Edge of the Season

 The Madtom Mad-dash gave me mixed results. I found fish, catfish, and I suspect at least one Madtom, but nothing conclusive. I discovered a lot about looking for fish under water, and have a plan for next time. Should be fun. 

Bird wise, we're on the verge of migration. All the Northern Parulas are grown, the White-eyed vireos are looking better than in July, and there are recent eBird reports of Louisiana Waterthrush in peninsular FL.

Time to go birding around Saddle Creek.

First, I debated with myself about whether I wanted to chase a reported Gray kingbird at the Cox road Kingbird roost. The observer reporting the sighting knows birds, so I trusted the observation. Gray kingbirds in Polk county though don't tend to hang out. The scattered reports over the years tend to be one and done, but at least in similar areas. This isn't the first report of the bird in this area, not even for this year. I decided to stay closer to home, in part so that I could be handy to the family when they woke up. Plus, it's August now, time to start looking for migrant birds!  With visions of waterthrushes dancing in my head, I set out. 

Here's a map of the area around Saddle Creek Park, the blue dot at the top is the eBird official hotspot location for the park. the red X and line are where I park and approximately where i walk when going down the saddle creek park trail. I often bird from the car, or close to the car along the yellow line. I log it under a separate location, that I call "Saddle Creek Entrance And Road To Park" . I started my list with a Least bittern. The bird was flying around a group of cattails. I added several other usual suspects on the way to the entrance, nothing too terribly rare. Some birds were uncommon to me though, in this location, notably, a group of 7 chimney swifts. I also found an eastern bluebird and Barn swallows flying around on the way up the road. 

Another reason why I chose Saddle creek was because I wanted to see roosting Swallow-tailed kites. Despite being there about 10 minutes after sunrise, I didn't see any roosting kites, bummer! I did see some kites later down the trail though, a group of seven. They were probably just flying from a roost in the area, I just didn't know which dead tree hosted them last night. Right now Saddle Creek has a lot of dead trees.

After parking and applying insect repellent, I began trekking along the trail, hearing birds like Carolina Wrens, Northern cardinals, a couple of Tufted titmice, and what's that? a vireo? What! not a white-eyed for sure.

I couldn't tell if that particular bird was a Red-eyed or yellow-throated. I suspect Red-eyed based on one I saw later, but after trying to draw it out, i continued on. There were a few other people on the trail that morning, walking dogs. Not a lot of birds. Mostly just fledge Northern Parulas, a few post-breeding Blue-gray gnatcatchers. Bird of the day was a Yellow-billed cuckoo, calling and then spotted some distance across one of the lakes.

Fortunately I managed to see some good butterflies and moths, and even got some good pictures of this Polyphemus moth:

Reports are picking back up now though, it won't be long before migrating birds make me twitch!

Madtom Catfish and Citizen Science

 Do I blog enough to detail some non-birding topics I think birders might like to hear about?

Of course! this is my blog, and I'm interested in it's content :D

Let's talk catfish.

not the online type, where one person attempts to persuade you that they are 21, and love you for your personality not your money, but could you please send 300 bitcoin.

This is about Catfish catfish, only real tiny ones.

Genus: Noturus. Known as "Madtoms" or sometimes "willowcats". These are a group of small, usually not more than about 3.5 inches long catfish.

I'm going to search for them in the Ichetucknee river. One species has been reported at Ichetucknee Spings, but nothing from the river itself. I want to change that by finding at least one of two possibilities:

1. The Speckled Madtom (Noturus leptacanthus)  This one has been reported in 2026 in the Santa fe, upstream from the Ichetucknee confluence.

2. The Tadpole Madtom (Noturus gyrinus) This was reported in Ichetucknee springs, back in 2023, looks like the guy holding it was a diver. If i can i may revisit the springs, and snorkel around the edges.

There are things working against me. There's weather possibilities, low water conditions, and the water may be moving too fast.

Won't know until i Try though, and i'm determined. 

Snorkel and GoPro are ready for the MadDash to see MadToms!

I'll see birds too....

