Raining Buff-breasts!

My wife will tell you that I've been pretty miserable the last couple of days. And it's true, I have been! I've had the worst case of summer ass since I moved to the summer ass state some 7 odd years ago. Well last night I got home about 830pm, soaked in sweat, stinking like a Skunk Ape and had a severe case of summer ass slapped all over my Chevy Chase. A freezing cold shower, a Klondike bar and a nice cold drink helped. My long suffering wife helped too, and Superbad was on the telly, which brought a smile back to my face. "Chicka, chicka, yeah!"

As I crawled into bed I said to Julie, "I really don't feel like doing my shorebird count tomorrow." 

The alarm clock woke me at 6am! It was about as welcome as a kick in the bollocks! Somehow I managed to crawl out of bed and head down to the refuge, via Krispy Kreme Donuts! It's amazing what effect sugar and caffeine has on the human body. I went from feeling like a microwaved turd, to a well trained triathlete, in the matter of a few minutes. Well, ok, I am exaggerrating, but I felt better than a microwaved turd!

Counting shorebirds at the refuge is becoming one of my favorite all-time things to do. Summer ass symptoms were gone after about 10 minutes when I clapped eyes on a crippling Buff-breasted Sandpiper. I did a little dance and headed further along the dike. 5 hours later I finished with Mounds Pool 3. There were just so many cool birds to look at, that I couldn't drag myself away. The 45 minute thunderstorm was exhilarating as well.

A flock of 18 Buff-breasted Sandpiper dropped in as the storm was approaching, which was rather splendid but that number would soon pale into comparison, when, at the NE end of the impoundment, I happened upon a flock of 53! Yeah 53! I promised not to curse too much on my blog when I re-upped it in January. 53 Fucking Buff-breasts! Google that....go on I dare you!

Buff-breasted Sandpipers!

I got some video of them (more on that later) and decided to loop all the way round MP3 and see if the other Buff-breasts were still at the southern end. They were! 75 Fucking Buff-breasts! Are you serious? 

Buff-breasted Sandpipers are considered to be in deep shit, population wise! According to most sources there are only 15,000 left! The most I have ever seen in one place before, was 7 at St Marks in 2005, when Mongo (Lesser Sand Plover) was present.

Chicka, chicka, yeah!

Well, I thought the day couldn't get any better, but it did! Back alongside the channel of death I could see the rain approaching from the east. I was watching a small group of Marbled Godwits, when a smaller but similar bird landed amongst them. An adult Hudsonian Godwit. No fucking way!

Hudsonian Godwit - adult

It was turning out to be a brilliant morning. This was only my third Hudwit, ever! The first was on Dauphin Island, Alabama 2004 (thanks for jogging the failing memory Mark!), and the second at Tram Road Sewage Farm in 2007, I think! Chicka, chicka, yeah!

The thunderstorm encouraged a few Black Terns to frequent MP3 and an American Avocet arrived along with a flock of 7 Pectoral Sandpipers.

Black Tern

Marbled Godwit and Blue-winged Teal

The cherry on the big chocolate cake appeared in the form of my favorite bird. Always a great day when I see one of these guys!

Peregrine Falcon - the shorebirds weren't as happy, as I was, to see this magnificent bird

Stay tuned for today's highlights on video. Just gotta figure out how to make a movie!

Oh, my shorebird numbers? 1565 shorebirds of 25 species. Hell yeah! The Hudwit was the 30th shorebird species I've had this fall at St Marks NWR. Not too shabby eh?

If I must! Here's the list for y'all to drool over!

34 Black-bellied Plover

9 Wilson's Plover

101 Semipalmated Plover

2 Killdeer

26 Black-necked Stilt

1 Am. Avocet

62 G. Yellowlegs

17 L. Yellowlegs

122 Willet

27 Spotted Sandpiper

75 Buff-breasted Sandpiper

1 Hudsonian Godwit

15 Marbled Godwit

72 Ruddy Turnstone

5 Red Knot

1 Sanderling

41 Semipalmated Sandpiper

178 Western Sandpiper

35 Least Sandpiper

9 Pectoral Sandpiper

2 Dunlin

8 Stilt Sandpiper

194 Short-billed Dowitcher

1 Long-billed Dowitcher

1 Wilson's Phalarope

481 unidentified peeps

45 dowitcher spp.

Silent Death!

