for women

BUT...my ginormous head won't fit in any of 'em...

Anyway, among the many adult ring-billed gulls

Was this imm. one

That looked to be on steroids.

On Ollie's Pond ~ Four Lifers

2012-02-08T12:14:00.001-05:00

While on the SW coast last week,

we discovered, by sheer chance,

Ollie's Pond in Port Charlotte...

The pond covers 40 acres

And is only a few miles from PC Harbor...

There's a path around the pond,

And I eagerly took a stroll along one side...

Several little blue herons were feeding...

At some distance, towards the center of the pond,

Greater yellowlegs were also feeding...

(A lifer! I've seen lesser yellowlegs)

There were several Ibises,

This one posing as a statue...

White ibises and glossy ibises were feeding together,

While a pack of hooded mergansers (lifers!) cruised by...

I couldn't quite get a good photo...

Probably 'cause I was all nerves I was so excited ;o)

I was standing in shadow in a line of small trees,

Along side two Brits...

As I went back to the trail and walked a few feet,

Something red zipped by at eye level.....

! ! !

The No. Cardinal was at the top of my lifer wish list,

And I was close to tears I was so overcome...

But did manage to calm down and take photos.

The English couple joined me...

Mr. C posed for at least 10 min. ...

Also flitting in the trees along the path was this yellow-rumped warbler...

Another lifer in the trees, a red-bellied woodpecker!

A bit frustrating not to be able to get a better shot....

Snowy egrets enjoy the pond too...

Trees around the pond have long strands of Spanish moss...

A view of Ollie's Pond....

Not far from Ollie's Pond,

we found a cute little "welcome" frog....

On the front side of a house...

Not just ANY house, mind you...

But OUR soon-to-be new home!

We love, love the Port Charlotte area

And can't wait to be living there.

Caspersen Beach

2012-02-04T14:48:00.004-05:00

Caspersen Beach is just south of Venice Beach,

in SW Florida,

and is #14 on the South section of

The Great Birding Trail...

Ru and I visited this week

While scouting houses and 'hoods in the area...

C. Beach has some rocky spots

And a narrow shoreline,

But it's a nice beach...

A snowy egret had taken it upon itself

To oversee one fisherman's endeavors...

Deciding, it seemed, that the one bitty fish gift wasn't enough,

Snowy E. did a little fishing of its own...

For a few moments it appeared to of

Grabbed up more than it could swallow...

...Hmmm.......

...Ok, here we go, down the hatch......

Relaxing back on a rock, after the snack......

There were also 2-3 of this bird floating about offshore....

Turns out it's a common loon! A lifer....

Too bad it's winter plumage....

A ring-billed gull and ruddy turnstone

Grappled over a dead fish....

Neither got far with it, but....

Eventually the turnstone strutted off in search of easier fare...

Also floating offshore, like the loons,

Were a couple brown pelicans.

Before reaching Caspersen Beach,

We took a quick look around at

Shamrock Park & Nature Ctr. nearby,

Didn't see anything...it's #13

On the South part of the Great Birding Trail.

We plan to get back there

And ride our bikes on the trail.

Polly Wanna Parrot...but...

2012-01-27T14:26:00.001-05:00

Mr. Ru came home from a bicycle ride yesterday,

And announced he'd seen a flock of the "green parrots"

That we see almost daily flying over the house...

I don't have a bicycle yet,

So we packed a lunch and picnicked at a nearby park,

Then we drove into the other nearby park

Where he'd seen the green birds...

Nothing...

But we'll keep checking/trying,

Later in the day...

I did get to warm up the camera a little bit,

After several days w/o using it...

Above is a male boat-tailed grackle,

On the rail of a bridge over a canal...

The male grackles...

Aren't as pretty as the female grackles...

A few species of birds were getting drinks

While we watched from the bridge...

Including some white ibises.....

A Florida red-bellied "cooter" was also basking on a rock near the bridge.

An aside...We went to Dania Beach a couple days ago...got lost on the way to Ft. Lauderdale Beach

Actually, but we found the really nice Dania Beach further south as a result...I didn't take my

Camera...so I should've known we'd see two black skimmers ~ a lifer ~ on the sand...amid hordes of terns! We also saw an osprey soaring over the shoreline...

Am anxious to go back w/ the camera now.....

Key West and the Great Seafood Gluttony

2012-01-17T17:38:00.004-05:00

Seafood, seafood, key lime pie, and more seafood...

This is how I expect to spend a day in Key West,

And I was not disappointed Sat., when we attended

The 7th Annual Florida Keys Seafood Festival

In Key West....

First, we slurped down conch chowder

And conch fritters....appetizers really...

Then we went back to the line of food booths

And grabbed a grilled lobster plate to share...

After eating and checking out the arts and crafts booths,

We drove to Fort Zachary Taylor State Park...

