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Afternoon Walk at Oakland Nature Preserve

Posted Tuesday, December 10, 2019Friday, December 13, 2019 Jess YarnellPosted in Oakland Nature Preserve

It’s been ages since I visited Oakland Nature Preserve. Rich asked for a walk on Yellow Thursday, so we headed to the trails. I took my intermediate telephoto, re-discovered a place I used to love, and determined that I needed to return in the morning with my Beast! :)

Our first bird was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. There were two of them, chasing each other from branch to branch. Rich stood patiently while I waited for them to come out in the open.

I think I saw my first Blue-headed Vireo at ONP many many moons ago. So it was fun to see another one saying hello from the top of a tall tree.

A flock of Chipping Sparrows was active in the grasses and treetops. It took a little while to get close enough to one to get a good picture.

A flash of yellow went by and caught our attention. It turned out to be a pair of Pine Warblers. They posed on a small pine tree as they searched for bugs.

After meandering the trails for a while, we headed back to the car. Rich spotted a trio of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and we watched them dart in and our of the bushes. They told Rich he should join me on nature walks more often!

Yellow Friday

Posted Saturday, December 7, 2019Saturday, December 7, 2019 Jess Yarnell2 CommentsPosted in Lake Apopka

The day after Thanksgiving was Yellow Friday at Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive. The landscape is covered in burr marigolds – it’s beautiful! Plus there were some great yellow birds.

Fields of Yellow Flowers (Burr Marigolds)

Yellow Warblers are typically found in Central Florida during spring and fall migration. But this year, a Yellow Warbler seems to be wintering at the Crazy U. I spotted him high in the treetops between Palm Warblers. It took a few minutes for him to come out in the open for a photograph.

Flocks of ducks are also here for the winter. Among the Blue-winged Teals and the Ring-necked Ducks were a bunch of American Wigeons. They spent most of the morning with their heads under the water, but they did briefly pose for the camera.

Nearby, a Belted Kingfisher flew in to a tree branch. This is a female, as she has rusty spots on her stomach. She stood watching over the marsh until she spotted a fish, then she took off and grabbed it from the water.

There are so many Fulvous Whistling-Ducks at Lake Apopka these days! The sky is full of them. They are really pretty when you see them up close near the trails.

A Vermilion Flycatcher has been seen regularly at LAWD for the past few weeks. I didn’t see her on that particular day, but as I watched for her, I spotted this Swamp Sparrow. He stayed mostly hidden in the reeds but hopped out for a quick photo op.

This Eastern Phoebe knew it was Yellow Friday. She showed off her yellow parts as she posed in front of the fields of yellow flowers. She waved goodbye as I left and congratulated me for visiting the wildlife drive instead of the mall! :-)

Black Birds on a Gray Morning

Posted Tuesday, December 3, 2019Saturday, November 30, 2019 Jess Yarnell1 CommentPosted in Lake Apopka

Thanksgiving morning was a gray, misty morning. The sky was totally covered in clouds, and as I got closer to Lake Apopka, it started to mist. But I haven’t had a lot of spare time lately, and it was an opportunity to visit my feathered friends. I wandered out on the dock and a Boat-tailed Grackle showed off, throwing his head back and calling loudly. I guess he wanted me to think he’d caught the apple snails next to him. I knew better. ;-)

I kept wandering and looking carefully at the black birds, searching for the Bronzed Cowbirds I’d seen reported on eBird. A jogger came by and flushed a big flock of grackles and red-wings. One of the few birds that didn’t spook turned out to have a red eye – the male Bronzed Cowbird! Bronzed Cowbirds typically live in Mexico and Central America, with small patches found in the southern US. The bird didn’t seem to mind my camera as I took his picture.

After a few minutes, the Bronzed Cowbird headed to the alligator flags. His feathers are pretty – imagine how much they would gleam in sunlight. His red eye is an easy discriminator from our typical Florida black birds. He continued to pose for me as the rain picked up and I had to leave. He was a nice Thanksgiving surprise!