More Florida Photos
A group of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks were a new species for my life list seen at the Wakodahatchee Wetlands (Delray Beach, Palm Beach County).
Another Randalls Island Day
I realized on Saturday that I haven’t spend a real day birding in a long while. I’ve been going after specific birds, but not doing a real walk counting birds for a long time.
So, I birded Randalls Island from end to end on Sunday to see what I could find. Boy, did I feel rusty. Looks like I’m going to be spending lots of time this winter doing long walks…
Photographs are of the Red-tailed Hawk pair and their nest just north of the stadium field, an American Kestrel, Brant, Black-capped Chickadee, and Red-breasted Mergansers.
American Pipits
Randalls Island has been discovered this winter by birders in New York City. Easily visited by public transportation, this island between the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens offers an interesting variety of birds.
Today, I visited the island. Thanks to the great birding skills of Ben Cacace, I got to see three American Pipits. This is a new species for my life list.
Florida Barred Owls
Florida has lots of great birds in areas around its water treatment/water control ponds. Close to the main entrance to Everglades National Park, are two small hammocks of trees near a Storm Control/Water Management area. The local birders call them the Lucky Hammock and The Annex on ebird.org.
At The Annex there were a pair of Barred Owls. One perched on a powerline just after flyout and I got to watch the owl on two separate evenings for only a minute each night.
Who would have thought it was easier to owl watch in Central Park?
Purple Gallinule
I spent a few days in the Everglades over the Christmas/New Year’s break. I managed to got a close up look at a Purple Gallinule, which is a new bird for my life list while on vacation.
The video is very shaky as there were high winds, but it shows the typical Purple Gallinute behavior of wading in Water Lillies. The photographs show the Purple Gallinule climbing a small bush to eat flowers. This was a special treat as it allowed me to see the whole bird including its large feet!
The Other Owl
Sorry for so little hawk news over the last few weeks. The two Barred Owls in Central Park are capturing my attention. I couldn’t find the one I’ve been following regularly today, but did find the other one without much trouble. It went after a squirrel while it was still quite bright out. It waited until the squirrel jumped from tree to tree and when after it. The owls timing was a bit off and the squirrel lived to see another day (or should I say night).