America's southernmost state park.

(And a part of the Great Birding Trail.)

Before visiting the fort, we watched what I believe was some part

of the Ft. Lauderdale to Key West Regatta...

I found this lone sandwich tern on the small beach in the park...

While visiting Ft. Z. Taylor,

Ru discovered an odd couple

When he looked out the cannon portals....

The iguana was quite large,

And so was the "great egret"....

When I see this photo,

I keep thinking of

The Owl and the Pussycat!

I remembered seeing the white morph photo

Of a great blue heron in the Stokes Field Guide,

So I was anxious to get back home and see....

I'm pretty sure this is indeed a great blue heron

With the white morph going on...!

...Looking down the row of cannons...

This fort contains the largest cache

Of Civil War-era seacoast cannons

In the United States...

Also puttering around the "semi moat" below the fort

Was a female ring-necked duck...

And what I thought was a common merganser...

But it's a female red-breasted merganser, a lifer...

I only saw the one merganser paddling around with

Several blue-winged teals...and coots...

This male/female teal pair are under mangrove roots...

Back on the road, we went to Conch Republic Seafood Co.,

For more seafood...I had fish and chips...

...That is, after we ate slices of key lime pie

From Kermit's...we ate at both places

Six years ago during my first visit to Florida...

We also strolled the boardwalk outside the restaurant

(And other restaurants)...

Several brown pelicans were floating

in the marina...

This one is an immature...

Key West is known for the free-roaming roosters

On the island....

This is a quad of black-breasted reds...

That's hubby w/ a large stuffed frog named Jingles,

A Christmas gift from our daughter...

Ru decided we were going to use it

For our travel photo mascot...

So here he is at the southernmost point in the US...

Key West is well-known for its gorgeous sunsets...

We were on the road heading home when the sun went down,

But stopped along Seven Mile Bridge

To take not-so-great photos, but...

It was a beautiful sunset!

A great ending to a really nice day.

Hugh Taylor Birch State Park

2012-01-12T10:46:00.001-05:00

The eastern side of the HTBSP is just across the street from

Ft. Lauderdale Beach...

I had high hopes of getting bird pics...

...Pffftt!

But it was worth the $6 park fee

To see this fig tree...

That's Ru in there, dwarfed by this ginormous tree...

The crown of the tree is over 100 feet across...

The park is a part of the Great Florida Birding Trail...

We parked here and walked thru the underground tunnel

To the beach, where we soaked up rays for awhile...

I was in great need of some beach therapy,

And it definitely revived my slightly wilted soul.

Fern Forest Nature Ctr.

2012-01-03T15:22:00.001-05:00

Fern Forest NC is on the Great FL Birding Trail...

It's 247 acres of urban wilderness,

Containing over 30 species of ferns,

Located in Coconut Creek...

Ru and I visited there recently;

Overall I was a bit disappointed but

We did see a couple things of interest...

Like a few monarch butterflies in the Sensory Garden area...

And a distant wren, not sure which one it is....

Any help would be most welcome...

It appears to have white below the eye,

On the throat and a white eye band...

Back coloring is solid not mottled...

Carolina wren?

I'm definitely getting senile...I thought I'd shared a photo of

The ruddy daggerwing butterfly, but have not...

This one is better than the previous photos I'd taken anyway...

Wild coffee grows abundantly in S. Florida,

I think we've seen it at every park/nature ctr.

We've visited so far.

I'm really anxious to see more birds

But it's windy and cold (for Florida anyway)...

A/c hasn't even come on today! That's a first.

This and That...

2011-12-28T11:30:00.000-05:00

How was your Christmas?

As usual, I'm glad it's over with,

But we did have a nice Christmas Day . . .

I haven't really been out taking photos

For several days, so now's a good time to

Post misc. photos...

One of the rest stops along I-75 in the Everglades

Is taken over by a bunch of black vultures...

Creepy, yes, but I managed to get a photo...

Speaking of creepy...

A real common sight

While visiting state parks or

Any nature area with a forest-like setting,

Are huge spider webs overhead,

With these golden orb-weaver spiders

Hanging out in their center...

From back leg tip to front leg tip,

A full grown GOW is about four inches long...

Did I mention that spiders

Are my least favorite creepy crawly?!

Moving along to prettier subjects,

The common primrose willow can be seen

Here and there...

Closer to home, about 3-4 blocks away in fact,

In a McD's parking lot...

I took photos of one of two cattle egret

That were trolling for scraps...

Of all the places

To finally see a cattle egret!

Even closer to home,

This little frog

Had to be rescued

More than once

From BIL Sam's pool...

There are many ducks in the 'hood

Thanks to the large ponds nearby...

They waddle by most days

Ru likes to give them

Bread scraps...

