Owl Sunday

Enjoying the warm up in temperature, I used today to play with some of my new tech gadgets. The more I'm getting used to my Remembird, the more I am loving it. It's a digital recorder that attaches to your binoculars and you can use it to make field notes without moving your binoculars from your face. You can either listen to your notes with the provided ear piece or load them onto your computer. So, as you're watching the bird in question you can whisper all the details that you are noticing. Remembird also has a setting for recording bird calls, and I'm anxious to give that a test run when warblers come back. Right now, it's nice now to have the time to get used to pressing the right buttons.

With the sub zero temperatures, the creek at Mr. Neil's place is completely frozen. We decided to cross it explore the area on the other side. I really wanted to check it out, that's where I've heard great horned owls hooting and this morning, crows were mobbing something in the pines.

There were all kinds of tracks along the frozen creek. Above are some turkey tracks, and you can see where the bird slipped a bit on the ice, complete with a wing print. Animals like to use this to move around--it's easier than going over the deep snow. When we got across the creek and up the hill with the pines, I started exploring. A great horned owl was flying around the area. It didn't appear to be flushed by me. I was a distance away and had already passed it and wouldn't have known it was there if it hadn't flown. It went from tree to tree, almost as if it were looking for something. Eventually, it paused on top of some trees and then hopped quite awkwardly into the top of one of the pines.

It was tucked in here and I could barely make out the owl's shape from where I was standing. A flock of crows flew over and one crow dropped to mob the great horned. The rest of the flock was about 10 yards behind me. Since the flock was concentrated there, I wondered if the crows had found the nest? I made an arrow in the snow to remind myself where to stand if I came back to look for this owl and when towards the louder mobbing.

I came around to the rest of the crows and couldn't find anything that looked like a nest. The other crow off by the great horned, increased the urgency in its calls and the rest of the flock joined it. I continued my search and then found the second owl, but was incredibly surprised. It wasn't a great horned owl:

It was a barred owl! I have never seen a wild barred owl so close to a wild great horned owl before. Usually the barred owls at Neil's are very people wary. Once you make eye contact with them, they bolt. Most of the time I unknowningly flush them even from a good distance. This bird stayed put. I think this bird realized that this was great horned owl territory and was laying low to avoid being caught in the territory of "the tiger of the woods." I now wonder if the reason the great horned owl was flying the territory when I arrived knew this owl was here and was on patrol for it.

I left the barred owl alone and went back to look for my arrow. The crows were gone and I placed my tripod in position and just started scanning the tree.

Eventually, I relocated the great horned owl. The bird waited for th crows to leave, walked out towards the edge of the branch, searched around the area and then few in the direction of the barred owl. I couldn't find it and didn't stick around too much longer after that. I figured those two had enough to sort out without having a human underfoot.

Northern Birding Trip

Today, we got a small taste of the fun that participants will have at the Sax Zim Bog Bird Festival in the coming weeks! Stan Tekiela and I took a group up for a day birding around the bog and had a great time.

We started at a resident named Derek Morse, who has a feeding station set up one mile north of Co Rd 133 on the Blue Spruce Rd. If you go here on your own, everyone is warning peopl to park in the parking lot and not in the driveway! Above are some common redpolls draining a feeder filled with Nyjer thistle and sunflower chips.

Our group even had a chance to glimpse a hoary redpoll in the above blurry photo. That was the first time I had seen one and there was no question whatsoever to its id. Because this resident is so generous to allow birders from all over to come and watch and photograph birds, a donation box has been set up for donations to contribute to the seed supply. We were happy to contribute to the cause. I remember from when I worked at the bird store--we loved it when redpolls showed up, they can go through see like there's no tomorrow.

Our groups also got to see loads of pine grosbeaks like this female and male above. Depending on the time of day, people are also seeing boreal chickadees and gray jays at this feeding station. We saw those birds at the bog, but did not see them at this particular feeding station--oh, and early in the morning, you can also have a chance to see evening grosbeaks too. I love how just three hours where I live, you can see just completely different birds at feeding stations--all part of the magic of living in this area of the country.

