Samson's Island

Had a terrific day out on Sampson's Island. As with last year's event, we had a great-horned owl with a baby, and some osprey getting ready to get down. If you didn't GOYB and join us today, here's what you missed:

 An oprey building it's nest. We didn't see them getting down, but there was a boy and a girl and I'm pretty sure they had some Marvin Gaye music queued up.

My favorite thing on Sampson's Island is the antlions. They are all over and very cool. I love pointing them out to folks who have never seen them before. Like me, they are always amazed at such a clever little critter!

Make sure you join us for a future walk. We have Pelican Island, Devil's Millhopper, and lots more cool stuff coming up! Remember,  you can look at my pictures on the internet, but you can only be truly one of the cool kids if you come out and play with us!

Grand Day Out at Lake Apopka Restoration Area

Had a great day at the Lake Apopka restoration area today. Led by Maria Zondervan, we saw 56 species including: red-bellied woodpecker, mockingbird, robin, bluebird, blue-grey gnatcatcher, cardinal, blue jay, palm warbler, pine warbler, american crow, king fisher, tree swallow, anhinga, bald eagle, savannah sparrow, red shouldered hawk, osprey, moorhen, great blue heron, great egret, red wing blackbird, mourning dove, coot, blue wing teal, widgeon, gadwall, ringneck duck, wood duck, tricolor heron, little blue heron, glossy ibis, pied bill grebe, boat tailed grackle, yellow rump warbler, sora, common yellowthroat, swamp sparrow, northern shoveler, phoebe, green heron, black vulture, snowy egret, limpkin, cattle egret, northern harrier, cooper's hawk, northern parula,  turkey vulture, snipe, sedge wren, kestral, northern flicker, barn owl, white eyed vireo, meadowlark, and barn swallow.

And, in pictures, if you didn't GOYB and join us, here's what you missed (click on photos to enlarge):

A magnificent red shouldered hawk.

A phoebe

A ton of gators! 

Really great looks at blue birds

The main reason for our visit - to see the results of
our owl box project! Some of our boxes are still in use
as evidenced here by 5 eggs in one of the
original boxes

There was a LOT of evidence of the owls living there,
including many bones from owl pellets. This was a
bittern skull.

We were theorizing how much some of this stuff had
to hurt going down, not to mention coming back up!

A close up of the bittern skull and neck.

The whole gang, minus me. From l-r:
Steve, Mary, Marilyn, Roy, Nickol, Audrey, Judith,
Phyliss, Mark, Lora, Matt, Maria, and Deborah.

The whole gang, minus Matt. From l-r:
Steve, Mary, Marilyn, Roy, Nickol, Audrey, Judith,
Phyliss, Mark, Lora, Dee, Maria, and Deborah.

Our fearless leader for today, Maria,  Land Manager for the
Lake Apopka Restoration Area from St. Johns Water
Management District.I and Space Coast Audubon
sincerely thank her for sharing her time and
knowledge with us today.

Lake Okechobee

I got out to see Lave Okechobee this weekend. HCF David and I braved the cold and wind and were rewarded with some nice looks at ospreys. If you didn't GOYB and join us, here's what you missed:

Poor David. While I have the never ending thrill of staring at a computer 10 hours a day, he is forced to be outside and look at stuff like this while he works. The poor, poor boy, I don't know how he survives this torture.

 Ok, enough sarcasm, here is an awesome picture of an osprey.

If I had gotten my camera up one second earlier, this photo would have made it on to my critter porn page. Apparently male ospreys don't spend a lot of time of foreplay or cuddling after.


Anyway, I didn't get a lot of pictures this week, but it was still pretty awesome to get out. Make sure you keep an eye on upcoming events. We will be joining Space Coast Audubon for a trip to Lake Apopka, we will be doing a road trip to Devils Millhopper, and much more. Remember, doing something is always better than doing nothing, so you might as well do stuff with us!

STA5 and Green Cay

Today started out very very cold. I can't believe  I got up that early, in that cold weather, but as always, was very glad I did. I was joined by HFC David today, and if you didn't GOYB to join us at STA5 and Green Cay today, here is what you missed (click to enlarge):

 A small herd of woodstorks

 A turkey vulture looking picturesque.

Swarms of terns flying back and forth. They were amazing to watch, flying as one. They reminded me of that toy we used to get in our stockings for Christmas every year where you draw hair on a guy with a magnet, they just looked like they were being dragged through the sky as one by an unseen force.

 It warmed up by the time we got to Green Cay. The colors were incredible. I never noticed how pretty coots are. Check out his eye!

 There was something dead on the side of the road. I thought maybe a vulture?

 Another coot.

 A common galinule, but with these colors, looking anything but common.

 Common galinule.

 Check out the feet on this coot!

 Even something as simple as a grebe looks spectacularly beautiful in this light.

What chooo lookin at, Willis??

