Cyndee Haydon just wrote a great post Who left that Fowl Trail? about our wonderful "Birding Trails" here in Florida.
I thought I would follow up on her blog with some photo's I've taken of some of the beautiful birds that you might see when you come to Florida.
Our Century 21 Sundance Daytona office is located just outside the gated golf community of Pelican Bay, which is home to several different species of birds (but no pelicans).
I often take my camera outside when I take a break and go feed the fish and turtles.
This is a pair of Sandhill Cranes that appeared during Speed Week. People pulling into our parking lot would stop and stare at them because of their size & beautiful red heads.
They stand about 4 feet tall, with a average wing span of about 6 feet!
I took over 200 photos of them while they hung out in the field by our office. After a week of me following them with my camera they realized I wasn't a threat and got comfortable with me.
They are still around, I saw them a couple weeks ago and wouldn't be surprised if they have little ones somewhere close by.
This Great Blue Heron and I became friends when she saw how close the fish came to me and how easy it was for her to get a meal.
She lives in the top of a very tall tree near some homes off the golf course, but my camera's zoom isn't powerful enough to catch her on her nest. I'm saying "she" as she is still in that tree and has not come for a meal in two weeks which makes me think she is taking care of some youngsters right now.
She doesn't mind close-ups either. She usually comes within 2 feet of me while stalking her prey.
Recently this Red Winged Blackbird and his mate have made their home in a tree right next to where I feed the fish. He has the prettiest song, I love to hear him sing.
His mate is now nesting, the nest is about 5.5 feet up, I've not tried to get a photo of it yet as it has been real windy this last week.
The male knows when I come out I have goodies for them and is beginning to get to know and trust me. If he is not in "his" tree when I come outside, it's a safe bet he'll be there pretty quick.
He really defends that tree & his lady against the other birds no matter how much bigger they are then he is. I've seen the feathers fly between him and the blackbirds like in this photo to the right.
This is a nesting Brown Thrasher. Her and her mate showed up last month running around on the ground outside my office window.
The last 2 or 3 days I noticed one of them running back & forth from one side of my window to the other so I started to look for a nest in the bushes, those birds really blend in, I couldn't find it.
Last evening I watched the male run by the door into the bushes and followed him (with my eyes) through the bushes to the hidden nest where his lady sat patiently waiting.
Once I saw where she was I realized I can see her from my desk! The male gave her some food and she in turn bent her head down into the nest, I could barely see her feeding a baby. I did go out and snap some quick close ups, but didn't stick around long.
Back inside I did take pictures of the male bringing food to her, but they didn't come out very clear. I'll keep trying from inside through the window as I don't want to disturb them anymore then I already have, if I spend too much time by the nest I may draw an unwanted visitor like this fella... I believe this is a Coopers Hawk.
Last year I found the nest pictured below with baby Mockingbirds.
The nest wasn't hidden as well as it should have been I guess & from where the hawk (pictured above) sits I think he could see it too.
I came to work one day, the baby's were gone. One was spotted in the parking lot that morning, I searched for it but never found it.
It was heartbreaking for both me & the parents, they called and called for the babies. I don't know if the hawk, snake or human got to the nest. All I know is the babies disappeared.
I hope the baby's in the other two nests I discovered make it. I'll be doing the best I can to watch out for them.
I've never seen a bird go from baby to adult before and am looking forward to being able to watch this part of nature unfold.
I have many more photos of Florida Birds. I'll hopefully share them with you more over the summer. Be prepared for lots of pelicans! They love to pose for the camera!
Cyndee posted some great links on Who left that Fowl Trail? another one I like and have been using a lot is whatbird.com. There is a great search feature there to use if you don't know what kind of bird you have seen. It's a lot easier to have a photo of the bird, many birds look alike!
There is also All About Birds which has tons of references on birds from Cornell Lab of Ornithology and finally Myflorida.com has almost everything you ever wanted to know about Florida and didn't know where to go to ask.
Happy Birding!
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GREAT PICTURES!!! Thanks for sharing them with us.