Birding with Beth: Venetian Gardens

Beth wanted to see a Purple Gallinule so we were off to Leesburg, Fl. Sightings are guaranteed at the 64-acre Venetian Gardens park on the west shore of Lake Harris.

Purple Gallinules are large chicken-like birds with beautiful blue and purple feathers and a striking red, yellow and light blue bill. They have HUGE feet that allow them to walk on top of lake & pond vegetation.

 They look similar to Coots (black with white bill) and Common Gallinules (black with red bill) but definitely take the beauty queen crown.

This is a juvenile and does not have the pretty bill yet.

Beth says she see so many yellow-rumped Warblers that she wasn't going to take any more pictures of them - but I did.

An Anhinga was drying his wings in the sunshine.

The ponds are beautiful BUT there is too much litter especially by the bridges where people fish.

And, I hate to see people feed the birds. I know they mean well...

...but it's just not right seeing White Ibis beg for scraps!

Totally Random Leftovers

Sitting here this morning editing my disk, I found several pictures that I wanted to share.

Just pretty flowers. I took this picture on one of our trips to Rainbow Springs State Park. Finding this picture reminded me that we wanted to take Beth there during her visit. Since today is her last day here, maybe we'll head over to the park this afternoon.

This was also taken at Rainbow Springs. I was playing with my camera settings to make the water look silky.

This is one of my pictures from Cedar Key. I was looking for a better picture of the American Avocets - and discovered this one with an identifiable Marbled Godwit.

The other day we took Beth to Leesburg so she could see a Purple Gallinule - and that's where I took this picture of an Anhinga.

Both Beth and I took lots of pictures of the Purple Gallinules. They are one of my favorite Florida birds and a Life Bird for Beth.

There were even a couple of Canada Geese at the park. Beth got great shots of Coots, Moorhens and Purple Gallinules and will compare them on her blog at http://quilterb-bethsblog.blogspot.com/.

Caloosa Bird Club Trip & Naples Zoo

On Monday at o'dark thirty, I boarded a bus for a full day of birding with the members of the Caloosa Bird Club. They are a knowledgeable, experienced group - but made me feel right at home. Bill made sure I at least looked the part with a new Columbia shirt, comfortable criss-cross back strap for my "optics" (binoculars), birding hat, backpack and pants with lots of big pockets. I was set!

I sat with Nancy - who claimed to be a beginning birder as well - but I think she just told me that to make me feel better. She was delightful and I'm happy to make her a new friend!

Our first stop was the Green Cay Wetlands where I saw quite a few "life" birds (birds I had never seen before) like this Aramus guarauna (Limpkin - and yes, of course, I had to look that up in my new National Geographic "Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern North America.") He is a big bird - over 2 feet tall. They are not very common and he wasn't even in my little "Birds of Florida" book.

This time of year the birds are in full mating plumage and the colors are fabulous! This Tricolored Heron was showing off to the nearby female. Notice the blue on his bill.

Another shot showing his wings and feathers.

There were lots of Red-winged Blackbirds like this beautiful male with a bright red and yellow patch on his wings.

What I didn't know is that this is also a Red-winged Blackbird (non-breeding).

And so is this! This is the female and she looks completely different than the males.

There were several Purple Gallinules like this one who walked under the boardwalk we were on.

At one of the later stops, I thought I was looking at another Gallinule that was a little bigger than the rest - but the experienced birders told me it was a Purple Swamphen. The Swamphen is a bird from Europe that escaped from the Miami Zoo during one of the hurricanes and several are now living in the Everglade swamps.

Up close, the Glossy Ibis has beautiful colors this time of year. From a distance they just look black.

One of the club members had pictures of a Scarlet Ibis that he took on Fort Myers Beach - behind the Catholic Church and around the Matanza Bridge that crosses over to the island. It looks just like the regular Ibises we see - except it is bright red! I'll be looking out for him!

There were lots of marsh birds and ducks. This Common Moorhen is a noisy bird.

Looking very similar to the Moorhen is this American Coot - with a white bill.

Another life bird! This is a pair of Blue-winged Teals. We saw quite a few on our outing.

Purple Martins have adapted very nicely to man-made bird condo-miniums. I was fortunate to find one that was not sitting in the complex.