Our group really enjoyed all the birds and had a great time, but hands down the highlight for me was getting a lifer mammal--a wolf! I have never seen one in the wild, and one loped across the road in front of our van. Above is a very blurry photo that I sadly attempted well after the wolf crossed the road--it's that blur behind the shrubbery. So, so cool.

We continued our adventure down the bog's remote roads. We passed many ruffed grouse and white-tailed deer. I watched a grouse take a total nose dive (or would that be a beak dive?). The bird was scooting near the road, when our van came to stop, it froze among the trees, trying to hide, then it tried to do that slow stealthy walk, before finally breaking into an all out run. The ruffed grouse took three strides, then one foot got caught in the snow and it fell face forward--you just don't see wildlife take a spill like Charlie Chaplin and I felt amused and sorry for the bird all at once.

We continued to Admiral Rd where Mike Hendrickson has been gracious enough to hang some deer rib cages on trees as a sort of industrial sized suet feeder. There was quite a bit of activity near this cage, and someone had also scattered some bird seed near the road to the delight of the area chickadees.

Gray jays also called Whiskey Jacks (and look kind of like a chickadee on steroids) love the the hunk a deer fat on the trees.

This bird almost looked like it was smiling like it was king of the fat as it perched on the deer ribs.

There were also just some deer carcasses on the side of the road. Chickadees were flitting over it, as was this red squirrel who came over for a nibble on the meat. This spot was also full of signs of woodpecker activity. A black-backed woodpecker showed up near the deer rib cage and then flew away.

There was still quite a bit of quiet tapping and very low on the trunks we found a male three-toed woodpecker--who had n incredible knack of positioning itself around a trunk or tucked behind branches.

For a mere few seconds it appeared unobstructed and I did manage on photo of this very cool woodpecker. Incidentally, the weather was perfect--in the twenties and I found myself quite comfortable without gloves and ear muffs--the one advantage of sub zero temperatures, it fools you into thinking that twenty degrees is a reasonable temperature.

We watched the cooperative gray jays for a few more minutes and then pressed on to look for a few more species including northern hawk owl and boreal chickadee.

We headed out to look for the hawk owl and found it, thanks to some birder's pulled over. Here it is in the distance being mobbed by a couple of gray jays.

It flew in a little closer, but it was getting dark and it's not the best photo. When we found this bird, it was time for us to head back in order for us to be home by the time scheduled on my itinerary. We still had not seen the boreal chickadee and Stan said he knew of a friend's house and we could get one but we would be returning late. I had plans for the evening, but we asked the group and no one apart from Stan and myself had ever seen one before and were happy to return late to get one. Well, how could I be the spoil sport, so we went for the boreal chickadee and saw it right away and I'm glad I delayed my evening plans.

Still Cold

Fat is the order of the day with the birds and the cold weather. This hairy woodpecker was getting the suet while the gettin' was good.

Soup has been a popular menu item with the dip in temperature. I was so excited, I found a stewing hen at the grocery store (those are getting harder to find)--now that makes a flavorful broth! It's in the pot right now. It's night and day between the difference of using one of those "young fryers" compared to an old stewing hen. If you've never tried making soup with an old hen, give it shot, you'll be amazed.

My banding class was canceled yesterday since it was far too cold to be safe for trapping birds. So, rather than bringing you photos of banded birds, I'll pass along some announcements from the blog inbox. For those who have been coming to Birds and Beers (the next on is February 28) you may be familiar with Wild Ones and Sue who talks about landscaping your yard for birds. Well, Wild Ones is having their 7th Annual Spring Exposition Through the Eyes of Nature: The Birds’ View of Landscaping Saturday, February 23, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm at the Radisson Hotel Roseville. So, if you're in Minnesota and want to landscape more for birds, check it out.

And my buddy Steve Moore emailed that he is starting his own bird podcast called Birdwatch Radio. He was at Bird Watch America while I was there and interviewed a bunch of my friends.

I got an exciting email from the Potholes and Prairie Bird Festival in North Dakota full of fun stuff. One being that my buddy Kate Fitzmeier from Eagle Optics will be there--she is a party looking for a place to happen (I'm also going to see her at the Detroit Lakes Festival too--WHOOT). She and Bill Thompson III will be doing a Bird Watching For Beginners in North Dakota that will cover things like the difference between bird families and species, two terms often used when bird watchers try to identify a bird, bird identification short cuts and tips, how bird, behavior can help with bird identification, how to recognize birds by their songs, making your own “life list” by keeping notes and records of the birds you see how to join bird clubs, take field trips, and attend bird festivals nationwide. Should be a good time.

