Caloosa Bird Club

Yeah for November and for all the activities that starts to take place in Florida! One of those very highly anticipated event for me was joining the local bird club that I've heard so much about from my Ding Darling friends. This Sunday was the first business/potluck lunch that I attended and there I got to meet many new friendly faces and tasted some incredible dishes - a great meeting indeed. I got quite a bit of information as well as a list of the upcoming bird trips - which takes place every Monday, yesterday was my very first one.

We all met at Barron Park in LaBelle and from there a few folks (22) carpooled across Hendry County. LOL I had no idea what I was in for that day - as I drove my car over 200 miles. I have to say that we travelled on roads that were the less travelled ones with wide vistas across fields, which happens to be my very favorites ones. We all followed one another and pulled off the side of the road to see what the leader was spotting. With binoculars, scopes and cameras on hand - we all gathered up along the edge of the roads and let our eyes feast in the vista and the birds/ducks/hawks that were hundreds of feet away. All in all, the group saw a total of 84 species - if my memory serves me right - and the bird of the day was the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.

The weather was continually changing from sun to clouds, to sun to rain etc etc.....it got warmer as the day went on and the layers started to come off. I took several photos and I'm sharing a few here today - I have a lot of wishes here....such as: I wish that I was closer to the species, I wish there was better lighting for the subjects etc etc .... but either way, the memory will live on.

I was happy to be able to capture the Red-headed Woodpecker - in this pic I can actually tell what kind of bird I am looking at.

The Night Herons were numerous and this juvenile posed long enough for the whole group to see.

I never tire to see the Sandhill Cranes, just beautiful.

Here is a pair of Black-bellied Whistling-Duck with a duckling to its right - they kept raising and lowering their heads, sort of like playing a peek-a-boo games.....we were all entertained.

These are the Greater Yellowlegs and the way to notice the difference between a Lesser and a Greater Yellowleg is the slight upturn at the end of the bill.

Also, even though we were quite a bit of a distance away, we were able to witness how they were feeding while seemingly swimming at a fast rate - back and forth - right to left to right again.

The cattle seemed to be interested in what we were doing, as I watched them I could see them all turning around to face our direction - I'm not sure who was more entertained....me or them.

The common vista as we drove across Hendry County.....I bet you didn't know we are in Florida.

The Peregrine Falcon - several were seen during the duration of our trip.

more cattle

Western Kingbird gave the group a show as it flew around catching flies and resting on the top of the twigs in between juicy bites.

Tree Swallows - playing clothes pins on the wire.

Sweet setting, wouldn't you say?

Yoga moves

And the Stork coming for a landing.
All in all, it was a great adventure day. I look forward to attend many more trips with the Caloosa Bird Club - if they'll have me.
I'm including my E-Bird List - some of the group's sighting is not in this list because I didn't actually see them myself.....but either way, it's a pretty great list if I must say so myself.