Brooker Creek Reserve - 1st visit

Some type of woodpecker. It didn't have any red on it. 

Same woodpecker as first picture.

Looking down at a row of utility poles. They seem to be a condo for vultures.

Juvenile bald eagle. It's the first time I've seen a juvenile. This picture is highly cropped from my 500mm lens. It was sitting high up on a utility pole and looked like a dark blob.

There were tons of black vultures soaring overhead.

There's a reserve in north Pinellas county called Brooker Creek Reserve. I had heard about it but I had never been there. Several weekends ago I stopped by there before going to Chesnut Park. There's up to 5 miles of trails that you can hike there. They were very well marked. I walked about 2 1/2 miles of it. I did not see very much on the trail. Mostly woodpeckers. It was very quiet. One section of the trail has a bird blind that sits just off a power line trail with a small pond in front of it. The best part was all of the vultures sitting on the utility poles. I noticed a blob sitting off by itself at the top of one pole. When I zoomed in I realized it was a juvenile bald eagle. That was the highlight of my trip.  I've heard the park has turkeys as well as all types of critter roaming including bobcats. I saw non of this. Maybe on my next trip.

Go and check out more MyWorld images at the MyWorld Site! http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Also, view more birds at:

Windy day at Honeymoon Island

Is this a caspian tern or common tern?  They both look alike. Anyway, it's fairly rare to see one here. Too many laughing gulls around.

Black vulture posing on snag.

This looks like a pine warbler. It was the closest thing in my Audubon guide.

Woodpecker hanging upside down.

 

I think this is a juvenile ring-billed gull (adult below). There were a handful of ring billed gulls hanging around on the beach. This one was eating the insides of the conch.

Adult ring billed gull. I like the way their feet matches their beak.

Kiteboarder at Honeymoon Island.  Looking down to Clearwater beach.

Two weekends ago it was very windy. I decided to hit the nature trail at Honeymoon Island to see what was going on with the eagles there. I had heard they had 2 baby chicks but they were still too small to show their heads. It didn't feel windy on the inside wooded trail but I decided to head north along the mangrove trail to the north end beach. The wind was blasting. There were only a few gulls hanging around, no other shorebirds.  There wasn't a large variety of birds on the trail. I think the weather had blown them away. There are tons of osprey, more on those later. I decided to hit the beach before I headed home but when I got there it was just too windy (and I was hungry) so I didn't stay long. The rocky beach section was full of live conchs. The gulls were feeding off of them and a few shell seekers were looking around.  A few kiteboarders were out and they were moving fast across the water.

When I got home my husband said "Weren't you cold?" I said "No, wimp."

Circle B Bar Reserve in December - Part 2

Yes, this cattle egret ate the frog. Down in one gulp!

Osprey flying over me.

 

The osprey finally got a fish. I tried to get him hitting the lake to catch it but it was directly in the sun and did not come out well. As he flew past me I was able to get the above.

Turkey vulture peeking out behind the tree.

 

Green heron in the lake.

More birds from my pre-Christmas trip to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. The place is finally hopping with variety. Lots more from my post-Christmas trip later.



Celery Field variety of birds - Skywatch Friday

I parked along side of the road at the celery fields in Sarasota and the above was circling overhead.  Having a "turkey" vulture circle around you is almost like celebrating Thanksgiving. I don't think turkey vultures get the credit they deserve for being "cool" birds. They look great when they are flying high up in the sky. They look creepy when there's a group of them hanging out on the side of the road.  I did have a good visit to the celery fields the week of Thanksgiving and I'm going to try and get back before Christmas.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/.

This red shouldered hawk couple sat on the light fixture the entire time I was there.

Any id on this would be great. At first I thought it was a palm warbler which are common here but there's no hint of yellow.  Could it be a hermit thrush? That's the closest I could find on Whatbird.com.

Flock of anhingas flying by.

Grackle can't read.

The above is a yellowlegs. Not sure if it's a greater or lesser. They look alike.

I finally see a kildeer and didn't even know it. The sun was going down and I wanted to get a picture of the shorebirds sleeping. I didn't see the kildeer in the upper left corner until later when I uploaded the pictures. The picture is extremely cropped. I can't believe that little bird snuck into my picture and didn't let me know he was there. There was a small flock of shorebirds together and he must have been hiding in them.