Afternoon Buteo Call

Yes, I did just make that joke.

It was hard to contain any Twin Cities resident indoors today. After sub zero temps, the weather really warmed up to the twenties and thirties over the weekend and today it got to the low to mid forties--whoot. And we need to gather our rosebuds while we may, because tonight it's rain that turns to ice as the temperature is supposed to plummet to a low of 3--which as coincidence would have it will be our high for tomorrow, with the temps going somewhere in the neighborhood of -14. That's about a 60 degree change in the next twenty-four hours--how do we not a get winter tornado with that?

So, it was take the spring like day while you can. I took a quick jaunt over to the Minnesota Valley NWR. When I arrived, I could hear an angry red squirrel squeaking and general angry bird chips. I wondered if the sharp-shinned hawk was around and dashed behind the Visitor's Center.

Well, it wasn't a sharpie, but a young red-tailed hawk (not the yellow eye and the lack of red in the tail). It was half heartedly preening its feathers and bobbing its head watching was moving below. It was close, but not in the best light.

Some of the birds seemed to sense that they weren't high on the prey item list for this species of hawk and returned to the bird feeder. But, young hawks are unpredictable because they'll try anything once, so birds that did brave the feeders, keep a watchful eye towards the hawk.

I think the red-tail got tired of the squeaky red squirrel and it flew down the hill towards the river--which was great because I could get a photo with a better background. The only problem was that it was facing away from me. So, I did my best whistled impersonation of a red-tailed hawk scream and it looked at me. Great day with a great hawk. And with that, I left it to hunt in peace.

The Cabin

Okay, I'm more confused about the track I found than ever. Someone suggested elk, but didn't think their were elk anywhere near where I was. Well, thanks to the great readers here, I've learned that there are in fact reintroduced elk less then 140 miles from the cabin and it wouldn't be out of the question for one to have meandered. Moose seems more likely for the area though. Whatever it was, it was big.

I woke up the first morning at the cabin and it -13 degrees Fahrenheit. Br. Now, that may look like a big field out beyond the bird feeders, but that is a very frozen lake. So, with it being that cold, it made it easy for me to avoid going outside and taking photos as a distraction.

It also made it a great excuse to eat lots of bacon. I loved the truth in advertising that came with the bacon. It's true, bacon does make everything better--even sub zero temperatures.

The few times I did venture out, it was nuthatch central out there and they did not care about people. I could walk right up to this one. She was too close to even digiscope. When I waked by she would continue eating. If I stopped to look at her, she looked back almost as if she were asking, "Yes, can I help you? Must you stare while I eat?" She would wait until I moved opened the door and went inside and then she would resume eating.

I would allow myself some outdoor time once a day, and I did do a tiny bit of digiscoping. It was tough because the birds were so close. Also, the temperature was so low that it just killed my batteries--even storing them with hand warmers (that only seems to work when it's above zero). Also, it made my camera run very slow. I got a kick out of this series of three photos, starting with the female red-breasted nuthatch above. I took her photo, and there was an long pause while the camera processed, and then when the screen came back on...

Oh, hey, check it out, she suddenly turned into a male red-breasted nuthatch! He must have chased her off while I was watching the camera. I took of photo of him and again, my camera took a long time to process the image and when the screen finally came up again...

It turned into a whole different species of nuthatch! The white-breasted nuthatches were out numbered four to one by the red-breasteds.

There were some ice fishing houses out on the lake and from time to time a snow mobile would whip around on the surface.

From time to time, a snow plow would come through and keep a road cleared, which I thought was strange. There were several ice houses out there, but nothing too warrant a whole road.

Here was a couple setting up there day of fun. You can see the auger on the left to poke the hole in the ice, their truck, a snow mobile and the little blue tent, is what the fisher person will sit in to keep the wind off while they fish. I love to go out on ice, but a big vehicle like a truck makes me nervous. I know when the weather is right and the ice is thick enough, you'll be fine, but it still makes me nervous.

