When I visited Michael & Christine in Florida in October, I subtly hinted to them ahead of time that I might like to go birding when I was there. I swear, it was like, barely noticeable that I wanted to go :)
So we didn't have any wildly successful outings, but the overall trip was pretty darn cool. As I was waiting for Christine to pick me up from the airport (like literally the minute I stepped outside) I saw an Osprey above. While I was there, we went down to the beach twice (Christine and I) and saw some shorebirds each time. They have different gulls down there. Up here the predominant gull is the Ring-Billed Gull. Down there are the Laughing Gulls. Difference being the black bill and black legs (and probably 8 dozen other things, but a gull expert I am not). There was a Sanderling hanging out with him too. There was a Cormorant that flew over a few times too - probably Neotropic. Both times we went we also saw a Willet. He was not shy at all and frankly kind of stupid. He kept trying to eat a fish tail that had washed up on the beach, and I was pretty sure he was going to choke to death on it. He kept getting it stuck in his mouth and then having to kick it out with his legs. On our way back to the car I identified a Eurasian Collared Dove sitting on the electricity wires, but got no pictures.
Stupid, but very cool, Willet:
Don't worry. He eventually left the tail alone.
Michael and I went out to a State Park down there one day, and they'll loan you some binoculars if you hand over your driver's license. So I'm pretty sure he had a nicer pair than me :) We didn't have a ton of luck, but saw a Black and White Warbler, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, and some Brown Pelicans over the water. And a lizard. And some really cool spiders.
Edited 12/23: Ok, so I thought I'd research and see if I could identify the lizard. I had it narrowed down to two in about a minute, but after tons of research I think that it's the Southern Fence Lizard. That is because of the blue on his throat and sides and his spiny appearance. There is another very closely related lizard called the Florida Scrub Lizard that ONLY lives and appears in a type of habitat called scrub. So I thought I'd eliminate him by researching and seeing what kind of habitat we saw him in. Turns out that Rocky Bayou State Park, and in particular where we were hiking is one of the rare places that is a "scrub" habitat. Sigh. So then I couldn't let it go that we saw him in "scrub", but apparently the scrub lizard has a lateral brown stripe down both side of his body and there just isn't one on this guy, so he must be the more normal fence lizard. Tada!
Afterwards we were on our way to get something to eat and I saw what I thought were vultures in the sky. You have to understand there are Turkey Vultures EVERYWHERE down there. But when I looked up I realized that they had some white markings underneath which meant they weren't vultures (all brown). So, given the size and the shape of the wing, they had to be...Bald Eagles. Juveniles, to be exact. I made Michael pull into a parking lot and we watched them for quite a while. They were waaaaay up there, so this is the best shot I can give you. A better birder than I could tell you exactly how old this guy was, but he's probably a 2nd or 3rd year because he's got some of the white tail and head and they become the typical bald eagle w/ the white head and tail in their 4th year.
Laughing Gull accompanied by his pal the Sanderling:
Stupid, but very cool, Willet:
Don't worry. He eventually left the tail alone.Michael and I went out to a State Park down there one day, and they'll loan you some binoculars if you hand over your driver's license. So I'm pretty sure he had a nicer pair than me :) We didn't have a ton of luck, but saw a Black and White Warbler, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, and some Brown Pelicans over the water. And a lizard. And some really cool spiders.
Edited 12/23: Ok, so I thought I'd research and see if I could identify the lizard. I had it narrowed down to two in about a minute, but after tons of research I think that it's the Southern Fence Lizard. That is because of the blue on his throat and sides and his spiny appearance. There is another very closely related lizard called the Florida Scrub Lizard that ONLY lives and appears in a type of habitat called scrub. So I thought I'd eliminate him by researching and seeing what kind of habitat we saw him in. Turns out that Rocky Bayou State Park, and in particular where we were hiking is one of the rare places that is a "scrub" habitat. Sigh. So then I couldn't let it go that we saw him in "scrub", but apparently the scrub lizard has a lateral brown stripe down both side of his body and there just isn't one on this guy, so he must be the more normal fence lizard. Tada!
Afterwards we were on our way to get something to eat and I saw what I thought were vultures in the sky. You have to understand there are Turkey Vultures EVERYWHERE down there. But when I looked up I realized that they had some white markings underneath which meant they weren't vultures (all brown). So, given the size and the shape of the wing, they had to be...Bald Eagles. Juveniles, to be exact. I made Michael pull into a parking lot and we watched them for quite a while. They were waaaaay up there, so this is the best shot I can give you. A better birder than I could tell you exactly how old this guy was, but he's probably a 2nd or 3rd year because he's got some of the white tail and head and they become the typical bald eagle w/ the white head and tail in their 4th year.
I don't have any other pictures, but did see some more birds. They live near a retention pond that had a lot of birds. There were a zillion Blue Jays, Mockingbirds (which is the state bird of Florida for a reason), Eastern Bluebirds, Carolina Chickadees, Brown Thrasher, Cardinals, and a hawk of some kind lived there around the pond because I flushed him 3 times. I think he could've been a Broad-Winged Hawk based on his size and underwing pattern, but I really couldn't tell. I also saw Black Vultures and they are really, really cool if you see them perched. There were some Great Egrets in a marshy area along the highway and Great Blue Herons as well. I know I'm missing some because I waited too long to write it up and didn't write down what I saw. In particular, Michael and I went down the road about a mile to a spot that was on the map for the Great Florida Birding Trail and saw almost nothing, but I know we saw one stupid bird fly up into the trees and watched him for a while, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was. It might have been a pair of Mourning Doves, but I can't be sure. I also feel like I saw more birds with Christine on our walk to the retention pond, but can't remember all of those either.
So, adding to my lifelist for that trip were:
Carolina Chickadee
Black Vulture
Brown Pelican
Willet
Laughing Gull
Eurasian Collared Dove
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