Which bird is THE apex predatory species in North America? There are a few to choose from, but the Great Horned Owl gets my vote. To say horned owls are bad asses is an understatement. They really don't have anything to fear (at least a healthy one) from anything, except humans, and for the most part we humans like 'em. I like Great Horned Owls a lot, I also respect their power and deadly qualities. At a recent outdoor raptor program I was amused to hear and see folks reaction to a rehab Great Horned Owl that was on display. A mixture of ahhh's and oooh's, with a few "Oh how cute's" thrown in. One thing the Great Horned Owl isn't, is cute! Go ask its prey whether they think horned owls are cute. A couple of years ago I watched one dispatch a young possum with no real effort. The poor possum didn't know what hit it!

Great Horned Owls are supreme predators. They fly in perfect silence and strike their prey with extreme force. Their talons have 200-300 pounds of crushing power, which enables them to kill their prey quickly, thus minimizing escape and damage from thrashing limbs etc. For comparison the average human has 60 pounds of crushing power in their hands. At the park, Great Horned Owls mostly feed on rabbits but will also take possums, squirrels, young raccoons, birds, reptiles, amphibians....quite a diverse diet. I once attended a lecture on Swallow-tailed Kites, by Ken Meyer, and he has camera footage of horned owls taking kites off their nest at night! Eeeeek!

Last night while I was closing up the park I spotted this avian ninja sitting in an oak. I watched it for a while as it scanned the area for supper and then slowly approached with camera in hand. Amazingly I got within 20 feet, and managed a couple of shots before it flew to another perch nearby. Awesome bird!

Great Horned Owl at Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park

"I love Butterflies, they're my friends!"

So says my daughter, as we flicked through Butterflies through Binoculars yesterdays afternoon, whilst having a cuddle on the sofa. "I love butterflies Daddy, they're my friends". I like butterflies a lot too and I see them all the time at work, but I often don't give them the attention they deserve. I've taken a few pictures of a few of 'em the last couple of weeks and thought I'd share them with y'all. One of them was a new species for me, which I didn't know until I checked the above mentioned book. The Monarch butterfly is my favorite and it's Maisie's favorite too. "Monarch butterflies fly to Mexico Daddy!" Last years Monarch festival at St Marks NWR made quite an impression on my 3 year old. So last week I was surprised to see one at work frequenting the edge of the power line, searching for flowers. I took a picture of it, but while photo shopping it yesterday I noticed something wasn't quite right about it. A quick check of the book and I realized it wasn't a Monarch at all, it was in fact a Viceroy. Viceroy's look a lot like Monarch's and there is a reason for that. Monarch's don't taste very nice and predators think twice about eating them. If you look like a Monarch then chances are you'll be left alone by predators as well. Pretty clever huh? I am pretty sure I've never knowingly seen a Viceroy before! 

Viceroy

Monarch feeding on Goldenrod at St Marks NWR - October 2005

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - common at work

a very worn Orange Sulphur, another common butterfly at the park

Gulf Fritillary on the power line. One of the most abundant fall butterflies in our area

Upland Sandpiper - Finally!

Got up at the crack of sparrow today and headed for the refuge, to conduct my weekly shorebird census. It was awesome as usual and I got an ABA & Florida lifer thrown in as well for a Brucie bonus! The last Upland Sandpiper I saw was at the end of St Mary's airfield on the Scilly Isles in October 1999! Until this morning it was the only American species on my British list that wasn't on my American list. Upland Sandpipers aren't that rare and show up in Florida frequently, and in good numbers. Most of the records however are from south of Lake Okeechobee where there is plenty of Upland Sandpiper friendly habitat. Sod farms mostly. We have sod farms up here but I have yet to find one wet enough to entice grass pipers like Upland. Apalachicola airfield gets them but access is limited. Anyway, the south-eastern corner of Mounds Pool 3 has 3 large grassy areas that, at least to me, have looked grass piper friendly for the last month. At 755am my luck changed and there was a cracking Upland Sandpiper feeding quite merrily alongside a Spotted Sand. It was distant and I decided not to take my digiscoping kit today, so all I could muster was this shot with my DSLR.

a really crap picture of an Upland Sandpiper!

Tower Pond was full of wading birds who had found another Channel of Death! 14 Reddish Egrets were giving the fish a very bad start to their morning.

a new channel of death on Tower Pond

Reddish Egret

There were a couple of dozen Forster's Terns hitting the fish from above and the gators of course were having a big breakfast!

