Red, White(ish), and Blue Birds at ONP for Memorial Day

Posted Posted in Oakland Nature Preserve

I went to Oakland Nature Preserve over the Memorial Day weekend to look for baby bluebirds. My favorite trails that were so active in the winter are definitely quieter during the summer, but I found some good birds. They were red, white(ish), and blue, perfect for the holiday!

When I first arrived, a squirrel hopped up on a sign and begged me to take his picture. I complied, knowing that I might have a not-so-birdy day and need fodder for a blog post!

Squirrel
Squirrel

Red

The chipping calls of cardinals filled the air, especially in the area where I chased the Yellow-breasted Chat this spring. I spotted the whole family: Papa Cardinal out looking for bugs, Mama Cardinal just in from the shower, and Baby C who just wanted to be fed!

Cardinal (Adult Male)
Cardinal (Adult Male)
Cardinal (Adult Female)
Cardinal (Adult Female)
Cardinal (Juvenile Male)
Cardinal (Juvenile Male)

White(ish)

These next birds were white….or at least, partly white! This little Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was a fun find for summer. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers do summer in Florida, but they are much harder to find than in the winter when their northern buddies join the party.

Blue-gray Gnatcatchter
Blue-gray Gnatcatchter

I heard this Northern Parula before I saw him. The trill in his song is unmistakable. He paused briefly to look at the camera before continuing his hunt for breakfast.

Northern Parula
Northern Parula

Nearby, the calls of an Osprey drew my attention to a large bird carrying a huge branch. Most Osprey I know were starting to fledge chicks by this time, so I was surprised to see this massive piece of furniture heading for the nursery. It’s too bad the tree in the foreground obscured it – the branch was easily twice the size of the bird!

Osprey with Nesting Material
Osprey with Nesting Material

and Blue!

My last bird of the morning was an Eastern Bluebird. He stood tall and proud on a pine tree, seeming to watch over one of the bluebird houses. A female bird answered him from just above me. They weren’t ready to introduce me to their family, but that was ok. It’s nice to know that they have a safe place to raise their kids, despite all the recent habitat loss due to housing development.

Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Bluebird

Wading Pools at Fort De Soto’s North Beach

Posted 1 CommentPosted in Fort De Soto

Fort de Soto’s North Beach is magical in the springtime. The beach has re-shaped significantly over the past few years, and there are some wonderful tide pools that attract hungry birds, like the Black Skimmers I wrote about in my last post. I spent a very happy half hour sitting on the edge of the wading pools watching birds find their breakfasts.

This Marbled Godwit was in beautiful soft light on that gorgeous cool morning. I didn’t even see the tiny fish he was pulling from the wading pool until I got home and looked at my pictures.

Marbled Godwit
Marbled Godwit

This little Least Sandpiper took a break from feeding to take a bath. He seemed to really enjoy throwing water droplets everywhere!

Least Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper

Big Red was active that morning. This is one of the dark-morph Reddish Egrets that hangs out at Fort De Soto. He dances like a drunken sailor when he’s hunting for food.

Reddish Egret
Reddish Egret

This Ruddy Turnstone is getting close to full breeding colors. He paused at the edge of the wading pool to look at the camera, then he resumed his search for breakfast.

Ruddy Turnstone
Ruddy Turnstone

This Dunlin will soon have a striking black chest. He was a little embarrassed to be caught mid-molt. He asked me to come back in a few weeks and see how pretty he’ll be then!

Dunlin
Dunlin

This Common Merganser was very busy with her breakfast. I never quite identified what it was, but it was big and white and apparently very hard to grasp in her beak.

Common Merganser
Common Merganser

Later I saw a Laughing Gull eating something similar. He seemed very proud of himself.

Laughing Gull
Laughing Gull

This Semi-Palmated Plover was in full breeding plumage. Turns out this was another Five-Plover morning, but I didn’t know it yet!

Semi-palmated Plover
Semi-palmated Plover

This last image is a Black-bellied Plover who made me laugh. He grabbed his breakfast and started to fly off, but he was startled and dropped it! I caught the sequence and edited it together to show the sequence.

Black-bellied Plover Drops His Breakfast
Black-bellied Plover Drops His Breakfast

You know it’s going to be a good morning when these images are on your card in the first half hour! I headed out to Outback Key to see what I could find…more on that in my next post!

Skimming the Surface

Posted Posted in Fort De Soto

I retuned to Fort De Soto in early May with the hopes of finding migrants. I started off at North Beach, where a group of Black Skimmers was working a tide pool. Black Skimmers are one of the few birds whose lower beak (mandible) is longer than the top. The skimmers feed by dragging their bottom beak through the water to catch a fish. It’s so much fun to try to photograph!

Black Skimmer Skimming
Black Skimmer Skimming

Look carefully at the photo above. You can see the ridge of water that he cut with his beak. Plus he has beads of water in his wing feathers. Pretty!

Black Skimmer Skimming
Black Skimmer Skimming

The skimmers make a fun little barking sound as they fly. It’s unmistakeable after you’ve spent an afternoon in a skimmer colony. These skimmers flew back and forth in the soft morning light, fishing their way up and down the beach. I knelt down and enjoyed the awesome autofocus of the R5. My favorite shot was this last one, with a juxtaposition of two skimming birds.

Black Skimmer Skimming
Black Skimmer Skimming

As the name of this post suggests, this post barely skims the surface of my morning at Fort De Soto. It was awesome!! More coming in the next post…