Festival Round Up

So, the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival is over and Bill and I are now in Ft. Myers for the month of February. I have a great time there, learning more and more about these Eastern birds that I grew up with. You'd think I'd never saw a bird before. It's been a bit frustrating at times, but otherwise I didn't do a bad job.

The one really cool bird that was there was a Crested Caracara. His name was Cracker. I couldn't get a really good picture of him because he just wouldn't stand still long enough. However, Birdchick got a great video of Cracker. If you haven't read Birdchick's birding blog, you really need to. She's got a great blog well worth the time to read. To see the video of Cracker, click on his name.

Here are a few more pictures from the festival. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong with the identification.

Yellow-Rumped Warbler* Little Blue Heron* Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker* Osprey* Wood Stork* And here is the list of birds that I saw at the bird festival:

American Avocet
American Black Duck
American Coot
American Crow
American Kestral
American Robin
American Wigeon
Anhinga
Barred Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Black Vulture
Blue Jay
Blue Wing Teal
Boat-Tailed Grackle
Brown Pelican
Caspian Tern
Cedar Waxwing
Common Moorhen
Double Crested Cormorant
Eastern Meadowlark
European Starling
Florida Scrub Jay
Forster's Tern
Glossy Ibis
Gray Catbird
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Hooded Merganser
Hooded Warbler
Killdeer
Laughing Gull
Least Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Little Blue Heron
Marbled Godwit
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Northern Gannet
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Osprey
Painted Bunting (This one is from New Smyrna Beach, found at the feeder of Bill's Aunt Marjorie and Uncle Bill. Thanks!)
Palm Warbler
Pied Bill Grebe
Pine Warbler
Red Shouldered Hawk
Red Tailed Hawk
Red Winged Blackbird
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Red-Cockaded Woodpecker
Ring Billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Sanderling
Savannah Sparrow
Snowy Egret
Tree Swallow
Tricolored Heron
Turkey Vulture
White Ibis
Wilson's Snipe
Wood Stork
Yellow Bellied Sapsucker
Yellow Rumped Warbler

May your next bird be a lifer!!

*Disclaimer: All photos copyright of WT Kluge, photographer and used with permission.

A Few Birds from the Festival

Here are some of the first pictures from the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. I have been taking some of the seminars on Sparrows, Warblers, and Gull ID, so hopefully these will be labeled correctly. If not, feel free to correct me.

Glossy Ibis Florida Scrub Jay and Gray Catbird Cedar Waxwing Caspian Tern Anhinga

Disclaimer: All images are copyright of W T Kluge, photographer and are used with permission. :o)

Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival

I'm actually having a great time here at the festival. Been racking up the birds. I'll list them for you at the end of the festival just in case I find more new ones. In the meantime, here is the website for the festival: Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival

One of the seminars we went to this week was about the Florida Birding Trail. This is a really good site to find birds all over the state. It's very interactive. It makes finding birds fun and easy.

Happy birding!

Robins

I have discovered the answer to the age old question: Where DO robins go in the the winter? Why, they go to Florida, of course! Flocks of them. Along with woodpeckers of all kinds, Tree Swallows, and every person over the age of 70, whether from the US or Canada.

So, the next time someone asks you where Robins go in the winter, you can tell them! They're all snowbirds!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

St. Augustine, Part 3

Castillo de San Marco

The original City Gate. Used for protection from the French.

St.Augustine is really nice, but is another victim of tourism. The best way to see the city is by the trolleys that take you on a tour. At a cost of $21/person. And they want to raise the price. You have to pay to see everything here. The Castillo, the Oldest Schoolhouse, any museum and even the Fountain of Youth. Which, by the way lies under a great big neon sign, in case you couldn't find it. Very Disney-ish.

There is a street that is like an old Spanish market place full of gift shops and restaurants and galleries. It was nice. Didn't really get anything there. Post cards and a cross stitch book mark. But worth a stop. Remember to bring quarters for the parking meters.

We spent a day in Jacksonville visiting all the brewpubs, which, by the way, are all owned by the same company. But we did find one on a back street in more of an industrial area called Bold City Brewery. We even had the pleasure of meeting the brewmaster Brian. It has only been open a couple of months, but if you are in the area, you HAVE to stop. Good beer. Great people.

We leave tomorrow for Titusville and the Space Coast Bird Festival. I'll work on pictures. Looking forward to lots of new birds. Saw a Wood Stork. Not exactly the kind of bird you would expect to bring babies. They look more like something that eats babies. I really need to get a better look. It reminded me of a vulture.

St. Augustine, Part 2

Pictures from St. Augustine, FL

Florida birds

Three new birds in St. Augustine: Eurasian-Collared Dove, White Ibis, and a Palm Warbler(rather proud of myself with the IDing this one). Also saw a Green Heron this morning, but not a new bird for me. Bill got pictures of the Heron and Anhinga. As soon as I can get them off of him, I'll post them. 321 Life Birds!!!

Pictures from SC and FL

Good food and great drinks. A fun place to go...

The view from our campsite at Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort, SC

St. Augustine, FL.

Ponce de Leon, the dude who discovered Florida.

South Carolina

We're on our way once more. We left Pennsylvania on January 3rd and made it to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on the 4th. Myrtle Beach is OK. I think the best thing about it was Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Restaurant. And the beach. It really wasn't beach weather, but we went to the beach with the dogs every day.

From there, we headed south to Beaufort and Hunting Island State Park. The park was great. It even had a lighthouse! But the best part was that the campground had electric and water hookups. It reminded us of the state parks in Oregon. And we had to have had one of the best sites. It was only 100 feet or so from the ocean. You could sit and listen to the ocean all night long. Very relaxing after a whole month of family and visiting.

Speaking of visiting, we did that too. Bill's Aunt Maureen and Uncle Bob live in Beaufort. Coincidence that we went there? I think not. They invited us to dinner and made a Low Country Boil. If you've never had one, you have got to try it. It has sausage (kielbasa), shrimp (local, fresh shrimp, I might add), potatoes, and corn on the cob all boiled with Old Bay Seasoning. It's fabulous!

On the birding front, I didn't really actively go birding, but got quite a list while there:
Great Blue Heron
Hooded Merganser
Ring-Billed Gull
Belted Kingfisher
Eastern Bluebird
Red-Winged Blackbird
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Brown Pelican
Black Vulture (a LOT of them)
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Sanderling
Downy Woodpecker
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Mockingbird
Song Sparrow
Anhinga (lifer # 318!)
Greater Yellowlegs
Dunlin (?)
Western Sandpiper
Black-Bellied Plover
Forster's Tern
Bufflehead
Red-Breasted Merganser
Double-Crested Cormorant

Just think what I could have found if I would have crawled out of bed at a decent time and went out with the binoculars! I kept telling myself I'm waiting for Florida and the Space Coast Birding Festival. Bah! I should be birding now.

Next stop, St. Augustine, FL. (Maybe I'll even take a picture or 2.)

First birds of 2009

So far, just a flock of house sparrows, a bunch of pigeons, and this guy.

We leave for Florida in 2 days. It's cold and windy here and everybody's sticking close to the roost. Florida should be better.