Forster's Terns

As usual, Mounds Pool 3 was where the majority of shorebirds were. Highlights included 1 American Avocet, 30 Spotted Sandpiper, 31 Marbled Godwit, 2 Stilt Sandpiper, 3 Pectoral Sandpiper, 9 Red Knot & 8 Wilson's Plover. There were 7 Reddish Egrets, 6 Blue-winged Teal, the female Greater Scaup is still swimming around ( I think its wing is injured) and 5 juvenile Black Terns.

juvenile Black Tern

Reddish Egret - 21 present today, a new personal record for St Marks

Marbled Godwits

Blue-winged Teal with juvenile and adult Short-billed Dowitcher

The yellow flies were fucking horrendous this morning and the deer flies were only marginally less annoying. A nice breeze kicked up though and kept them hunkered down. On Stoney Bayou I, I had a momentary heart flutter when I spotted a long-legged sandpiper hiding behind a clump of grass. For a brief second I thought it was a Curlew Sand, but it revealed itself as a juvenile Stilt Sandpiper after a few seconds and I was a little disappointed, even though I do admire Stilt Sands a lot. The majority of peeps were juveniles this morning. It was nice comparing Westerns and Semipalmated, and the juvenile Leasts are just gorgeous. There were a couple of Roseate Spoonbills on East River Pool and I had 4 splendid American Avocets fly over, heading north! Wonder where they were going?

Roseate Spoonbill

Lighthouse Pond is almost dry and the heat haze was making viewing conditions bad at best, not to mention the heat itself, which always sucks! 97F heat index by noon! I watched an Osprey clinging on to his lunch for dear life and then decided to call it quits and head for home. 2 Yellow Warblers along the edge of East River Pool were a nice goodbye sighting.

it sucks to be a Mullet!

FOS - Fall Meeting - Dauphin Island

The Florida Ornithological Society are holding their annual fall meeting at Dauphin Island, Alabama between October 14th & 16th. For more details follow this link. Dauphin Island is one of the best migrant traps along the entire Gulf coast, and the birding that weekend is bound to be fantastic. This meeting gives birders in our area a fantastic opportunity to attend the fall meeting and be involved with FOS. The field trips are always great and there are lots of birders out in the field, so rarities are bound to be discovered. Unfortunately I won't be there as Audubon are having their annual meeting that weekend. Bloody typical!

Veery -  April 2007 - Dauphin Island

Bucket List # 10 - Snowy Petrel

Watching seabirds is my favorite kind of birding, so it would be natural for one or two of my bucket list species to be a seabird. Number 10, on my list of 20, is surely one of the most beautiful seabirds on the urf! Snowy Petrels are the southern most breeding species of all birds, in the world. They are not considered to be in decline (yet!), and their population is estimated at close to 4 million. However, that doesn't mean they are easy to see. They are found in Antarctica and nearby islands, which are not easy to get to without a) a large boat and b) a large sum of money. Unfortunately I have neither!

One of the cool things about Snowy Petrels is that they often find themselves far from water, so to get clean they actually bathe in the snow. I wonder if they play snow angels? To protect themselves from predators they can vomit up a nasty oily mix that smells like the worse toilet in Bombay! Like a lot of other pelagic seabirds they have a special salt gland that helps to desalinate their body, which is useful because they spend a lot of time in a very salty environment. They get rid of the salt through a special tube on their upper mandible. Birds that have this unique adaptation are often referred to as tube noses. 

There are two sub-species of Snowy Petrel. One breeds on South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands and the other breeds on the Antarctic peninsula. Snowy Petrel's have been sighted at the South Pole. When breeding they nest in colonies, usually on cliffs. They only lay a single egg, and once hatched it takes a baby Snowy Petrel about 7 weeks to fledge. Snowy Petrels, typically pair for life. They feed on fish, squid and other tasty sea creatures and outside of the breeding season can often be found in small groups perched on icebergs. I would love to see one or two sitting on a beautiful iceberg as I sailed slowly by. Where's that lotto ticket?

 

Snowy Petrel - all images taken from google images

Silence of the Cuckoo's?