I did a post on my S Dakota Blog

Showing the pair of Eurasian collared doves

That were visiting the feeders...

These doves were first introduced to the U.S.

Here in Florida...

This one's on the street light out front...

We have mourning doves

In the backyard often...

The ibises are occasional visitors thru the 'hood...

We see a squirrel pretty much daily,

Skittering along the fence around the back yard...

And have put peanuts out for it...

The palm warblers are scarce visitors now...

Boat-tailed grackles are super common...

But it was a unique sight when

A female grackle found a tiny snake

In the backyard near the pool.

Iguana See an Anhinga

2011-12-21T10:23:00.001-05:00

We liked Long Key Natural Area enough the first time

To make another visit,

And managed to find different critters

To take a gander at...

I was pretty excited to discover this male (or imm.) anhinga sunning...

It tolerated my presence pretty well...

At a slightly different angle, I was able to pick up the reflections in the water...

Hubby spied this iguana hanging by the pond...

These guys are escaped/released ex-pets, can be seen

Along canals and other bodies of water,

Regardless of the human population...

Hubby also spied an atala hairstreak butterfly...

There were gulf fritillaries about the little butterfly garden also...

I believe this is a red-bellied turtle

(As noted in previous post)...

Seemed to be swimming over to greet me,

But he just kept swimming under the bridge.

Up in the trees, I could hear a couple different birds twittering, but it was pretty hard to make out what they were they were so busy flitting about...I managed to capture a black-and-white warbler as it pecked at the bark for a moment before moving again. This warbler was a lifer for me!

Sawgrass Sanctuary

2011-12-13T15:48:00.004-05:00

It must be said that

Just because a birdie haven is reeeally small,

Doesn't mean it doesn't hold

Some worthwhile,

Feathery foto ops!

Ru and I visited Sawgrass Sanctuary,

which has a walker's path circling the outer parameter.

The sanctuary is a mere 20 acres,

And we only found three birds here...BUT...

One was a lifer...

Actually another was a recent lifer too,

And this was my first photo op w/ it...

Walking out on the observation platform,

Ru spied this immature green heron

on the water's edge below us...the lifer...

A No. mockingbird landed on one of the platform posts.....

...And in the water between the platform and land,

A wood stork was feeding...

I've seen many wood storks since arriving in FL,

And was happy to get the op to take some close-up shots...

Also out and about,

Were many dragonflies,

Like this red one...

There were a few cypress trees on the water's edge.....

Heading out of the sanctuary,

We found a wood stork sunning

By a water canal....

Along with another lifer,

a tri-colored heron!

Woo hoo! :o)

Fort Myers Beach

2011-12-06T10:42:00.002-05:00

After visiting Sanibel Island,

We landed on another shoreline,

At or near Ft. Myers Beach...

No parking fees,

And plenty of white sand

And shore birds...

Willets were wading...

Sanderlings skittered in the sea and on shore...

Ruddy turnstones traipsed in the tickly tide...

A snowy egret,

Wading in its yellow galoshes,

Eyed the shallows for a bite to eat...

And brown pelicans perused the sea

As they soared close to the surface.

Sanibel Island

2011-11-29T15:58:00.001-05:00

Last week-ish, Ru and I drove to the west coast...

To have a look around the areas we're interested in living...

We ended up on Sanibel Island,

At Bowman's Beach...

We barely made it onto the causeway,

When we stopped on a narrow strip of beach

To eat lunch...

And watch the shore birds...

An osprey dove into the water right in front of us...

No camera in hand of course...

But I did capture the black-bellied plover, above...

And a great egret...

Once at Bowman's Beach,

I gleefully strolled down the shore

Looking for seashells

And watching the feathered friends...

Like the sandwich terns, above

(Black bills w/ yellow tips)...

And this royal tern...

(All birds are in their winter plumage)...

The scenery was pleasant...

Walking back to the car, at the bridge

Over a waterway off of the ocean...

We watched two 'silver' gals

Canoeing at a brisk clip...

(Mom, you can do it!)

Long Key Natural Area

2011-11-22T15:55:00.005-05:00

...Ok I missed a couple photos taken

At Tree Tops Park...

I got a better photo of a N. mockingbird...

This one didn't mind posing...

A gentle reminder (above) that...

We're not in "Kansas" anymore...

The park has this nice stand of live oaks...

To the left is a narrow 'stream'...

To the right is a man-made pond...

Several people were arriving to fish...

The pickerel weed grows in swampy areas...

After visiting Tree Tops,

We happened upon Long Key Natural Area...

(Not Long Key State Park)

A real nice, 124 acre nature 'preserve'...

Including a pond with soft shell turtles...

And pretty white pond lilies...

And what appeared to be giant swallowtails,

That wouldn't pose for the camera...

Leaving the park, we watched an osprey

Land on this branch...

