Like everywhere else, it has been abnormally cold in South Florida and that has brought about drastic changes in the scenery.  

It looks like Autumn up north with many trees changing colors!  Finally yesterday, our temperatures got back to normal and we could toss the sweats and turn the heater off.

This week birding has been all things “ducky”.  Trips to Plantation Preserve, Green Cay and Wakodahatchee Wetlands have provided me with some great shots of winter arrivals. 

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Today, Karl and I took our annual New Years Day drive to Miami Dade County.  We have done this ever since we moved to Florida.  The first year we picked strawberries and bought fresh corn.  We have never been able to find either available since during this drive.  Our goal today was to view Manatees that had moved into one of the canals because of the cold weather.  We happily found them!  

Togetherness

The Great Blue Herons at Wakodahatchee were busy nest building.  We enjoyed watching them tend to their nest and the joint effort of laying down the sticks was really fascinating. 

After walking around Wako, we moved on to Green Cay. Many more birds to see there.  Sadly, they have closed the Nature Center on Sundays due to budget problems.  Normally it wouldn’t matter to me, but a Virginia cousin was here and would have enjoyed the displays.

Fishing

We enjoyed watching this Grebe catch the fish.  It was just the right size for him to have a good lunch!

The feeders at home are full tonight.  Temperatures are due to go down to the low 40s, if not lower.  A very early winter chill – we have had to turn the heat on in the house!  Very early for such a drastic measure.

2010 Chase @ Homestead

Well, not this road trip – that was last weekend.  A couple of free tickets found us experiencing NASCAR for the first time.  It was loud, interesting and a great place to watch people.   I did miss my birds though!

Thankfully Dead!

We waited, but nothing crossed!

We encountered another one of those priceless Florida Signs.  I just have to share this because we are still laughing about it.  The road was gravel, so we are not real sure what this was meant to say.  Regardless, we didn’t see anything cross our path.

Brown Thrush

I don’t normally get to see our lone brown thrush in full view, but he cooperated this morning before he went back into the underbrush.

Last weekend I had the pleasure to join some Camp Strawderman friends in celebrating a special 60th birthday.  So many years later, we are all still in contact and enjoy the memories and eachother’s company. 

Two of us drove up to Jacksonville with a side trip to Viera Wetlands (had to get some birding in).  Viera is just South of  the Orlando area off I95. 

Once again, I had an Eagle in sight, but too late to get much of a photo.

Ring Necked Ducks

There was not a great deal of activity at Viera, but we had a good time looking for anything to photograph!

Just prior to leaving, we came across this rather comical scene of a Cormorant with a great fish catch.  We watched him juggle the over-sized fish for quite a while, but he finally managed to swallow it.

All In A Row

Neatly arranged and ready for the “picking”.   I stumbled across this rather unique scene on the way to Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge yesterday. The families appeared to be having fun.  Nothing more needs be said from this Virginia girl.  I guess it beats buying at a grocery store. 

I do my shopping on Saturdays, but now that it has cooled down I try to get a bit of birding in at the same time. 

Green Cay Wetlands

I go out of my way to shop, I had to make a WalMart run yesterday, so I headed North to Delray Beach and Green Cay Wetlands to see what birds had arrived. 

Pied-billed Grebe

I was surprised by the number of  Grebes that were out and about.   It appears that more have decided to winter here than in the past.

Green Cay is an interesting location and the bird population continues to increase dramatically the longer it is open.  Palm Beach County is unique in creating ideal birding spots from their water reclamation facilities.  Green Cay was a donated location that is a man-made wetlands.  The property was once part of a produce farm. 

Great Blue Heron Calling Out

Somewhere, I have photos of the project under construction – I happened by it back when gas was cheap and I could just drive looking for unique properties.  It has been quite fun watching it grow into the great birding place it is now.

Here are a few more shots from yesterday.

Glossy Ibis

Belted Kingfisher

Egyptian Geese - Davie Canal

On my errands yesterday, I came across a large gaggle of Egyptian Geese in Davie.  These are not native to South Florida, but are reproducing at a great rate.  An interesting looking bird, even if they are becoming our latest invasive species.

Later in the afternoon I went by Plantation Preserve but the wind was so brisk that birds were few and far between.  They have started to clean the weeds out, which was a welcome sight.
Back home the birds have been wonderful to watch even with the on and off showers. 

