Red-bellied Woodpecker (female). Photo taken at Silver Springs State Park in Ocala, Florida.
I have been looking for the book The Sibley Guide to Birds Second Edition for awhile now. Today, I finally found and purchased this lovely birding guide. I was specifically searching for the re-printed second edition.
I am very happy to add this book to my birding library. Howard kiddingly asks me, “How many bird books do you need?” I reply, “One can’t have too many!”
Blue-headed Vireo
On February 27, 2015 I saw and photographed the little song bird in these photos. It was flitting around hunting for bugs and didn’t stay still long. At first I just assumed it was a Solitary Vireo, which I first saw in Colorado in 1986.
Tonight, while looking through my new bird book, I discovered that the Solitary Vireo as been divided into three separate species:
(1) Plumbeous
(2) Cassin’s
(3) Blue-headed
This Blue-headed Vireo has been added to my Birding Life List at number 385.
Large head, short bill, dark gray head, white spectacles, belly and throat, yellowish flanks.
Until next time…
Sing your heart out!
Beautiful little song bird; averages one phase every 2.5 seconds.
Eloquent songsters of open marshes and woodlands, the thrushes include many familiar species. With narrow notched bills they feed on insects and fruit.
Eastern Blue Bird (male)Throat, sides of neck and breast are a chestnut color. Belly white. Males are deep blue above, females grayer.Nest in holes in trees and posts, and in nesting boxes.
Bluebird Conservation:
Eastern Bluebird populations increased by almost 2 percent per year between 1966 and 2010, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Partners in Flight estimates the global breeding population at 22 million, with 86 percent spending part of the year in the U.S., 22 percent in Mexico, and 1 percent breeding in Canada.
They rate a 7 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score and they are not on the 2012 Watch List. Eastern Bluebird populations fell in the early twentieth century as aggressive introduced species such as European Starlings and House Sparrows made available nest holes increasingly difficult for bluebirds to hold on to.
In the 1960s and 1970s establishment of bluebird trails and other nest box campaigns alleviated much of this competition, especially after people began using nest boxes designed to keep out the larger European Starling. Eastern Bluebird numbers have been recovering since.
For more information on this beautiful thrush, please visit this web-site – http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Bluebird/id
~Sharing with Charlotte at Prairie Birder for Feathers on Friday
Lake Louisa State Park, located near Clermont, Florida, has many acres of old-growth Orange Groves, some bordering the main road into the park. Presently, these groves are non-producing, but provide great habitat for birds and other wildlife.
Recently, some of these trees have been uprooted and stacked in piles as you can see in the photo below.
Uprooted Orange Trees. Rows and rows of them.
I wish the park’s management will allow some of the piles to remain for the wildlife seeking refuge, but I tend to believe they won’t. Better yet, why don’t they plant new trees in their place. They don’t have to replant orange trees.
This is what the field looked like on December 26, 2014 as they began uprooting the trees..
Anyway “Lets Talk Turkey”
Late one evening about one week ago, leaving the guys behind, my friend Karla and I decided to jump in the car and head out in search of a pair of American Kestrels. We had been seeing them daily, when driving in and out of the park.
The Kestrels had been hanging around some of these mangled piles of orange trees, perhaps getting ready to build a nest. They would sit on one of the tallest points of the stack, probably looking for food. I wanted to capture a photo of them.
On this particular evening we didn’t see the American Kestrel pair, I think it was too late in the day, but we did see this gorgeous couple, along with seven other females, coming out of the woods to forage before roosting for the night. They were pretty far away so my photos aren’t the best. The guys missed out!
To learn more about our Wild Turkeys go to http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/wild-turkey/.
Wild Turkey Pair
Until Next Time
Stay Frisky
Maybe she is saying, “pick me instead of her”.
I am sharing this post with Eileen, Viewing nature with Eileen for her Saturday’s Critters at http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/2015/02/saturdays-critters-63.html
Meeow is one of the calls of this beautiful, mimic, Thrush called the Gray Catbird. The meeow call is an alarm call.
Gray Catbird, eats mostly insects, spiders, berries and fruitsGray Catbird, solitary or in pairs. However, I saw up to ten togetherGray Catbird, short dark billGray Catbird, black cap and tailGray Catbird, reddish chestnut undertail covertsGray Catbird, does not repeat phrases like other eastern mimic thrushes
While camped at Lake Louisa State Park, I enjoyed watching and photographing these Gray Catbirds as they flitted around our site. There were at least ten, if not more. One morning while having coffee, we observed them eating flowers off the shrubs surrounding the site. I saw my first Gray Catbird on April 3, 1993. (All photos taken using my Canon 70D with Tamron 600m zoom lens.)
Wolf Song Blog 