Just another day at OTOW

We have two bird feeders hanging in the Oak Tree in front of our house and several more in back of the house so we have lots of visitors. This is a Loggerhead Shrike. They are fairly common here in Ocala, but, until this year, not common at our feeders.

I don't think he comes to eat - he just perches on top waiting for a tasty grasshopper.

Bill took this picture of an American Kestrel that was sitting on top of a pine tree in back of our house.

He was quite a distance away, but easily identifiable as a beautiful adult male.

Speaking of adult males, many of them who live here at OTOW spend a lot of their time at the RC flying field. Bill is numbered among them.

This is one of his new planes and he actually invited me to come along one evening to watch him fly - as long as I brought my camera.

I tried to stay focused on the planes - but it was difficult with all the little birds playing in the grass. This is our most common Fall warbler - a Yellow-rumped (probably a first-year male).

Bill and Bud deep in aeronautical discussions. 

Twitterpated Kestrels

Bill and I love watching the beautiful American Kestrels that hang out just outside the gates of OTOW. Usually, they are sitting on the wires, so I was pleased to get some pictures without wires or poles.

The female Kestrel has brown wings.

And the male has blue wings.

As we watched, the two birds came together.





What can I say?

On a Mission!

Yesterday, while at lunch with our fellow birders, Bill mentioned that he had never seen a Red-headed Woodpecker and he REALLY wanted to see one. He was told to go out the far gate, turn left onto a dirt road and go way back by the cattle ranch and look for the place where the cattle are loaded onto trucks.

This afternoon, we decided to go looking for our bird.

Along the way, this beautiful American Kestrel and his mate were watching us as we headed down the dirt road. Look at the colors!

We found the cattle ranch. The Hereford Bull came over to the fence to greet us.

A common Eastern Phoebe - but no Woodpeckers. Bill was discouraged.

He wandered off to take this incredible picture. I assume it is a moth (as opposed to a butterfly).

I have been corrected! It is a butterfly - a Long-tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus). Thanks Megan!

Discouraged, we headed around the bend and out to the OTOW exit road. And there they were!

We counted at least 4 Red-headed Woodpeckers flying around the area. There were several dead snags and the woodpeckers went back and forth hunting for insects.

We watched these beautiful birds for about 15 minutes. Bill was pleased - and so was I!

My Valentine Tree

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Bill asked me over the weekend what I wanted and I said I wanted to plant a tree in the backyard. We already had the plan approved by the landscape committee and the utilities had marked the underground cables so we knew where we could dig. Off we go to Lowes to select our tree - but they didn't have what I wanted - a Live Oak - so we checked Home Depot, and they had a nice selection. Since we weren't going to plant the tree until the next day, we came home empty handed. Bill dug the hole - 3 times bigger than what we remembered was the size of the root ball. We soaked the hole with water. It looked like a man-made lake and we expected to see flocks of migrating ducks land in our yard.

After Bill returned from flying his RC plane on Valentine's morning, we headed back to Home Depot to buy our tree. The master gardener helped us select a nice healthy Live Oak - and the other stuff we would need: 50 pounds of potting soil to mix with our sandy soil and Quick Start fertilizer. Bill borrowed a wheelbarrow from the neighbor.

The hole was a "little" larger than we needed and we didn't have enough potting soil so Bill headed back for more. While he was gone, a sparrow landed in the tree and knocked it over.

This is my tree. I love it. I hope the birds don't knock it over again. Oh, and Bill says that next year I'm getting a dozen roses.

I'm having a great time learning to quilt.

This is the top I just finished. The pattern is "Cascades." At one point, I didn't think it would get finished as there was an error in the pattern and the triangles for the sides were too small - but I was able to get more material and finish putting it together. Before I start another pattern, I will check the website for "updates."

This is the top I'm making in my beginner class. I have one more session - to do the binding - and I'm finished. It's been a blast.

We are still enjoying the birds in the yard. This is a beautiful American Kestrel.

While I was looking at the Kestrel, this blimp flew over. We've seen it quite a few times in the neighborhood. Rumor has it that it's one of our neighbors - John Travolta - showing off the horse farms to his friends.

Mr. Fox Squirrel has been a regular visitor. I don't even mind if he eats from the feeders.

I took this shot right before he fell off.

But he got right back up.

Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park with the Unique Birders from OTOW

Bill and I joined the OTOW Unique Birders group for a wonderful field trip to hike the LaChua Trail at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park south of Gainesville.

