Christmas Bird Count with SanCap Audubon

This is my third time joining the SanCap Audubon group for the Christmas Bird Count. This year I actually felt like I was contributing because I could recognize and name the birds.

Since I'm an early bird, I decided to go through Ding Darling Wildlife refuge before joining the group at 7:45a.m. 

What a beautiful sunrise with the promises of a great day! I drove through the Wildlife Drive and then met up with my group for the count. Sue Harpham has been leading this particular area and this is the area that I've helped with for the past 2 years, today we were joined by Brita (hope I got the spelling right).

Our first noteworthy sighting was the White-winged Dove - noteworthy because we had 9 of them in a tree at one time and it happened to be a lifer for Brita.

It turns out that the White-winged Dove is mainly in Texas and a few small colonies appear in our area. I am lucky if I see 3-4 per year and this outing alone produced over 15.

What a nice bunch they make - the clear blue sky also helps to intensify their honey glow.

One of many Ospreys that was sighted - this Osprey is a female .... telltale sign is the beaded necklace on her chest.

A Red-bellied Woodpecker in a Norfolk Tree just above the Bougainvilla bush - look closely and you'll see the red hues on the woodpecker's belly.

Our state bird - Northern Mockingbird

Around these beautiful blooms - the Northern Mockingbird sure looks fantastic......amazing what a little color will do for you.

As we rounded up the corner and started a tally of the species that we had acquired - we were blessed with two additions - an Eastern Phoebe

and a beautiful Prairie that kept on flitting by.

The Palm Warbler looked us over as he sat in the Gumbo Limbo tree aka the tourist tree....its bark peels like a sunburn. Well, folks, another great day birding in beautiful sunny Florida. My E-Bird List