 A HUGE soft shell turtle.

I never noticed iridescence on these guys before - check out the purple stripe on the neck.

So an anhinga and turtle walk into a swamp... This picture looks like it's just waiting for a punch line.

The secretive sora.

The day started out very cold, but it was totally worth it, as it always is. Remember, it's always better to GOYB and do something than to just watch what someone else did on the internet! We have some great events coming up, make sure you  check out our upcoming events page and GOYB and join us!

First Official Event Update of 2013: Bike Ride at Goodwin

We had a spectacular bike ride today out at Goodwin WMA. They recently opened up a new area which I have not yet explored. Since there was hunting going on in the other area, we decided to head to the new area. It was awesome for bike riding; firm, flat road, not open to cars, incredible scenery, fantastic company! If you didn't GOYB today, here's what you missed (sorry for the lack of quality in some pictures; I think either my camera or my eyes need cleaning and adjusting!) :

 This area is more open water than the other area of Goodwin. Very pretty and different. We didn't see as many birds, but that could well be due to the temperature and time of day.

We biked for about 2 miles, then walked about 1/2 mile out to a shelter. The walk was nice, but we were covered in sticky burrs and beggar's lice by the time we got to the shelter.

 A view from the shelter. Truly magnificent day.

The divine Miss H at the shelter.

Me, being all dramatic like at the shelter.

A blooming moon flower.

There were tons of nesting great blue heron out there. No babies yet that we could see.

Lots of birds resting on these logs in the water.

Back at the parking area, the roseate spoonbills are in breeding plumage.

The great egrets are also in breeding plumage. I really wish I had a longer lens, this picture doesn't do them justice, they were so in breeding plumage that they looked like those weird white dogs in the dog shows that look like muppets.

 Great egrets with a roseate flying by.

More roseates. I really need to invest in a BA lens some day.

The color was incredible. The adults were in full breeding plumage, and the juveniles were this soft fluffy pink that made them look just like cotton candy. Or maybe I was just getting hungry after the bike ride.

This was a brown pelican resting on a piling. Nothing spectacular, but I thought it was a pretty shot.

Me and Heather. Not our best picture. I look like a stroke victim trying to do an Elvis sneer, and Heather looks kinda like a bobble head. I think it's been too long and we are out of practice at looking like our usual lovely photogenic selves. Obviously we need to get back to weekly trips!

Due to my ongoing foot issues, we will probably do more biking or kayaking than walking for the next month. So, if you ever wanted to try something different, now's the time to join us! Keep an eye on the schedule, we are back and ready to take on nature. Come join us - remember, you can see this stuff on the internet or TV, but you can only really experience it if you GOYB!

At Long Last Update!

Sorry for the lack of updates, December and January were long and somewhat rough. I didn't lead too many walks due to continuing foot issues in December. In January I had a death in the family, then was flat out with the birding and wildlife festival. But I'm back now and raring to go!

Today we are doing an afternoon bike ride out at Goodwin WMA. I heard a rumor that the Roseates are out there in full breeding plumage. Come join me and Heather, my partner in crime, for a cool bike ride. Heather and I are volunteer manatee watchers now. We will be over at the buffer preserve at 3:00 taking a manatee survey. If you want to know what's that's all about, let me know and I'll tell you where to meet us.

I'm looking forward to getting back to regular outings and events. Please leave a reply here if you have any suggestions for future trips. We also have a tentative road trip to Devil's Millhopper coming up, stay tuned for that!

Hope to see you out there!

Why No Updates?

It's been a while since I last updated. In the past month I have done a few unofficial, unscheduled events. Hiked in GA with family, attended the Vero Christmas parade (see pictures below). But in general, have been slowed down a bit with !#!@#!@#! plantar fasciitis. So very annoying. I've had cortisone, PT, stretches, night brace, day strap. As a last ditch effort before surgery I am now in a boot until the end of December. This has put somewhat of a damper on my walking goal. Despite the valiant effort, I don't think we will make our goal of 1000 miles for the year. 

But next year, oh yes, next year... I think maybe we should set something slightly more realistic - 750?  We will see. I am proud of the fact that we easily sailed past last year's goal of 500. I've been in the boot for 2 weeks now, and my walking was pretty hampered long before that, so I think were I healthy,  we would have sailed (or strolled) past 1000 as well. 

Anyway, I plan to resume events as soon as I get this stupid boot off. In the mean time, I will still be participating in the annual bird counts, although mostly as a passenger in a car, not walking. If anyone wants to help out in any way with the bird counts or post-count potluck, let me know!

In the mean time, here are a few pictures from the Vero Beach Christmas parade:

I just don't remember stuff like this in the parades back home. This was a giant bloodshot eyeball. In the Christmas parade with elves.

This is MacGruff the crime dog's little house. That is him waving from the back. I felt safe knowing he was on the job.