TGIM - I love Mondays and the promises of observing birds and perhaps even seeing a "lifer" - today was my lucky day because I got to see two of them.
We started our day by meeting the Caloosa Bird Club group at Barron Park in Labelle.
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| A beautiful and peaceful setting, one could easily sit here all day and watch as life unfolds. We spent a bit of time and observed some woodpeckers and warblers in the very old oak trees before heading out to Church Road. |
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| A Loggerhead Shrike aka butcher bird because they catch small insects or lizards and smack them before gobbling them up. |
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| Several Woodstorks were seen along the road. |
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| A Wilson Snipe - very well disguised, if you didn't have your eyes on it while it moved, it was very easy to miss it totally. |
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| A male Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in breeding plumage - wow! He stayed within those branches and it was quite difficult to get a good look at it, let alone take a photo. |
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| Along Church Road - cattles/farms and dusty road with heavy machinery/road graders and pickup trucks going by....some were very kind others not so much. When it was time for the group to return to Labelle for lunch, my friends Elaine, Libby and myself decided to travel south to see the Tomato Fields and visit with some ducks. |
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| Many Roseate Spoonbills could be seen off the road in flooded fields. |
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| Woodstorks |
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| The view of the field where the Spoonbills are feeding, notice the pink dots....these are the roseate. |
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| When I zoomed in with my camera (Canon SX50) I was able to make out that there was a Greater Yellowlegs within the group. |
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| My new life bird - Snow Goose - there were 4 of them (2 blue, 2 white). And what timing we had because shortly after we arrived they flew off way to the other side. |
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| I wish there was a hideout spot in the middle of these fields so that we could see those ducks up close and personal and even take some decent photographs, but hey, that's okay ..... take a scope with you and feast your eyes on those beauties. |
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| We were blessed with sunny skies - very warm and balmy temperature. The winds were very gusty, often time shaking our scopes while viewing the ducks. |
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| Canvasback - another lifer for me ..... wow ..... what a beautiful duck that is. |
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| American Avocets were spotted in the distance - several sandpipers too ... my assumption is Yellowlegs here but I'm not 100% sure - I welcome any and all comments. |
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| Ducks, ducks and more ducks - WooHoo |
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| Sometimes I don't realize how many ducks there actually are - but when a Northern Harrier makes an appearance and the ducks lift off - then I get a clearer picture of what is going on. |
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| We observed the Harrier while he held something underwater - we watched as he stayed there for at least 15 minutes....our guess was that a coot was under his talons, being drowned for future consumption. The other ducks - mostly Mottled Ducks - just went about their business without paying no attention to this hawk. |
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| We bid the area farewell with gratefulness in our hearts - and headed out to the corner of Immokalee Road and Oil Well Road.... |
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| another pond - this one occupied by Ring-necked Ducks and Merganser. |
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| What a nice bunch they make. At last, it was time to pack up our gear and head on out - a great Monday was had birding with great friends. Till the next time. |