I found out on Saturday as I was packing up to leave why there was a road being plowed. About a hundred cars came out onto the ice for a fishing contest. The tree is obscuring half the cars. This many cars make me REALLY nervous. I can see one out on the ice, but this many, so close together, just freaks me out.

See the green skinny structure up towards the right hand corner, in front of the blue truck--it's an on site port a potty! You could tell the mood was festive on the ice and everyone was ready to have a good time.

And before I left, I got this photo of a final photo of a red-breasted nuthatch. It wasn't the best, but I loved how they seemed to prefer to hang upside down on a feeding port, to feed out of the port below it--instead of sitting upright on the perch and feeding out of the port that is attached to it. I guess they're little Frank Sinatras--they do it their way.

Sunshine Travel

First and foremost--THANK YOU to everyone who came to the owl talk on Sunday at The Raptor Center! Early in the week we only had 15 people signed up and with the sub zero temps and the Packers game I expected a low turn out, but the room was completely filled! Whoot! Thanks, and the fee went to TRC, a great cause in my book.

Today was an unexpectedly action packed day that started with a bird segment on KARE 11 and then a meeting at Sunshine Travel Co. but the day ended up much more hectic with a slippery snow shower that started at "oh just a dusting" according to local weather reports and then ended up being 3 - 5 inches, which made for very slippery driving. Note the little bits of snow specks on the house sparrow in the above photo. On the upside, the high today was 9 degrees-which honestly felt great. Seriously, if it's above zero degrees--it's a good day in my book.

The funny part with KARE 11 was that I was having all kinds of mic problems and the stage manager was still trying to get me wired up after the segment started. When the camera cut to me, the stage manager was still crouched behind me trying to adjust my mic. It wasn't working properly and the camera cut away and they added another mic. It was hard to concentrate on smiling and talking while having someone run wires in and out of my shirt. Non Birding Bill had today off and actually got to watch the segment, he said that he didn't notice while watching the show, whereas I felt like I had wires appearing all over. Ah well, good times!

This is our friend Dawn who runs Sunshine Travel Co and is helping to create some bird tours to Harlingen, TX this fall and to San Francisco, CA next January. She is in shows around the Twin Cities with NBB and is just an all around hoot. I'm not sure if she really likes me or is just using me to get to Cinnamon. Every time I have a meeting at her office, she insists that I bring the Disapproving Bunny. It's hard for me to concentrate and look her in the eye during meetings because of all the bird activity. Note in the far left corner of the window behind Dawn--there's a junco lurking. I told Dawn up front that my lack of eye contact was not some sign of disrespect, but more my distraction from so much bird activity. She said that she has the coolest office ever and I agreed.

She has lots of suction cup window feeders placed on the windows of the office. The birds are not bothered by humans all that much. I was able to walk right up to the feeder and snap a photo of a chickadee at the window feeder without the aid of a spotting scope. This was a good idea, window feeders will help keep the birds from hitting the windows too hard. They slow down to check out a potential food source.

I had a good time just sitting next to Dawn's windows and watching the birds come right up for some food. I did note that there was some milo on the window and I advised Dawn that since we live in the East without a huge number of pheasants and quail coming to feeders that this seed wasn't the best seed idea. I even snuck out during a break in our meetings and tossed some black oil sunflowers on the milo. The chickadees totally dug that idea.

During the meeting, one of the chickadees grabbed a sunflower and tried to stuff it away for a later date. It kept trying to wedge the sunflower in this overhang above the windows. If you look just to the right in the above photo, you will see a very dark crack. This chickadee would cling to that and try to peck the sunflower into the crack. It didn't succeed, but it was interesting it watch it try.

I did do a minor bit of digiscoping since the birds were so close and I was not too anxious to get back onto the highways with the snow. I can't help but fall in love with juncos in falling snow.