After our day of birding, we ate dinner at the historic Clewiston Inn by Lake Okeechobee. The food was mediocre but the company was excellent! I sat with my new friend Nancy and Vince - the most enthusiastic and experienced birder in the group. He lives to bird and was a most interesting dinner companion.

After a long day I was glad to see Bill waiting for me back at the starting point.

The next day - Saint Patrick's Day - we went down to the Naples Zoo. What a disappoint-ment! It's not a real zoo at all - more like a combination of a children's zoo and an amusement park or playground. They did have a nice pond with lots of alligators and the common Florida wading birds - which at this time of year have gorgeous colors. This pair of Blue Herons had just mated - which I have pictures of, but decided this is a family blog - so they are not posted.

Even the ugly, noisy Grackles are pretty in the sunlight.

I hope you can see the red patch on the lore (space between the eye and bill) of this lusty Snowy Egret.

Back at the Naples dock for a delicious seafood lunch, the Brown Pelicans were just hanging out waiting for the fishing boats to come in.

We ended our day at Mike and Mel's condo with a delicious corn beef and cabbage dinner - the traditional fare of the day.

Miami, Key West and the Everglades

We just returned from a fabulous three day trip on the East Coast of Florida with our friends, Mike and Mel.

On our first day we drove to Miami, walked on the beautiful sand of South Beach and had expensive Cuban food and exotic drinks at one of the sidewalk restaurants. The sites were great but the traffic was terrible.

After spending the night at Homestead Air Force Base, we drove south through the Keys.

We encountered this Ruddy Turnstone while walking on the beach at one of the State Parks along the way.

While walking the nature trail, two Magnificent Frigatebirds flew over. This one is an immature female with a white head and neck.

After arriving at Key West we ate Cheese-burgers in Paradise and drank the perfect Margaritas at Jimmy Buffets Margarita-ville Restaurant on Duval Street. This was number-one on Mel's list of must-do things - and it was a blast. I even bought a tee-shirt in the gift shop for the outrageous price of $36.

Mel enjoyed the sights (and margaritas) so much she joined the naked ladies and danced around the square!

These beautiful roosters freely roam the historic district. We heard them long before we saw them.

We ate a delicious seafood dinner at the Fish Tank on Marathon and drove back to the base for the night.

Early the next morning we headed to Everglades National Park.

My goal while driving through the Everglades was to see a Purple Gallinule. Our first stop in Everglades National Park was the Anhinga Trail where we walked a boardwalk through a sawgrass marsh and saw lots of alligators, turtles and the most beautiful birds - Herons, Anhingas, Egrets - and this Purple Gallinule!

He was spectacular! Just look at his huge feet! This helps him walk on plants like lily pads in the water.

I've never seen so many Green Herons in one place! We also saw quite a few Yellow and Black-crowned Night Herons - but I didn't get any good pictures.

The Great Egret is always beautiful - one of my favorite birds.

This is a Double-crested Cormorant. You can just barely see the double crests on his head. Look at the colors in his feathers! Usually, they just look plain black.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a Great Blue Heron sitting down!

I love this picture of the Great Blue Heron looking over the clear water and lily pads.

The trail was named for the Anhinga, shown here drying his wings.

In the trees we were able to see lots of nesting Anhingas. Look closely and you can see the adorable fluffy babies.

Further down the road we saw a rookery with hundreds of endangered Wood Storks. You could see the fluffy cotton ball babies with binoculars - but I couldn't get close enough for a good picture.

We also saw a Greater Flamingo fly overhead and lots of Roseate Spoonbills. This time of year the Spoonbills are a much brighter pink than earlier in the winter.

Black-necked Stilts have extremely long pink legs - way out of proportion to the rest of their body. We saw them as we walked around Eco Pond.

These, of course, are alligators. They are everywhere in the Everglades.

There are less than 1000 of the critically endangered American Crocodiles left in the United States and we were fortunate to see four in Flamingo at the southern most point of Everglades National Park. They look much different from the alligators - lighter in color with different textured hides. But the most difference is on the head and the way the jaws come together.

I can't wait to return to the Park. It was a priviledge to see!