Just finished reading a very depressing article in today's Independent (a UK rag), telling the woeful story of yet more bird species in critical decline. One of them is the Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, which is one of my favorite birds from back home. I have great memories of imitating cuckoo's in the countryside around my primary school and had them fly right over my head to investigate. So why are they declining at such a fast rate? Probably a number of factors, including and not limited too, dried up oasis in the Sahara, which are critical resting spots for north and southbound sub-saharan migrants, bastards with guns in Malta, pollution and habitat loss. I actually think I saw more Pallas's Warblers (vagrant from Siberia) at Dungeness than I did Common Cuckoo's! Turtle Doves were also as rare as rocking horse shit before I left blighty for Florida. They used to be dirt common. Can one imagine not hearing a Nightingale singing in England?

The situation with these species is so dire the British Birdwatching Fair is soliciting donations to raise 3/4 million quid for migration research, in the hope that these worrying declines can be reversed. It will be a sad day when you can't hear a Cuckoo, a Turtle Dove, a Wood Warbler or a Nightingale singing in Britain.

Turtle Dove from google images

Wood Warbler by Steven Round - to see more of Steven's beautiful pictures visit his website - definitely one of my favorite bird & wildlife photographers

Thanks to Carol for emailing me this article that appeared in USA Today with regards to monitoring Common Cuckoo's migrating from Africa to Europe. A fascinating study, hope they get some positive results.

Top 10 Essentials for Birding! 6 - 10

Number 6

Vehicle - being able to travel is a must if you are a birder. If you don't have access to transportation then seeing a lot of birds becomes difficult. You could do a Kenn Kaufmann and hitchhike but that will almost certainly get you arrested and beaten up in some hick prison cell. Not to mention you might be picked up by a Rutger Hauer type psycho and find yourself being carved up for dinner! You could use Public Transport but that's expensive and about as reliable as an umbrella in a Category 5 Hurricane. Without a set of wheels your options are leg power or animal power! Animal power? Yeah, get yerself a Horse or a Mule. I've always wondered what it would be like birding from the back of a big Horse. Horses are pretty quiet, they get great gas mileage and they don't break down after a few thousand miles. Alternatively you may want to try using a bicycle. They're cheap to buy and maintain and you'll be as fit as a butcher's dog after a few months.

"Is that an Upland Sandpiper I see before me?"

Personally I prefer a car, and I prefer one with lots of viewing potential. Minivans are probably the best birding vehicles. If you have a driver you can set in the back, open the sliding door and hey presto, you have a mobile bird blind! The color of your vehicle is also important. Birds don't like red cars, which is a bummer because my favorite color is red. If my wife would allow it, I'd have my truck painted in camo colors. I'd look a total twat but the birds would think my truck was nothing more than a large shrub, and would subsequently allow close approach. When buying a birding friendly vehicle make sure it has large windows, a sunroof for observing kettling hawks, plenty of beverage holders, lots of storage space for all your other essential birding items, 4 wheel drive, comfortable seats that lay down flat for sleeping on overnight twitches, and most importantly a great sound system for playing bird song CD's and your favorite tunes.

People will probably think you're a redneck asshole but the birds won't see you coming, and that's more important!

Number 7

Clothing - If you asked a non-birder to imagine what a birder looks like they'll probably describe them as follows: a bespectacled fellow with bad acne and pale skin, sporting an over-sized anorak, wellington boots and a badly knitted skull cap. Wrong! 

Well ok, there are a few birders who fit that description, BUT for the most part, birders are actually pretty normal looking, and most of the ones I know are trend setters when it comes to fashion.

Your typical hardcore birding fashionista

So what garb should you be wearing?

A well dressed birder!

 Number 8

Gadgets & Gizmo's - Let's face it were all techno whores now and can't leave the safety of our house without all manner of electronic devices. GPS unit, Smartphone, I-Pod or MP3 player, laptop....the list goes on and on. They are all actually very useful, especially the GPS and I-Pod. Birdjam can offer I-Pods with all the country's bird songs on it, which is really handy when you're in the field.

A word of warning though! This is 2011 and there are a lot of thieving bastards abroad, and they target birders cars knowing what techno, optic whores we are. I've lost count of how many birders I know who've had their car broken into. 

