A morning at the Slough

This morning Elaine and I headed for the Six Mile Cypress Slough - a wonderfully peaceful boardwalk that takes you through a gentle forest that often provides delightful surprises and today was no exception, come along and see.....

But first it is customary to peruse the parking lot area - this squirrel sure made us smile.

And this was before finding this rock within the butterfly garden - the little note attached to it said to either keep it, leave it there or move it elsewhere - pass the 'smile' around - I know just where to put it.

Shortly after entering the boardwalk we found this juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron....

look how well it blends in.

A very colorful Green Heron made a quick appearance too.

An adult Black-crowned Night Heron was spotted drinking some water.

A male Anhinga was busy preening its plumage....

notice how bright the eyes are and how lush his plumes are....it's breeding time!

The slough wouldn't be the slough without its ever expanding Woodpecker families....

A male Pileated was quite busy finding insects to eat while the youngster watched.

We were looking at the Snail Eggs when a Gator decided to pass by

It made us smile to see it as the Great Egret looked on.

A Red-Shouldered Hawk gave us good looks...

while the Tufted Titmouse carried on with their melodies.

This turned out to be another swell morning and it is now time for us to leave and make room for all the folks coming through the boardwalk.

Chasing a Chat and a Hummer

A pair of rare species have been reported in Naples: a Broad-billed Hummingbird and a Yellow-breasted Chat, one rare specie is enticing but two is even more alluring. With this temptation dangling in the wings - what's a girl to do!....make plans and meet up with Meg & Elaine...and off we go. Come along and see....

Our first stop was Freedom Park in Naples - it is down right chilly - so much so that we can see our breath. We bundled up for the occasion but when looking at this Squirrel I longed for my long gone fur coat.

Our intentions for this park was to locate the Broad-billed Hummingbird - our pal Meg got a quick glimpse of it but we never saw it. One of our pal from the Caloosa Club shared his theory that the Hummingbird might be finding his food sources across the way in the Naples Zoo and coming across the road on a few occasion. In the mean time, I delighted in watching this Red-bellied Woodpecker in the delicious morning light.

There must be some tasty and juicy morsel in this little nook and cranny - check out his tongue!

After searching for the hummer for over an hour, we decided to move on to our next location....the Sugden Park for the Chat. In the meantime we located a Downy Woodpecker - a busy one at that.

A young Mallard was in the back portion of the park.

And so was the Green Heron.

A Bald Eagle could be seen feeding its chick.

And the lovely Yellow-breasted Chat! We were there for almost two hours and saw him on three separate occasion.

This time I got lucky enough to get a somewhat decent photo - oh what a beauty! We were quite happy to have found our go to specie and decided to have another try at the Freedom Park for the Hummer.

No hummer was found but we did stumbled upon this 1st year male Summer Tanager.

This was a nice find and quite unexpected - what a great way to end a great birding day!

 

Vince's backyard.

A while back - one of our birder extraordinaire - extended an invitation to anyone who wished to see a Dicksissell - to come over anytime. We - Carol, John and I, made a point of stopping there on our way home after birding most of the day and we were treated to some nice sightings indeed. Thank You Vince, you made our day!

A Catbird enjoying a refreshment.

Common Grackles cleaning up the overlooked seeds.

Vince - watch out - this is your seed thief! We saw it in action and he has a partner too!

Enjoying every last bit.

A Female Painted Bunting.

A male English Sparrow with a Common Grackle.

Harmony by the bird feeders - side by side - enjoying their fill.

The Male Painted Bunting - in all its glory.

So many camera shot opportunities and so little light to capture it all - my only downside to this perfect sighting.

Another Female Painted Bunting.

We did get to see the Dicksissel - however no photos to show you, maybe next time.