The Fog minus the Creepy Ass Zombie Pirates!

Thick as pea soup it was when I arrived at the refuge this morning. Took a while to count all the ducks and shorebirds as a result. I was tallying up my totals just now and I scored 100 species exactly! Without really trying too hard. Could have easily added another 20 species. St Marks NWR is by far the best all round birding spot in our area. Here's a few pictures.

No Zombie Pirates today just birds and a few gators! Oh, and a deer and some turtles.

Northern Shoveler

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup and American Wigeon

Redhead and American Wigeon

Aythya party!

"Oi bollocks, throw me a chip!"

Forster's Tern

Horned Grebe

Spring is just around the corner.

Vermilion Flycatcher - Stoney Bayou 2

Expect the unexpected!

It's not every day that birds surprise me but it happens a lot. Today was one of those days. I'd just marveled at watching a plethora of sparrows at Tall Timbers when I finally locked on to our target bird, a Green-tailed Towhee that Elliot had found that afternoon. While we were trying to get better looks at the towhee Elliot says "Lark Bunting"! And bugger me, he wasn't kidding! What a brilliant 2 hours of birding. 11 species of Emberizid in less than 5 acres!

Here is my crap picture of a basic plumage male Lark Bunting. It just shows you why you should always carry a camera because even this picture shows enough to clinch the identification. Hopefully we can organize a field trip so that everyone who wants too, gets a chance at seeing the birds. The area that they are in is not accessible to the public but we can thank Jim Cox and Elliot Schunke for trying to organize something in the very near future. Chicka, chicka, yeah!

Lark Bunting - Tall Timbers Research Station

Face Fro on Camera!

I had the pleasure of finally meeting Kevin Mims at the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival. Kevin writes a cool blog for Visit Florida called Nature Insider. I've been writing a short monthly piece on his blog and Kevin interviewed me during the festival. If anything it's worth checking out my face fro! I had to shave it down the other day after I inadvertently scared the crap out of some kids at Publix and then discovered half a bowl of cheerios hiding in there when I woke up in the morning! Anyway here's a link to the interview.

I am going to be starting up my internet radio show again in a couple of weeks so stay tuned for that. Or not!

There's no D in Wigeon!

There is a D in Pied-billed Grebe, in fact there are two. There's no D in New England especially in the closing minutes of the Superbowl! Ouch! Who cares? The NFL sucks!
Went to the refuge on Superbowl Sunday to count shorebirds and ducks. The former for this year's mid-winter shorebird survey and the latter just for the sheer heck of it. Winter? Not here mate, bloody spring more like it. Flowers blooming, birds nesting, it's all a bit weird really but hey it's Florida! Anyway there were lots of birds and even more bugs. My arms look like a second hard dart board and I've been popping benadryl all night to stop the bloody itching. At least there's no snow and ice like back home. It's been so cold in blighty that they've started feeding sprats to the Eurasian Bitterns so they don't starve to death! Poor bloody things can't get any food because all the wetlands are iced over. 75F here and low humidity. Perfect.

Almost 4,000 Dunlin on Stoney Bayou I at high tide. 5 American Avocets on Lighthouse Pond and 5 American Black Ducks on Mounds Pool 3. Mallard numbers are insane; almost 200 on Mounds Pool 3, easily my highest count this winter. Nice to see this many on the refuge. There seems to be a lot more dabblers than divers on the refuge probably due to the low water levels. We need rain badly, this drought is getting pretty serious now. I've never seen Mounds Pool 3 so low. 15 inches over the next 2 months would do nicely, just in time for spring shorebirds.

Whoops!

It's a big secret so don't tell anybody...but there are a couple of Whooping Cranes somewhere not too far away from where I am sitting. If you haven't seen them yet, then you're probably the only birder in Tallahassee who hasn't (except for my wife!). In case you don't know what a Whooping Crane looks like here are a few pictures I took to help you find these magnificent birds.

Apparently it's best to keep the whereabouts of these birds quiet! The only problem with that is almost every birder I know would find that task almost impossible to bear. The birds have been present for almost 4 weeks and are frequenting a popular birding site. Any attempt to keep them quiet is almost impossible. It seems the cranes like this area as 5 were found there last winter as well, although they didn't stay for long. The two birds in question are part of the Operation Migration project. Both of them are from the class of 2009 flight that came to Florida. One of the birds was lead to St Marks NWR and the other to Chassowitzka NWR. Since they arrived in Florida during the winter of 2009 the two birds have been flying north and south of their own will. I guess they are good learners because they seem to have gotten the hang of the migration route. I for one really hope the project keeps on being successful keeping Whooping Cranes quiet will be even more of an impossible task.

If you do go to see these magnificent birds, please keep your distance and respect private property. Here are some guidelines and information on what to do if you see a Whooping Crane. Celebrate first!