In the meantime, check out this cool documentary about some common species of Madtoms:

Top Ten of Infamy

 Let's talk top ten, in this case, the top ten birds I need for my US life list.

According to eBird, I've seen 272 unique species in the area they define as the "United States".

I decided to check my top ten list to see if there's any that I have a hope of seeing in Polk County, FL where I live.

#1 is a species of Hummingbird in the west.

lol.

Almost all the birds in the top ten are not likely to be seen where I am. I highlighted number 13, "Rose Breasted Grosbeak" because there will likely be at least 1 report this spring of this bird here. They do migrate through in very small numbers. There's a March 2020 report of Red-breasted nuthatch, and a January report of Golden-crowned kinglet from 2025. I remember that because it was a "one and done" type report from Circle B Bar reserve, and I had just been there. There's a couple of birds missing from Polk county altogether that kind of surprised me given where else in the state they've been spotted. The number 9 bird on my list, Brown creeper, is one of them. I've seen that one in Louisiana, but only as a kid. My parents have an oak tree in their front yard, and one morning I watched it from my bedroom room window spiral it's way around the tree, probing for bugs in bark. The most recent sightings in 2020 came from the east side of the state, and the closest sightings to me occured in 2008. 

At some point in time I'm sure it will appear on my state list at least. the other bird that's missing from Polk's list that I need on my "US" list is Common Merganser. That bird could be out there right now. I need to study the habits of this fishing duck to determine a good place to anticipate them.

I can dream. 

I can also focus on nailing some birds I still need for Polk County:

These are the top 10 (13) I need for Polk county, FL. Some of these birds I've seen already, even in this state, like Northern Pintail.

First of all, I doubt every Monk parakeet sighting reported in Polk. We have Nanday parakeets here for sure, and i've seen them many times. Usually right where Monk parakeets are also reported. I circled the red-cockaded woodpecker because I can go see that year round, but it will require a trip out to specialized habitat. The green highlighted whip-poor-will is another bird that requires a trip to the boonies to see, but there's not as much hassle seeing/hearing them. There's a chance i can see them before they migrate back north too.

American herring gull is blue because chasing this bird has made me blue.  I've chased reports of this bird for at least 6 years. I've also put myself in the areas I would expect them when there haven't been reports. Chasing this bird has been frustrating. It's also been rewarding in other ways, usually in tern and/or duck species. The fact that Bonapartes gull made it to my eBird list before Herring gull is hilarious to me. This has the ubiquitous distinction of being the only bird on my Polk list that I've seen in Polk county, but not since starting  my eBirding list in 2014. 

I highlighted the American Pipit in Yellow because I'm cautious about reports for this bird. I've chased them out at the sod fields in winter, and come up empty handed, but I did see many palm warblers. It's possible I've misidentified some pipits as Palmies, but I just don't know. I need to see a group so I can judge for sure.

Spring migration is here/around the corner. Resident mockingbirds and thrashers have already hatched a brood of chicks, Carolina wrens too. I even saw a freshly fledged mourning dove last week.

Time to get into the field and see some birds.

First of Season

 Every year, as a birder, you look forward to your "First of Season" sightings. Usually. Sometimes you see those birds that you know mean that migration is closing down, and soon it will be the same ol' same ol'. I'm rethinking my thinking on this subject tonight, mainly because I know how I'll feel about the birds I saw today in January. 

The specific bird I saw today, that harbinger of doom and end of the migratory period (although none of that means anything because there will be many birds that don't arrive until well into December) is in many ways my best friend during the winter. Small, drab and bouncy, the only herald it wears of color is in a yellow vent, a truly "butter butt" but that's not the name of this bird. I call them "Pam Wobblers", you call them "Palm Warblers", but "Setophaga palmarum" usually heralds the end of migration. Today I saw five. Surely that means the migratory end is near. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. I'm glad to see them. They're a reliable indicator that ornithological life exists outside of Limpkins, Gallinules, and large waders during the mild Florida winter. They're loveable little brown jobs, who arrive and stay when everything else is just passing through. They fight the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers in a complicated dance. They are the good guys, twitchin' tails and taking names. I recently reviewed a list of the birds i saw in mid October at the local warbler trap. My buddy Chris and I saw 17 species of warblers that day, including 16 (at least) individual palm warblers. 

what a crazy day.