Male & Female Painted Buntings

Here is a great shot of the male and female painted buntings.  It really shows the tremendous difference in appearance of this species.   The females are well camoflaged and the males do a great job of staying in the underbrush so they are hard to capture when not feeding.

Male Painted in Bushes

I was able to catch this guy today, but he is roosting on one of my feeders, though well hidden.

The mockingbirds have been fighting off a number of birds for the berries in the bushes.  They have made a tremendous racket, but have been fun to watch. 

Spot-Breasted Oriole

Throughout the year, I am lucky to have Spot-breasted Orioles come and go.  They are very rare down here, but we have been graced with them almost since our arrival in Florida.   During the summer the local pair had their fledglings with them.  This one came in alone today and was very busy getting nectar while dodging the raindrops.

It has been five years since Hurricane Wilma.  We lost many trees during the storm and our grapefruit tree has finally given up the ghost this summer.  We have not cut this down or back because it makes for a great roost for the many birds that visit.  It is reminder to us of the fury of nature.  

Today, I was surprised to see this squirrel peeling off some of the dead bark and chewing on it.  The squirrels certainly get enough food from robbing the feeders, so I found this activity rather interesting. 

Hope everyone has a great week ahead.

Susan

Ruby Throated Hummingbird Returns

The Ruby Throated Hummingbirds returned midweek!  So glad to see they are back and frequenting the feeders. 

I was surprised to see the return of a grey catbird and a black throated blue warbler.

Grey Catbird

 I don’t think we have had these here since before Hurricane Wilma in 1995.  

Regardless, the fallout has been fun even if the mockingbirds continue to protect their territory and the resident hawk flies in daily to look for a quick snack.

Also arriving this week were the blue gray gnatcatchers and palm warblers. 

Blue Gray Gnatcatcher

Yesterday, I ventured out to a few of the natural areas in Northern Broward  County and came back pretty dismayed.  Not much activity at the three locations I visited although my timing might have been bad. 

Palm Warbler

Dinner Island Ranch WMA is a rare place in our area.   Hard packed roads make it easy to drive and see natural Florida without having to exert much energy.  Still an active cattle ranch, you sometimes have to make way for the wandering cows, but it also a wonderful wildlife area normally full of alligators, wild boar, deer and other critters in addition to the birds.

To get to Dinner Island, we take Snake Road off Alligator Alley, through the Seminole Reservation.  It’s name is due to the winding nature of the road.  And, when you are lucky enough to find a straight away, you speed up. 

Today, I was sorry that I increased my speed as I flew by and had to back up to get a shot of this Eagle.  He was on a fence post 20 feet from the car when I first spied him.

Sadly, he kept getting farther and farther away and this was my only good photo.  He was fun to watch soaring away. 

Most trips have been super productive photography wise at Dinner Island, but not today.  It’s an hour and a half from the house and we arrived around 2:00 when most every animal was keeping out of the sun taking their afternoon break.  There were few birds, but the butterflies were magnficent.   This photo is indicative of what I witnessed. 

I am not good at identifying butterflies, but believe they are Swallowtails.

Other than the numerous hawks, egrets and great blue herons – there was little else to see.  Water levels were high which probably limited what birds were around.  Definitely kept the deer and wild boar away.

On the way home, back on Snake Road, we thought we would stop for a snack in an older Seminole general store.   We walked in and decided to wait for some place further down the road that was a bit cleaner.  Leaving, however, we did spy this sign and felt it worthy of a picture having watched a piece on CBS Sunday Morning today on typographical errors.

Seminole or Semimole?

Wednesday, I came home to a yard of painted buntings!  So nice to have them return.

Earlier in the week I had a lone grey catbird come by.  Before Hurricane Wilma, they were here in great numbers.   

We lost so many trees during the hurricane, that the birds that come now are less frequent.

With the humidity down, I took a walk over to Plantation Park Preserve today.  There was some activity there, but the water levels are still high from recent storms, so the waders are few and far between.  I did play cat and mouse with this Osprey throughout my walk.  I was surprised to see that the park is not being maintained as well as it should. 

We are thinking of driving out to Dinner Island tomorrow.  I am getting itchy feet to get out of the backyard and see what birds are further north.