Smart phones are useful for many things

Number 9

Weapons - Let's face it, the world is a dangerous place. Some of the world's best birding sites are in dodgy countries that are virtually lawless. Birders have been kidnapped, mugged, robbed, raped and killed. As a result you need to be prepared. Now if you live in a socialist left-wing country like Britain, then arming yourself is difficult. British birders should probably go and take martial art lessons. 

learning how to execute the perfect roundhouse is just as essential as separating dowitchers in basic plumage. Just ask Kenn Kaufmann (pictured!) Sorry Kenn couldn't resist! You're my hero!

If you're an American birder then you are sorted! Like every other crazy ass American you have the right to bear arms, so go and buy a big fucking gun! It's pretty easy to go get a concealed weapons permit in most states, so get yourself one of those and you'll then be able to go birding armed to the teeth. Most law enforcement officers use Glock pistols as their choice of sidearm. They're accurate, reliable and pretty cheap...about $500 new! 

no hoodlum is gonna mess with you if you carry a gun! What? They carry guns too?

Number 10

Chemicals - most birders need chemicals to survive because most of us visit some of the most hostile places on the earth. A glock will make a would be hoodlum think twice about grabbing your $5,000 camera but they offer zero protection from the sun and insects. Florida is called the sunshine state because it's sunny, a lot. As a result Floridians and the millions of tourists that frequent the state are at high risk for getting sun burned. Most Europeans I meet pay no fucking attention to the warnings they are given about the risk of sun burn here in Florida. After 2 hours in the sun they look like this.

lobster man!

Floridians are more likely to get skin cancer than most Americans. Clothes will help protect you from the harmful UV rays but sun screen lotion is an essential item. Go for Factor 50 or higher and get the water resistant type as you'll be sweating a lot.

The other big problem birders face in many parts of the world are bugs. There are millions of bugs around the planet that get their kicks out of making our lives a misery. Here in Florida we have lots of nasty little flying bastards that bite the crap out of you and suck out your precious blood. Bug repellent is the answer, unless you're a tough hombre like me! Jungle Formula is the best, at least in my experience. However, a word of warning using too much deet (the chemical inside bug sprays that deters the bugs) can be harmful and may impact your health in the long term. This is why I've stopped using chemicals to deter insects. I just put up with the little biting bastards and use anti-histamine cream post drilling! Some companies offer products that you can strap to your belt, devices that omit a repellent spray. I tried using one once and it was about as much use as tits on a bull! 

So there you have it my top 10 of essentials for birding. Follow them at your own risk!

Top 10 essentials for birding! 1 - 5

A birding friend recently suggested I post some tips on what birders need to take with them when they go birding. I've thought about this long and hard, and even though I am probably the worse birder for making such a list, fuck it, I might as well. After all I've got an hour to kill before work, I've done the dishes and cleaned the living room floor, so it's time to party! Oh, what an exciting life you lead Wraithmell! Hey it beats inputting data on eBird!

Number One

Optics - Let's face it, if you don't have a pair of binoculars and a scope, you'll probably not see many birds. If you're a complete bastard, you could shoot them, but that's pretty much illegal now, unless it's a game bird. If you don't own any optics then don't be tighter than a ducks butt, splurge on the high end brands. There is a perfectly good reason why Walmart binoculars are only $50! They're shite! You might as well glue two old milk bottles together and use them. Probably won't hurt your eyes as much. If your Granddad gave you his old opera glasses put those on the shelf, they're crap too. He probably shot birds to identify them anyway, and doesn't want to admit it. Sentimentality is for losers!

So what optics should you buy? I've never really advocated for any particular brand of binocular. I love my Nikon Premiers because they are heavy and I have shaky hands. Leica's are great and so are Swarovski. Try them all and see what fits you best. As far as a scope is concerned, there is only one brand I'll buy, and that's KOWA. I love my scope and wouldn't change it for anything, except for a job and a salary!

birding without a scope is like having sex by yourself!

Number Two

Food & Drink - Birding without food is almost as hard as birding without optics. There's a reason why I have such a fabulous figure. Remember, skinny people might live a few more years but they're miserable bastards for the most part! 

When I go birding I like to take snacks that energize me, and not ones that only have 25 calories and taste like cardboard. A Special K weight watchers bar doesn't give you enough energy for hiking out to Stoney Bayou 2 or charging around the Scillies in mid-October. Red Bull, Gatorade and Snickers will keep you going all day. Other top quality birding snacks include Lion Bars, Turkish Delight, Dry Roasted Peanuts, a loaf of Warburton's white bread (especially for attracting gulls as well), Hula Hoops, Wine Gums and Peanut Butter Crackers.