Truth is, once the palmies come, I begin looking for sparrows and weird warblers, like Wilson's, and Orange-crowned. These birds come through occasionally, sometimes staying the whole winter too.

The palmies in the background don't care, their chip making my day as the temps mellow out, sometimes dipping below 60F. 

Then, they get new feathers and move on..

I suppose there's a lesson in that somewhere.

#BRDNLKND Presents Lake Hollingsworth

This is me, hoofin' it along the south shore of Lake Hollingsworth.

I will probably be doing more of these videos soon.

Controversial Hot Take: RE: Playback

 Here's my take on playback:

There's two types of people in the world.

1. People who think they know when to use playback.

2. People who actually know when to use playback.

There you go!

Lunchtime Birding Around the Neighborhood

Had a little adventure today on my lunch break.

Lakeside Birding

I live in Central FL, and there are numerous lakes around me. It's even reflected in the name of the city where I live: Lakeland. We don't even have the most I think. BUT: we do have some top quality places to go birding in the city limits.

Recently, I've been on an eBird kick where I bird the various lakes in the area. The goal is to fill in as many "grey spots" on my eBird bar chart. I've rounded out several of the "Lakes" and am actively working on a couple more. My favorite part about this is in the fall when I can get several warbler species around the lakes. I look for the oak trees, and the trees closest to the water. That seems to be my best winning strategy. Strange duck season is also interesting! Recently, we had a very interesting looking duck that may have been a Lesser Scaup X Tufted duck hybrid, or was at least a crazy looking Lesser Scaup.

Here's an aerial photograph showing Lake Morton, and some of the places that I have found are highlight places where I find different birds. In this map i was illustrating a route that I took on my lunch break (the blue line). The green circles are some places where I found some great birds at that time, including warblers that hadn't been seen there before. The orange circles are also places I've noticed other warblers/neotropical migrants.

When you bird here, check out Lake Morton, give it an hour. It can surprise you. Also, I'm working on a couple videos that will cover what's going on at the spots around the Lakes of Lakeland.

Future lakes I will be covering in videos and in Posts:

Lake Mirror, 

Lake Wire,

Lake Beulah,

Lake Hunter,

Lake Parker,

Lake Hollingsworth.

All these lakes are in Lakeland, and worth their own visit. I'm still learning how to bird them, so it will be neat to follow along my befuddlement.

You should at least get a laugh!

Dawg Daze

It's that time of year. 

I'm outside and at first light the only bird I hear is some neighbor's chicken. It's the time of year where all the birds pause,  molt and fatten up for migration. 

I guess that's what's happening. 

-oooo-

A Red-shouldered Hawk just called. 

And there's a cardinal!

Finally,  signs of bird life. 

The other morning,  a mixed flock of small birds delighted me,  so migration is coming. 

I need to go find a Louisiana waterthrush. 

Some birds are still breeding. I found nests for the local "Poule d'eau", Common gallinule, and Purple gallinule.

there's two eggs on this little gallinule nest. 

Two eggs in this Mourning dove nest,  the 4th brood in this parking garage this season that i know about. The Carolina wrens are showing off another brood of recently fledged young. 

Fall is almost here,  so I remember the world changes. 

Lifer Pie

Willet!

this is a Willet, and while, yeah, it's a cool pic, it's not a life bird, I've seen many.

 I'm a little excited right now because I got to enjoy a slice of Lifer Pie! 

    Lifer Pie is a tradition among some birders. Once you see a new species of bird for your life list, you get to eat a piece of pie! I saw two new species today, and a third new species for eBird. One, Bonaparte's gull, is a bird that has eluded me for a long time. I've been places to see it, and it didn't show. I've chased it in my current county of residence (Polk , FL) at least 10 times, and haven't seen it. Today was my lucky day! My first look was a diagnostic one, where you know what you're seeing, but it's short. While it whets your appetite, it doesn't assuage the hunger! I kept my eyes peeled, and soon spotted a group of Bonaparte's out over the water. Mesmerized by the beautiful dancing they did over the water, I completely forgot to record it using my scope and phone. Fortunately, they were kind of hanging around, so I was able to get some video of a couple, and took a screenshot.