My intent had been to drop Cinnamon off at home after my meeting with Dawn and then go to the grocery store, but the roads were so slick and I had to drive so slow that there wasn't time and I had to take her with me to pick up dinner. Even though she has a fur coat, she is in an indoor rabbit and not used to the outside and it was far too cold to leave her in the car. I decided to risk bringing her in the grocery store with me. I don't like to do this--who knows who is allergic to what animal and I don't want to be an annoying pet owner who assumes her cute pet can go anywhere. But my grocery store offers disinfecting wipes for carts and Cinnamon is litter box trained, so I decided to risk it. I hoped no one would notice because A. I didn't want to get kicked out of my favorite grocery store and B. when people notice an unusual pet, everyone wants to pet her and that can add some time to what would otherwise be a quick errand. When we got there, I put my scarf in the basked around Cinnamon and put in a few bunches of parsley on either side of her. I relied on an old trick from my days of being a magician's assistant and didn't look down at her in the cart--don't look at what you don't want people to notice--they usually won't.

Alas, this plan worked until I dashed down the final aisle when I heard behind me, "Is THAT a BUNNY?!?" and like little old ladies near Sir Andrew Llyod Weber, we were surrounded. Everyone was super nice and I was happy to let them pet Cinnamon--and goodness knows she was lovin' it, but I didn't want to push my luck at my favorite grocery store. We made it to the line, I got checked out without the manager's notice, wiped out the basket she had been riding in and all was right with the world.

Cinnamon really needed a day out. It's hard for her to be cooped up and this morning she was making her rambunctiousness known. After the alarm went off and I walked past the rabbit room, she was hopping in all directions and digging out her litter box. The second time I walked by, she was up on her hind legs, pressed against the toddler gate, her front paws stretched as high as they would go, as if to say, "Mom, I need an adventure NOW!" Dawn's office was a treat since it's carpeted and she could run. But the grocery store is what set her over the edge--what rabbit doesn't love the chance to be with their human to pick out the freshest bits of parsley and carrot tops for the week? Plus, there was the added bonus of several humans massaging her oh so soft fur.

Viera Wetlands

Here's a great egret head.

Well, I'm in Atlanta right now and the drought is still on--the grass is very brown and there are water conservation notices in the hotel rooms. However, as I type this, there is one heck of storm raging outside, so maybe this is a sign for the better? So, time to finish up the Florida entries:

So, Viera Wetlands (again, just a fancy name for a wastewater treatment area--yeah, I mean sewage) wasn't just about the cool bittern loaf. No, there were other birds there, they were just all over shadowed by the cool brown heron like bird. What else could be so cool?

Brown ducks! This is an exciting duck since it can be found in most places around the US. It's a relative of black ducks and mallards and that plumage in the above photos is about as flamboyant as it gets for the mottled duck. I can hear Non Birding Bill smirking all the way in Minnesota.

The wetlands were chock full of herons and egrets. Above is a flock of cattle egrets threatening to block the road as we were driving through.

Here is a pair of sandhill cranes near the road. Again, I would like to point out how birds in Florida are mellower than birds up north. There's no way sandhills would stick near the road if a vehicle slowed down near them. How close were they? For one thing, I didn't digiscope this photo. Here's another comparison:

That's my buddy Clay Taylor in the driver's seat watching the cranes--these birds just don't care about humans. Maybe it's the vacation atmosphere in Florida? Everybody, even the wildife is chillin' out.

Here's another anhinga, drying out its wings in the sun while surrounded by blue-winged teal. It kind of threw me to see it with blue-winged teal, a species we have nesting in Minnesota.
Here is an adult anhinga (note the white on the wings). The anhinga is another kind of celebrity bird for me. I remember staring at their illustrations in my field guides when I was a kid, in all the books, there was at least one showing it with its wings out. It's fun to see them when I am in Texas or Florida.

Speaking of birds throwing me, here's a savannah sparrow. I wondered if I was driving Clay crazy by second guessing so many birds. I kept asking things like, "Is that really a savannah sparrow I'm seeing?" I'm so used to seeing and hearing them in open areas around the Minnesota, I wasn't expecting to find them lurking in the grasses of some wetlands in Florida.

The birds weren't all brown at the wetlands. Check out this striking fellow--kind of like a coot in drag. It's a common moorhen. These birds are very grunty, belchy and farty sounding. They make a variety of noises, but it's the grunty sounds that stick in your mind.