"Don't be fool n' eat Snickers, or you'll taste some real pain"

Number Three

Camera & equipment - Modern technology is pretty amazing. We have phones that are smarter than most of us now. Soon our phones will be our masters! Camera technology has come a long way as well, and even a complete nob head can take National Geographic standard pictures now. All you need is a shit load of money. The camera's are so good now, the pictures look better than the real life view! Sometimes I look at these pictures and think. "the bird didn't look that good when I saw it", which shows how crap our eyes are and how friggin' incredible camera technology is.

So what camera should you buy? You have two options as far as I am concerned. A camera for digiscoping or a conventional SLR. You can buy a digital SLR that does both. If you haven't got much money then your screwed, because like everything else that's great, camera equipment is expensive. I could easily blow $20K if I had it! There are a plethora of websites that will give you advice on where to start. I recommend Birdforum.

Buy a decent camera!

Number Four

Field Guides - There are probably about 6 million field guides in publication right now and the USA probably has several hundred. Some are crap and some are awesome. So which ones should you buy? I have most of the top selling ones; Sibley, Crossley & Peterson. They're all slightly different, except Crossley, which is totally different than the norm. All of them will aid you post field, and I tend to leave mine in my truck or at home. Most birders I see spend too much time playing match the picture and while they flick through the pages, the bird they're struggling to identify has flown off and been replaced by a similar looking species. The result is a smorgasbord of species that doesn't exist. See tip number 5 if you find yourself flicking through your field guide every 5 minutes while birding.

What's the best field guide then? The Crossley guide is groundbreaking and gives us a unique insight into what birds really look like in the field. The Sibley guide is awesome and the artwork beautiful but how many times has a bird perched sideways for you or spread it wings perfectly. Yeah right? The only problem with Crossley is the size of it, but it's not intended to be a field guide per say. A combination of taking notes, pictures and then referring to Crossley at your vehicle or back at home is, in my opinion, the best way to aid correct bird identification.

He might be from Leeds but his field guide is the best!

Number 5

Field notebook - If you don't write notes, draw pictures and keep a record of your own personal bird sightings then you'll never improve as a birder. NEVER! The human brain has the capacity to store lots and lots of information but it requires training to be able to store that information. How do you do well in an exam? You study, you take notes, draw diagrams etc. These learning techniques help us remember. Taking notes of bird you see is no different. There are a lot of birds out there that look very similar and can only be separated from one another by key features (diagnostic features). Just because you see a shorebird with a white rump, doesn't mean you've just seen a White-rumped Sandpiper. Most beginners and birders who consistently struggle to improve and hone their skills, don't take notes. They rely too heavily on their field guides. Do yourself a favor and buy a notebook, the "Rite in the Rain" one's are what I use. Start writing down notes and drawing pictures of birds you can't identify. Use your notes and pictures in conjunction with your field guide only, and ONLY, after you have written down as much information as possible. Flick to the front of your field guide and learn the different parts of a bird. Know where the tertials are or what primary projection means and I promise you will improve.

Gen up and be a better birder!

Mounds Pool 3 - shorebird count

I was able to do a quick 2 hour count of Mounds 3 this morning before work, and even though numbers were low, diversity was pretty good. The tide was out early morning, so I imagine most of the shorebirds were out feeding on the flats and creek beds. 3 Pectoral Sandpipers flew in and began to bathe, and there were also 2 Marbled Godwit, 4 Red Knot, and small numbers of the usual shorebird suspects. I did have my first Dunlin and Solitary Sandpipers of the fall. There were only 5 Roseate Spoonbills, although I didn't have time to check lighthouse pond so the others (4) may have been there. Reddish Egret numbers remain high (for the refuge). I had 6 on Tower Pool and 3 on Mounds 3. The water levels on tower pool are very attractive to wading birds right now, there were several hundred feeding there (mostly Tricolored Herons and Snowy Egrets). The most unusual bird of the morning was a female Greater Scaup, which gave great views as it swam up and down the Channel of Death! 23 Blue-winged Teal were also present. Winter is approaching! Sweet!

A beautiful sunrise greeted me as I headed to Mounds Pool 3

These Eastern Kingbirds enjoyed basking in the morning sun

Greater Scaup

Reddish Egret - white morph

Beware! Gators line the dikes early morning and late evening!

taking an early morning dip!