Bonaparte's gull scampering across the water.

I couldn't believe my good fortune, it took entirely too long to see this bird!

Somewhere between groups of mobbing Laughing gulls, and the Bonaparte's, a couple of Herring gulls flew by. One was still a brown juvie, the other a winter adult with some streaking around it's head, but a red spot on its bill. I didn't manage to get any pictures of them.

The something MEGA happened. Over the waves, something very light appeared, an aberrant gull. Nothing should be that light! Probably a leucistic Herring... wait. There's other gulls than that. watch it, no record it! I quickly attached my camera phone to my binocular lens. Earlier in the day, I discovered that i could attach my phone to my binocular with my digi-scoping adapter and still use the other side of the binoculars as a sort of aiming spotting scope. I had just used my camera to take a wide angle shot of my family, and couldn't tell if the shot was 100% in frame. I decided to trust the previous setting, and hit record. In all, I got around a 30 second video that was not the best recording, but did show all the markers I needed to confirm my suspicions, this was a Glaucous gull! Not a bad bird for a family trip to the beach.

Poor screenshot picture of a Glaucous gull.

I shot some more pictures of various birds around the area, practicing this new way of "digi-scoping". I think I'll use this method more, especially when hauling around a scope doesn't make sense.

Finally, there is the matter of Lifer Pie!

Lifer pie can be any Pie. In my rules, it's best when you can share with friends, but you can have it yourself. It should also be local made, unless the need for alternative eating strategies outweighs that. Then, you may sub out a hand-held pie, or McD's apple pie!

This time, we went as a family to get Keegan's for a late post lunch. They have excellent specials and great desserts, including the best key lime pie. Just feast your eyes on the pie below!

Best kind of day for lifer pie ever!

Come and Get it!

Memento Mouri

I have to warn you, I get mildly philosophic in this post. There is biking, there is birding, but there is also  call to action, to be aware of what's going on in the world around you.

Part of my Worldview states: "Everything is connected". Every moment I experience can teach me something that can profoundly impact me later.
One such moment came recently in my preparation for a trip out west to see Yellowstone. Driving the car to the service station, I saw a bird dart in front of me. In the time it took to think "Oh NO!", the bird bounced up from my grill, over my grill, across the roof, and onto the road behind me.

Dead.

I killed  bird with my car. I saw enough black and white and red to know that it was a red-bellied woodpecker. I've watched this species in all aspects of its lifecycle. I've seen them excavate cavities for nesting, feed their young in their homes, bring them to feeders, exist around the neighborhood, and now, I've seen one die. I continued to the auto service place, and dropped my vehicle off to be serviced. Because servicing would take a while, I brought my bicycle to ride home. I rode by the place where I hit the bird, and took this picture.

Memento Mouri

It had already been hit at least once since I killed it. Later that day it had been obliterated to the point where there was nothing left but a stray feather hanging onto the gutter. Waiting for a strong wind.

Memento Mouri.

I regret playing a part in the bird's final moments. I do not seek to take life unintentionally. We live in a world where such accidental destruction takes place and is quickly swept up and forgotten, tossed aside in the name of Progress, Convenience, or Survival. Yet, because I was there, I can remember, I am as much flesh as this bird is flesh, as are we all.

It's a Major Award!

I won, I won, I won!
It's not Italian.
It's Japanese!
It's binoculars!
AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I won!
Bird Watcher's Digest is a great magazine that I've subscribed to for a very long time. It started when a lady from church gave me three years worth of issues, I think they were for 1985, 1986, 1987. Somewhere in that mid 80s range. I read and re-read each issue six times at least. Finally, I got a subscription as a gift, and have usually maintained it. One thing that the magazine does every couple of months is have a give-a-way, usually from a company that sponsors the magazine in some way.
Opticron is one such company. They make a variety of binoculars from beginner to advanced. The give-a-way they most recently had was for a pair of Savanna-R 8x33 binoculars.

