Backyard Birding with Beth

 My sister Beth has been visiting for the past few days and we've had a wonderful time! She seemed to like our new lanai as she spent every free moment looking out the windows and taking pictures of the birds at our feeders. Check out her new lens!

The first day Beth was here a new bird showed up - a Yellow-throated Warbler.

And our resident Coyote not only showed up - he stood and posed while Beth clicked away.

The Yellow-throated Warbler made an appearance every day this week so we both got lots and lots of pictures.

He seemed to enjoy the suet best but did eat some of the sunflower seeds.

The Live Oak Tree that we planted a couple of years ago is finally big enough that the birds can find shelter there. I much prefer taking pictures of the birds in this natural setting. Our new visitor made a beautiful decoration nestled in the branches.

 Many of our other favorites showed up for Beth including a couple of Red-bellied Woodpeckers...

...and several Blue Jays. There were interesting color variations with both birds.

We had lots and lots and lots of Pine Warblers, Palm Warblers and Goldfinches and several Yellow-rumped Warblers. The sparrows were represented by both Chipping and Savannah varieties. The Bluebirds were especially beautiful. Other varieties include Killdeer, hawks and doves. Watch Beth's blog because she took thousands of pictures and I'm sure she will present some that compare and contrast each and every one!!

Unique Birders

Today the On Top Of the World (OTOW) Unique Birders had their first field trip of the season. A dozen birders met at the nearby Shalom Park at 8:30 this morning. The weather was cool, but the sun was shinning and the skies were bright blue. Anne Merrick lead the trip down and around the various garden paths that criss-cross the well-manicured grounds.

It was difficult getting our resident birding expert Norm Lentz (far right) to put down his binoculars long enough to take this group shot.

This is the underside of a Yellow-throated Warbler. It's a lousy picture - but it sure shows how this small bird got his colorful name!

Action shot! We watched this Eastern Phoebe for quite a while while he scooted around looking for insects on a dead limb. According to Donald and Lillian Stokes' Field Guide to Birds, "25% or more of phoebe nests are parasitized by cowbirds."

Another shot of the Eastern Phoebe sitting high and mighty.

I believe this is a Palm Warbler. Norm adds "This [Palm Warbler] is a good, crisp representation of the Western (Brown) variant in non-breeding plumage. The Eastern variant is yellow in all plumages. Both are common in Florida during the winter (non-breeding) season."

He was shopping in the moss and it looks like he has some stuck on his beak.

This looks like a Northern Parula - but that wasn't on our list, so it probably isn't. * Norm confirms my identification and Northern Parula Warbler has been added to our list.



I love the adorable Tuffted Titmice.

It was difficult getting a good shot of this Red-bellied Woodpecker with the sun in the background.

The State Bird of Florida, the Northern Mockingbird. We saw quite a few on our walk. This one was enjoying the beautiful bright purple berries on the Beautyberry bush.

I thought I was going to have to crawl under the bushes to get a decent shot of this Brown Thrasher. He was hunting in the leaves for a meal of insects, lizards, snakes, or berries.

The Eastern Bluebirds are not as blue this time of the year as they are in the Spring - but they are still beautiful. We have lots of them in our backyard.

After our walk we went to the Oasis Restaurant for brunch, and compiled our list of the 25 birds seen on our walk. Nice outing! Thanks everyone!

Six Mile Cypress Slough and a New Life Bird

One of our favorite walks here in Fort Myers is the boardwalk around Six Mile Cypress Slough. It warmed up enough in the afternoon one day last week that we decided an outing was in order. Bill got the sighting and pictures of the day and the next five shots are his.

Just look at this gorgeous bird! It is a Yellow-throated Warbler and neither Bill nor I had ever seen one before.



Bill takes a more artistic approach to his pictures.

And he likes to try and photograph birds in flight. This is a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and I think the bird just decided to fly before Bill got the shot.

We see lots of birds at the entrance to the boardwalk. That's where Bill took this picture of a Blue Jay. Don't you agree that Bill needs his own blog?

The Hooded Mergansers are back on the smaller lake. The day was bright and the reflections on the lake played havoc with my pictures.

Since these birds are not sporting adult plumages, I can't tell the males from females. I suspect these are juvenile males and their bouffant head dress will turn the dramatic black and white that we saw on the male hiding in the weeds. My "Waterfowl of Eastern North America" book says males have yellow eyes and the female's eyes are dark.

We watched several of the ducks dancing on the cold water - splashing and looking like they were having a great time. I don't know if the dancing was some kind of display or if they were just playing.

Ducks out of the water look entirely different than when they are swimming. It reminds me of all our friends at the pool that we get to know as "bobbing heads" but we can barely recognise them with clothes and bodies.







This black snake was beside the boardwalk. He wasn't moving so we are not sure he was alive - and we didn't stay around long enough to find out.

More reflections - this Little Blue Heron looks like he is checking his feathers, making sure they are in place.

It's odd to see two different species together like this Ibis and Yellow-crowned Night Heron. The heron actually climbed further up into the tree and sat next to the Ibis while we watched.

This grumpy old man is a Black-crowned Night Heron. He was in his usual position on the side of the lake.