Beach Nesting Bird Survey: Ft Desoto 3-24-17

Mama Great Horned Owl (looking right) with her two chicks

They took over this Osprey nest as GHOs rarely build their own nests.

Sanderings, the most widely distributed "peep" (slang for the 5 smallest sandpipers)

A winter visitor here that nest way upon in the High Arctic

Adult, non-breeding Short-billed Dowitcher

Thanks, Ron 


Short-billed Dowitcher, Black-bellied Plover, Ruddy Turnstone (L to R)

Short-billed Dowitcher (Above)

Black-bellied Plover (Below)



Fish Crow

Supposedly the only crow we have in Pinellas County

Can only tell them apart from the American Crow by their voice differences

Brown Pelicans on Bird Island: 3-23-17

Adult bringing in nesting material (young Great Blue Heron in the background)

A Double-crested Cormorant is on guard as the bellies come in.

Amazing the places they can reach with that bill when preening

What a pouch!

One chick in this nest

Youngster getting a fishy soup meal in its parent's pouch

 Rough night at the Zoo Party

More Celery Fields: Friday, March 17th

Hooded Merganser pair) (Male on the right, female preening on the left

Handsome male

Male left; preening female right

Male

Their ducklings leave the nest cavity early within 24 hours of hatching.  First the mother checks the area around the nest cavity and then calls to the nestlings from ground level.  From inside the nest, the little fluff balls scramble up to the entrance hole and then jump, fluttering to the ground like a leaf from our oaks.  This leap of 50 feet or more lands them on the ground with Mama and then they all begin the 1/2 mile or more walk to the nearest body of water.

Pair

This is my spot!

Bird Island: Coffee Pot Bayou Thursday, March 23rd

Cattle Egret in breeding plumage

A year round resident in our state and a widespread range elsewhere

Cattle Egrets are native to Africa but reached across the ocean reaching northeastern South America in 1877.  They continued to spread, arriving in the U.S. in 1941 and nesting there by 1953.

In the next 50 years they became one of the most abundant on the North American herons, showing up as far north as Alaska and Newfoundland.

They have a broad and flexible diet that occasionally even includes other birds.  In the Dry Tortugas, migrating Cattle Egrets often hunt migrating warblers.

They follow large animals or farm machines and eat invertebrates stirred up from the ground.

Preening

They will fly toward smoke from long distances away, to catch insects fleeing the fire.

Reddish Egret

According to Ann Paul, Audubon Guru, "based on the relatively faded pinkishness of its bill, and the darkening near the base of its bill near the eyes, it is what we term the "raccoon stage", suggesting that it has hatched chicks in the nest."

Once it landed it disappeared back into the mangroves so we did not see the nest or chicks.

Our home from the water side