The moorhens were mixed in with the coots. Many of the coots formed a tight raft and fed in the water. With the black bodies and heads, accented with the white bills, it was kind of hypnotic. Here's a video:

Here's another Dr. Seuss looking bird. This is the glossy ibis. Viera was just fun, everywhere you scanned you find something cool, if not on the water, then in the grasses and shoreline. There's something for everyone. And you might be surprised what you find as you're scanning:

Oh hey, what's that on the shore? Why, it's an alligator. And this wasn't the only one, they were ALL over.

Now, these birds must like life on the edge. Here are two sizable alligators and near them on the shore is a glossy ibis and a few moorhens feeding away. Are these birds just not the brightest bulbs on the tree or does their diet make them taste so nasty that an alligator just doesn't want to bother.

You could get fairly close to the alligators. Above is a member of our group named Andy getting a photo with his point and shoot. I noted the alligator was longer than I am and decided to digiscope it from where I stood behind Andy (if the gator decided to come our way, it would get Andy first).

Not a bad photo and much like the bittern photo, I could only get a head shot of the gator to fit in my field of view. Perhaps, that means I'm too close to it.

We did see some non lethal animals like this red-bellied turtle and a river otter that came running out of the water and was entirely too fast for me to digiscope.

Here's a rabbit--this poor thing was frozen and hunkered to the ground, there was a young red-shouldered hawk hunting nearby and the rabbit was using its camo ability to evade becoming a mean for the hawk. One of the guys on our trip was a Florida naturalist and he said that this was a marsh rabbit. They can swim, although, I wouldn't advise it with all the gators in the water.

Hot Gratuitous American Bittern Action

Well, I thought getting some great head shots of the wood stork was going to be the high point of my trip, but hands down, it was the American bittern action, I captured at Viera Wetlands yesterday. Now, the American bittern is a bird I can see in my home state of Minnesota, but not easily and certainly not in good photography light. One thing I am fascinated with birds is how birds respond to human activity in different states. In Florida, the birds are totally mellow: osprey right on the street lamps like red-tailed hawks. Herons and egrets will let you get within 10 feet of them. We have some of these same species in Minnesota, but they are way more cagey--it's just an interesting regional difference.

Bitterns are birds that skulk around in reeds, using their stripey plumage to hide in the reeds--it's hard to find them, you generally hear them more than you see them and when you do see them, it's usually when they are slinking back into the reeds and out of your sight. When I got the above photo of a bittern disappearing into some vegetation with the sun behind it, I considered myself very lucky.

Then we got to this spot and a fellow birder mentioned to our group that there was an American bittern in here that is a real ham. I'm a ham, I would even say chickadees and nuthatches are hams. But bitterns as hams? They are more of the Howard Hughes type. But, the light was perfect, I had a flash card to fill and couldn't resist a chance to digiscope a bittern. We couldn't see it and buddy Clay Taylor said that we were probably going to have to walk around and just work it. Clay and I assumed our positions with our scopes and our cameras and waited. Less than sixty seconds later, we saw the bittern.

It skulked out of the grasses and I got this photo. I thought this was pretty darned exciting and very bloggable--and a good representation of how you usually see a bittern through a scope or binoculars. Part of the bird and obscured by vegetation. I congratulated myself in my head for a digiscope well done. But, it didn't end there.

The bird continued to search the water at the base of the vegetation for fish and seemed completely oblivious to the pack of humans on the nearby road freaking out at how close we were to an American bittern.

Look at that! An almost completely unobscured bittern face? I felt like the luckiest girl in the world!

The bittern eventually came out fairy close to the road. If you look at the above photo, you see the end of the barrel of my spotting scope and at the top center of the photo is the bittern. I was dying at this point. It was sunny, the temperature was in the upper seventies, a slight breeze was blowing and I was watching a really cool and generally hard to see bird.

The birder we met on the road was right, this bird was a ham. Here it is point its head up to camouflage as a helicopter few over (or maybe it was simply watching the helicopter).

And then it poked its head out and continued its "relentless warfare on fish." Some of the members of our group were not birders and did find the bittern cool, but I'm sure they were wondering why Clay and I just planted ourselves for the better part of an hour photographing the bittern.

