What a beautiful and sunny gorgeous day this was! My friends - John and Carol picked me up and we left at 6:30 this morning....eager and ready for a great birding day. We arrived in Pine Island and met up with the group, combining people in cars and the caravan began....57 people in 18 cars.
Our first stop..."SmokeHouse Bay Preserve".
 |
| Peace and quiet - just us folks with the birds....sweet. |
 |
| It wasn't long before we started seeing some Buntings....Indigo and Painted. |
 |
| Then, overhead, 4 powered paragladers....very noisy - pretty but noisy. |
 |
| This is a hot spot for Sparrows...here is Savannah |
 |
| American Goldfinch |
 |
| Then a Grasshopper Sparrow....we had to wait a while to get close to take a look. Since our group was so large, we made 3 small groups and kept some space in between....hence the wait to see the Grasshopper, but hey....patience is a virtue and it does pay off. |
 |
| A very pretty and colorful caterpillar - sorry but I don't know what kind it is and I hope a knowledgeable soul will share some tidbits of information for me to pass along and learn from. |
 |
| As I mentioned earlier - this was a caravan trip and we made several stops....this was one of them....sweet place with a lot of diversity with a great park setting. |
 |
| Across the street - there lives a few Yellow-crowned Night Herons. |
 |
| On the move |
 |
| His hangout. |
 |
| "I'm gonna get you....my little pretty." |
 |
| By the water side - quite a few species we saw there. Look carefully and you'll see a line of white pelicans flying above Cayo Costa - heading to the right to Boca Grande. We also saw a lot of Horned Grebes and Common Loons among others. |
 |
| Ospreys, ospreys everywhere...and I thought that we had a lot in Sanibel...maybe not so much after all. |
 |
| A Starling contemplating some juicy berries. |
 |
| Great garden setting - we only covered a portion of it and saw many warblers, vireos, woodpeckers etc etc |
 |
| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker |
 |
| A Yellow-throated Warbler |
 |
| So, so, lovely....I just love to live in Florida. |
 |
| Check this pier out! |
 |
| Black Skimmers and Laughing Gulls |
 |
| Check the legs out! |
 |
| Oystercatchers with Brown Pelicans |
 |
| How many birds can we fit in one square yard? |
 |
| We broke for lunch and topped it off by visiting a Bald Eagle's nest with chick. |
 |
| The Red-shouldered Hawk waited for us to exit the property....Thank you for sharing your space. | |
We saw a total of 80 species for the day and there are 4 separate bird list, one for each location.
Beautiful post! You captured the trip perfectly and your photos are awesome.
ReplyDelete