Our first stop was the icy observation platform just off Route 441 in Micanopy (mic-can-no-pee). Looking out over the prairie, we saw dozens of Sandhill Cranes both on the ground and overhead. A coyote ran in the distance.

Normally, I would have overlooked this sparrow - but we were fortunate to have a birding expert in the group who identified it as a Swamp Sparrow - our first life bird of the day.

After a short drive we arrived at the parking area and the beginning of the LaChua Trail - a 3-mile loop into the prairie. As we headed through the trees at the entrance, it looked like we were in an apple orchard - but the bright red apples were Northern Cardinals.

I saw no birds when I passed this marshy area, but again, our eagle-eyed teacher pointed out an American Bittern in the reeds.

I was thrilled to see it step out in the open so I was able to get quite a few decent pictures.

The stripes on its neck are his camouflage as he "hides" in the reeds by standing still with his head pointed to the sky.

Overhead, we saw more Sandhill Cranes. While I was distracted photographing some of the shore birds, Bill said he saw a couple of Whooping Cranes fly over. I said, yea, right, sure you did.

The Sandhill Cranes landed in another marshy area beyond the viewing area. We could see lots and lots of cranes - including...

Whooping Cranes!!

These beautiful birds stand almost a foot taller than their Sandhill Crane cousins.

Both of the birds were banded identifying them as either part of the resident population or migrants. As of Sept. 2010, there were 25 non-migratory and 119 migratory Whooping Cranes in Florida during the winter. What a trill to see two of the just over 400 birds currently in the wild.

There were lots of other eye treats as we walked the trail. The sun was shinning and the day warmed nicely. This Eastern Phoebe was also enjoying the sun.

I saw a bird hovering in the air and assumed it was a Belted Kingfisher as I've seen them hover over water before diving straight down to catch a fish - but Norm, our teacher, correctly identified it as an American Kestrel.

The area we were hiking has an interesting history. Before 1892, the area was covered with water. The huge Alachua Lake was was a tourist attraction and supported a thriving steamboat business. One day the entire lake just disappeared - into a giant sink hole. Today, water still flows into the hole and the lake has been replaced with over 16,000 acres of freshwater marsh and wet prairie. There are over 270 species of birds (including this cute Cattle Egret) bison, cracker horses and cattle, alligators and hundreds of Sandhill Cranes. The preserve includes the Prairie and some of the surrounding uplands for a total of nearly 22,000 acres.

Yes, I said bison! These young Plains Bison walked right in front of us - down the trail.

and wild horses! Horses were introduced to Florida in the mid-1500's to heard cattle.

So nice to see the shore birds! Along with this White Ibis, we saw several Glossy Ibis, the ever-present Coots, Anhinga, Little Blue Heron, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Common Moorhen, Tricolored Heron and Pied-billed Grebe. Someone said they saw a Wood Duck - but I missed it.

This Great Blue Heron was entertaining as he tried to figure out just how he was going to eat the huge fish he caught.

There were lots of hawks. This apparently is a young Red-Shouldered Hawk.

More Cattle Egret. I usually can't get close enough - or they refuse to stand still - for decent images.

This Tricolored Heron was intent on his mission to catch a fish (or two, or three) for breakfast.

I'm not sure what kind of turtle this is. He wasn't very big - maybe 6 inches across.

This is the kind of wet swampy area where I hoped to see a Purple Gallinule, but found Ibis and Moorhens instead.

...and Alligators! There were hundreds of American Alligators lining the banks - more and more as the day warmed.

Back at the entrance to the trail, several small birds played in the trees including this Black-and-white Warbler.

I also saw this bird, which I thought was a Northern Parula - or maybe a Magnolia Warbler or Blue-headed Vireo. I'm waiting for verification from our resident expert, Norm. (Norm has confirmed that my mystery bird is a Blue-headed Vireo.)

This car was in front of us as we caravaned to the next stop.

Next stop was the University of Florida's beef farm where a large flock of Sandhill Cranes joined the cattle. It looks like they are captive - but they are not.

We had already seen hundreds of Sandhill Cranes back at Paynes Prairie. The reason for our visit was the small white goose in with the much larger cranes - a Ross' Goose and another life bird.

My pictures aren't very good - and those of you that are regular readers know I hate having ugly man-made structures like this barbed-wire fence in my pictures - but that's what I had to work with and for a bird that is rarely seen in this neck of the woods, I'll make an exception!

After a wonderful morning of birding - and a total of 51 different species, we gathered at the 43rd Street Deli for lunch and friendship. Bill and I really enjoyed the company of this "Unique" group of bird enthusiasts and will definitely join them on more field trips in the future.