Let's see what's in the Box!

Nice! Real Binoculars.

Highly portable, perfectly sized.

I've been using them since March 20th. Here's my quick take on them:
Pros:

• Weight to quality is amazing. Pretty light!
• These retail from around 140 - 160. Great price for the quality.
• Incredibly sharp image for binoculars this price. These produce the clearest image of any binocular I've ever owned.

Cons:

• 8 x 33. I'm a big fan of bins where the Objective lens is 5xs the magnification. Granted, lens coating have come a long way since I first started buying binoculars on my own, and these have the brightest, truest color image of any binocular I've owned, I can't help but wonder, how much better would an 8 x 40 be?
• No locking eyecup position. I'm constantly having to make sure they are adjusted correctly.
• Diopter adjustment is weird. Every pair of Binoculars has had an easily adjustable diopter on the right lens. I've always been near the limit on the + side. with these, I'm not, I'm close to the middle, but on the negative side. I'm sure that's just how the diopter is calibrated, but I've also noticed that the adjustment is really stiff. That's good in some ways because it means it will hold true, bad because it's hard to dial in. I won't be loaning these out for sure.

These things are a perfect example of why it's important to try before you buy. I've only ever seen this brand and model online, and nothing said really suggested that these things are must haves. It  took a chance drawing to put them in my hand. I'm so thankful to have them! They've become my first choice for binoculars to carry when I go birding, and until I get a pair of 10x50s, they will remain so.

Here's the takaway:

1. Bird Watcher's Digest is a great magazine, if you are a birder in North America, and you don't subscribe to it, you really should. They give great reviews, interesting species profiles, and all the latest environmental and birding culturally relevant news. In addition to that, their give-a-ways are legit, I know because I won!

2. My days of being a porro-prism guy are over. Technology has advanced, and these roof prisms are just too comfortable to hold and use. I love my Bushnell Waterproof 8x40s, but they are old in every since of the word. Old design, old prisms, old coating tech, and just plain old. 

3. The Opticron Savanna-R 8x33 binocular may be the perfect intro-to-birding binocular that a young birder could get. It's perfectly sized for smaller hands. It's not crazy expensive, I've seen some specials as low as $120. 

I hope you give Opticron a chance. The Lebron James of Birding Optics Ben Lizdas recommends having a compact binocular for quick trips. These are better than adequate for that task. There's also several models to choose from at Redstart Birding.

Q1 in Review, Spring is Here, The Rest of the Year at a Glance

****NOTE:
all four letter codes should conform to the latest ABA list located here:
http://listing.aba.org/aba-checklist/
****

January!
The Year List resets, everything you see is new on a macro enough level to notice.
I started this year thinking about the first time I saw many of the birds I saw last year. In 2018 I ramped up my birding activity, getting eBird lists submitted every month, closing out some gray bars on some of favorite local places. I even did a sort of Big Day on my birthday!
I've already told a little bit about my adventures on New Year's day. I did have other sightings though, including some really good birds around Lake Morton.

