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!!!!