The bird was so close, I had a tough time getting anything but head shots, so I moved myself further back and was able to start getting the whole body in the frame. What amazed me was look at the size of the head in relation to the body--tiny and skinny head governing a large body in back.

At a couple of point, it puffed up slightly. I wondered what that was about. I once was fortunately enough to watch a bittern give it's call and it's really interesting. They inhale air first and their bodies blow up like a big brown beach ball and the bird deflates as it gives that pumper call. Here, it puffed up once? Is it giving some kind of call that is inaudible to me? What was it about? Still, so much to learn.

Here's a final photo, check out the wet feathers on the chin--I saw this bird get at least five fish, who knows how much it was getting as it would periodically disappear into the grasses. Though the above is the last photo, below is a video of the bittern. There is a spot on the lens and yes, I am aware of the spot. I've been uploading some photos to You Tube in the last twenty-four hours to blog about this week. Some people subscribe to the videos on there and see them right away. And a few have felt the need to let me know that I have a spot on my lens. It's a big spot and fairly obvious and it amuses me to know end that the commentors feel the need to let me know, on the off chance I didn't see it. So, as you're watching this, yes, I know that there is a spot on the lens.

Oh! And I forgot to mention, you will hear fish crows calling in the back ground--sounds like a crow that swallowed a kazoo going "ha ha". Also, watch how the bittern wiggles back and forth--that's how it's focusing on what it's about to stab it at. Alas, the flash card I was using when I took the video filled up and the camera stopped filming. Immediately after the video stops, the bittern nailed a fish.

Merritt Island NWR

Just rolled into chez Stiteler--how will I ever get all my Florida blogging in before I leave for Atlanta on Thursday? Above is one of the many palm warblers that were flitting around the hotel and just about everywhere else we went in Florida.

Yesterday afternoon we headed over to Merritt Island NWR in Titusville, FL. We pulled over so folks could test out some digiscoping stuff. I was trying to get a photo of some of a shorebird called a ruddy turnstone. Alas, it was too close to get the scope on it! It was just as easy to take a photo the regular way. That's my shadow and the turnstone in the upper right hand corner.

Eventually, I got some distance between the turnstone and me. C'mon, even if you don't care for shorebirds, you have to admit, that's kind of a cool looking shorebird. Look at those bright orange legs!

As we were going down the road, we pulled over for some wood storks. If you look at the tops of the trees, you can see a couple of wood storks. Would you like to see them even closer?

Is it a beauty? What? That's not close enough of that dry, wrinkly skin? You want more?

Almost makes you think that this is what a white ibis would look like at 80 years old. These guys mostly eat fish, but will go for weird things like baby alligators and cow dung. Kind of makes sense with a face like that. You want more of the face?

Breathe in the wood stork, breathe out. Breathe in the wood stork, breathe out. Look at that insane nostril too. Cool bird.

We didn't spend huge amounts of time at Merritt, a storm was rolling in. I was hoping for some roseate spoonbill action in the sun, but didn't see any.

Until the rain came and it got darker, then it was spoonbill city.

Here's a spoonbill mixed in with a bunch of tricolored herons. As I was loading this onto the blog, Non Birding Bill walked behind me and asked, "Is that a roseate spoonbill I see?" I asked how he knew what a spoonbill was and he answered, "Because it's the one bird that actually looks like its name. It's rosy and it's bill looks like a spoon. That must have been the one day Audubon wasn't drunk when he was naming birds."

It's good to be home. Brace yourself for some pretty hot bittern action coming in the next 24 hours.

Dixie Crossroads Seafood Restaurant

I just thought this was a cool photo of a boat-tailed grackle--almost looks like he has mutton chops.

Tonight we had dinner at the Dixie Crossroads Seafood Restaurant, which is a must if you are birding around Titusville, FL or are going to the Space Coast Birding Festival (they were actually having a meeting prepping volunteers for it while we were there) I highly recommend the broiled rock shrimp. Outside there is a small pond full of fish--many huge, some minnows.

In the dark, along the rocks, you could see a green heron fishing for the minnows. For twenty five cents, you could purchase fish food and many of us tried to aim it in the green heron's direction to get the fish over its way, but it seemed to have its own system and ignored our helpful tosses of fish pellets.