We had a great weekend in St. Augustine. On Saturday morning, we met up with friends Alison, Chad and Hobie to look for Peregrine Falcons. After dinner, David and I went back to the beach for some more bird watching. Sunday, we returned to the beach for more birding, met a friend for brunch, and on the way home we (surprise) stopped to go birding (do you sense a trend?) Very active and awesomely birdy weekend. If you didn't GOYB to join us for this awesome weekend out, here's what you missed (click to enlarge pix):
This was a dragonfly I spotted from the observation deck. We were specifically looking for Peregrines for Chad, and we saw a few, but none were particularly photogenic. Chad, Alison and Hobie were quite photogenic, but I got distracted by shiny things and completely forgot to take any people or puppy pix at the observation deck.
When David and I went out to the beach late in the day, it had just finished raining where we were. This huge sail boat was off in the distance getting rained on but was still picturesque nonetheless.
Mmmmmm HFC David looking as gloriously yummy as always.
This was a first for me! I've never gotten a picture of a pooping bird before! This is a willet.
This was a greater black-back gull and his little friends.
This was a life bird, a Frankin's Gull, which if you look closely, you can see that he looks exactly like every other stupid gull.
There was a huge flock of black skimmers, one of my favorite birds.
Sunday morning, we went out to a boat launch area. This tri color heron posed nice for me.
I don't do a lot of landscapes, but in case anyone wonders why I live in Florida, this is why. The colors are amazing at dawn. I didn't edit this photo at all.
This was a brown thrasher who posed nicely for me. Actually, he wasn't so much posing as he was taking care of a personal issue. I don't even think he knew I was there stalking him with my camera.
This was a boat tailed grackle. It's a common bird, but I've always thought they are cool. I love the way his feet look in this picture.
The boat tailed again. I love the iridescent blues and purples.
Ponce DeLeon. It's a little known fact that in addition to discovering Florida, he is also the inventor of the "Pull My Finger" joke, as commemorated by this statue.
My little sweetheart coming back from a long morning of birding.
On our way to Jacksonville to meet a friend we stopped at Bird Island Park in Ponte Vegra. This is just an Anhinga, but I thought it was neat seeing the way he grips the branch with his feet, it's not something I've ever noticed before or got a good picture of.
We were driving home from lunch in Jacksonville when David got a call about a Willow Flycatcher at Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge. We took a detour and spent a long time exploring the refuge and looking for the bird. David heard the bird. I never did, but I did find this incredibly adorable froggie.
It was an awesome weekend, aren't you sorry you missed it? Remember, you can look at pictures here or on TV but you really can't experience nature unless you GOYB and come out with us!
Keep coming back here for updates and announcements of our next adventures.