I have since seen several osprey

Along I-75 while driving thru

The Big Cypress Nat'l Preserve...

Also in barren tree tops near the osprey,

Was this imm. anhinga...

At first I thought it was a cormorant...

I'm really hoping to get a good shot

Of a female anhinga eventually... (has yellow coloring)...

Also saw many of those along the BCNP...

And belted kingfishers...

And hawks...not sure what kind.

Swamp Creatures

2011-11-16T12:54:00.003-05:00

Florida has what's called The Great Florida Birding Trail...

I haven't visited any of the sites on the trail yet...

(Thanks for the good tip, Bob!)...

But nature parks are in abundance...

And we've visited a couple in the past week...

So far the parks have been well-maintained,

And small, like Tree Tops Park.

We walked to the end of the boardwalk,

And after we walked away, this

Little Blue Heron landed by the covered sitting area,

So I crept back to get photos.

It posed nicely...

Swamp lilies were growing in the...swamp...

Kind of shocking to see lilies in this setting!

These berries are truly this color...

The beautyberry...common...

And stunning...

A distant common moorhen was paddling about in the swamp...

A great egret was carefully fishing...

A very common bird in FL...

Many white peacock butterflies were flitting, also common here...

...And a floating red-bellied turtle was hanging out.

More Florida 101

2011-11-10T19:18:00.002-05:00

Finally, some subject matter for the camera lens...

Nothing extraordinary

For Florida...

But exciting to this newcomer...

We've spotted flocks of Ibises,

Flying toward the Everglades at dusk...

But a couple mornings ago,

My BIL yelled at me

To check out the birds

Walking down the street!

I grabbed the camera and

Got some shots

Of the wandering Ibises

Two houses down...

The palm warbler is real common this time of year...

But not easy to get a decent shot of...

The brown anole is really abundant;

These cute little backyard buggars

Stand guard around BIL's pool...

Pool Patrol, I call it...they're looking for bug snacks...

Naturally the one bird I'm real familiar with, is the only bird I saw

at a really nice, sort of local rec. park yesterday...

The great egret.

The Halloween pennant dragonfly, probably real common...

...but so far I'm seeing waaay more of the...

Zebra long wing butterfly...

it's super abundant here!

A Little Florida 101

2011-11-04T15:04:00.002-04:00

Since I haven't been out and about with the camera yet,

I'll have to post what I find around the house...

Can you believe my bird field guide books are packed away??

Yesterday, two small green parrot-type birds shot by

About two houses down...

Gone before I could inhale...

(I do realize they're probably escaped pets)...

Today I'm shuffling around like a 130 year old,

Dang back muscle spasm, OY!

So...a few things very common around Florida...

(a.k.a. Toto, I think we're not in Kansas anymore)...

Palm trees, of course! They're everywhere....

These black, distinct-songed birds...very common I'm sure...

Were squawking at ea other...a couple?

Also distinctly-shaped tail but no ID yet...

(Update: I got my field guides out of storage...

These are male boat-tailed grackles,

Uber-common here...

The females are a pretty brown color.)

Backyard pools...very, very common...too bad it's too 'cold' even for me

to enjoy a dip in, (the water temp., not the ambient temp.!)

...but it's nice to look at.

Well well, my first bird photo and what is it?? The Florida state bird...a Northern Mocking Bird!
A lifer, of course...and I haven't even begun to warm up yet. :o)

First Days in Florida

2011-11-01T10:07:00.002-04:00

Here it is finally...

My FIRST post for my new Blog...

a.k.a. Finding My Florida (in my Fifties)...

Ru and I landed in Panama City Beach,

In the Florida panhandle on Friday

And spent the night in a beachy hotel room w/ a balcony,

Right at the beach...

With a pool and lots of lounge chairs

Between the hotel and white silky sand...

The bird wildlife is beyond crazy awesome in Florida...

I just wish I could get more photos besides the one below

Of pelicans flying overhead...

I know, I know...patience!!

We spent Sat. and Sun. w/ good friends and their family near Orlando...

Monday, Halloween, we arrived in the (general) Miami area...

Checked into our hotel where we'll stay 3 days...

Before moving in temporarily (two? three months?) w/ my BIL...

After we unloaded our suitcases,

We asked the Garmin,

"Where's the nearest Pollo Tropical?!"

Beg, beg, BEG!!

We snarfed...

And I do mean SNARFED!

our yummy Cuban fast food down...

It's been six years since I first/last ate at PT...

Where else can you get delicious fast CUBAN food

But in Florida?! Gotta love it!

By the way...
Besides the several, un ID'd (ARG!) water birds
Seen all over the place...
While we were stopped at an intersection
What should flit down and land on a street light...
But an Osprey!
In the middle of city life.

Florida?! Gotta love it!