North Cape Coral/Charlotte Harbor with the Caloosa Bird Club

Yeah! You guessed it, today is Monday - my favorite day since I get to go birding with my bird club. Today I had the honor of taking a guest whom I've met through the S.W.FL Birdline list server - and as such it made it super special to be in her company and to have to opportunity to talk about birding on our way there....so much so....that we forgot to pay attention to the 'signs' and added a few extra miles to our trip.....thank goodness we are early birds, so we ended up arriving on time after all.

A great group had already gathered - 30 of us. After listening to what we were anticipating to see - we started onto the trail.

Our first sighting for the day was A Great Blue Heron - seemed like he had the place to himself because all was very quiet on the trail.

Soon the chatter started - Catbird were vocal and active. Several Shrikes were seen and a few Red-Bellied Woodpeckers were heard.

We make a nice group, don't we?

Quite a few Warblers were flying around in the pine trees, seen were: Yellow-throated, Common Yellowthroat, Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler and a Northern Parula was heard.....and so were Eastern Towhee.

A Northern Flicker.

A great view and our aim to see some shorebirds. We spotted Hooded and Red Headed Merganser, Common Loon, Pied-billed and Horned Grebes, some Dunlins, a Spotted Sandpiper and Gulls - Laughing and Ring-billed. A Frigatebird was seen too.

As we walked back, we saw the Great horned Owl in his nest - I bet he saw us before we saw him.

We all got back into our cars and drove a little bit to go and see the Eagle's nest. We saw a couple of them flying and one in the nest.

Ummm....I wonder what he/she is talking about?

We drove some more and went for a visit with the Borrowing Owls - this one let us take his photo while keeping his distance.

And off we went to visit with the Scrub Jay family. They sure are beautiful and friendly.

My guest who made friends with the Jays in no time - check out the one getting ready to land on her head.

This was at our last stop where we saw manatees - I noticed this pole with the "Blue Bird house" sign on - I had hoped to see some but I guess they were out for the day.

All in all - it was a great day with 46 Species. See my E-Bird List for all the sightings for today.

Ding Darling is Open!

Ding Darling is finally opened - it has been a long time coming.. - it is beautiful and filled with life. The new paving makes for a very smooth ride, the new water structure has already brought about new changes and the wider road and the extra parking spots will help accomodate everyone.
This little Palm Warbler welcomed me back and sat for a bit before flitting about.

The Killdeers sat too for a while and then they took off with their usual "kill-deah" sounds.

Here's a common sight of Ding at low tide...Roseate Spoonbills, Little Blues and Snowys.

The mottled ducks are back too....

the White Pelican too....soon to be joined by many more. The White Pelican is a fresh water feeder and works with others to gather up their feed - as opposed to the Brown Pelican which is a diver feeder - often seen by the ocean side.

Dreamy, isn't it?

Blue Wing Teal

Roseate Spoonbills with a seagull.

The Spotted Sandpiper - wears it's name very well as it bobs (spot)  it's tail all the time.

Great Blue Heron

Great Egrets, Snowy, Tricolored and Juvenile Ibis.

The Stork! One of 20 that I saw that day.

More White Wonders....Great Egrets, Snowy, Juvenile Little Blues, White Ibis and Stork.

I returned to Ding Darling in the afternoon - and joined a group lead by Terry, a volunteer who shared her knowledge about photography. We boarded a tram and drove through the Wildlife Drive - it was mid afternoon and it was very bright and quite a challenge for taking photos of white birds - good opportunity to discuss those points.

Terry is very knowledgable and generous with her time and patience - it was fun and I walked away with some great tips that I look forward to put into practice.....as she said.....you get to be a good photographer by practicing and taking lots of photos and by golly....I'm working on it and loving it.

Gator was there to say farewell - till the next time.....check his smile out! I don't know about you but I  keep my distance at all times.