A nemesis bird from last year was Green-winged Teal, One had been spotted on Lake Morton late in December, and a birding buddy said he thinks it's the same female that's been there over the last three years. On New Year's eve I went and tried to find it. No Joy. I did find other birds, but the GWTE was not one of them.
That changed New Year's Day! I found her hanging out on the southwestern side of the lake, looking all tiny in a group of domesticated "muddled ducks". Further around the lake, I found a couple of Blue-winged Teal, which was nice too. Those were the highlight birds of the day, but Q1 has given me many species at Lake Morton. American White Pelicans and Double-crested cormorants abundantly filled the lake in crazy numbers throughout the winter, especially for the DCCO. Immature AWPE persists so far this year. While fewer in number (usually between 3 and 9), they are on the west/northwest side of the lake, along the wall bordering the lake. Sometimes I see them on the east edge too. Some water birds have been conspicuously absent from the lake this winter, notably Northern Shoveler, and the BWTE have been sparse. Also, no Gadwalls near me. I've made up for it in Passerines though, adding Blue-headed vireo to the Lake Morton list, as well as spotting several in other places around town. One songbird I've noticed an uptick in observances (especially on my part) has been House finch. I've noticed a flock of 6+ birds running around downtown, and it seems to have broken up into pairs. I hear males singing almost daily, and several have been hanging around females, gathering bits of spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) for what seems to me to be nesting purposes.
Another goal I've had, especially since receiving a spotting scope from my parents for my birthday, is to find something besides a Laughing or Ring-billed gull on Lake Morton. Other reported gulls include Herring and Bonaparte's. So far, no dice. I've seen HERG at Lake Hollingsworth, but I've never seen a BOGU, not even at the beach.The search continues.
Migration is heating up locally. A Summer tanager, and pair of male Indigo buntings appeared on a recent morning foray to Holloway Park. Reports from Ft De Soto are amazing too. Check out the picture of the Chestnut-sided warbler Polk county Local Roberta Blair took on 4/16: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S55061821 
Another one of Polk Counties finest birders (and nature photographer) Ed Rizer also had some great pictures, but you have to go to facebook and find them.
I hope to hit the local patches again this weekend, we shall see.
I leave you with the following two photographs, both are of the same nest of Brown thrashers in my yard. I feel honored that this family is being raised here. There was a bit of a scare Tuesday with a Cooper's hawk, and there's the constant threat of neighborhood cats, but I hope these birds make it! Just look at how fast they grow!

April 15th

April 13th

New Year's Day, with a Royal Touch

What a great start to the year! Even though I went to work, I think I managed to get 46 species so far. I might go outside and see if I can scare up the barred owl that lives behind the house. I'll detail more about that later, first I need to be a little sober and serious. Not all has been well, I did get involved in some shenanigans.

I got out of work a couple hours early, and with wifely blessings went to a local lake where I know Herring Gull has been reported. it's also the sort of place where you can reliable see Caspian and Royal terns. The first Royal tern for this year for me was an injured bird, and this is where the shenanigans begin.

Here it is!

As Seen through my Binoculars

 Poor thing was just laying there on the ground, so I reached out to a local animal rehabilitator and over all cool lady. Despite being out on a call (injured Sandhill Crane in Davenport), she told me to bring the bird by her house where her husband left me a box to put the bird. I dropped it off and eagerly awaited the news for the extent/ cause of injury.

Poor thing has a broken shoulder joint that can't be repaired, so it will be euthanized in the morning at a local vet. These sort of injuries are common with the species and can be caused by hitting something, like a car or another bird.

There was at least one other Royal tern at Lake Parker today, and I saw a Caspian, but this one is a little special you know. I got to hold it, care for it, do it a little good before it returns to the dust from which it came. I'm glad I was there, and it's not feeding a feral cat.

Good Bye Friend

UPDATE:
The bird passed away in the night, asleep, warm and as comfortable as we could make it.

Ready, Retooled, Renewed

An Update
The ol' steed got an upgrade, new spokes,  new tubes, and a tune up.

Even better,  I got some birding accessories.
The Scope on the bicycle handlebars is a Roxant, 12-36 X 50, and came to me as a Christmas present from my parents with an attachment that will allow me to take pictures through the scope with my cellphone. Both are available on Amazon, and are relatively inexpensive. The clamp came as an after accessory from my Dad. Quality wise, the setup works for what it is. There's some chromatic issues with the image, but I've seen worse out of more expensive glass. With it, I checked out some little brown jobs that turned out to be some lifer sparrows (Vesper to be exact), so it's pretty much the best Christmas present ever. Now I have a reason to check out some of the ducks on Agricola Rd here in polk county. Terns on buoys at Lake Hollingsworth are no longer a mystery. I took the picture above on a Sunday morning excursion to see the terns. I scoped a couple of Forster's and some Royal's. Didn't get to all the buoys either, will have to work harder next time. Excitement builds as I continue to bird. There's big things planned for next year, and it will take a lot of work to make them all happen.
The Lowdown
I'm ready for next year, it's tomorrow after all. I'm ready to see new birds, and some of the regulars as well. I'm also ready to go new places, more to say about that later.
I'm retooled with necessary gear. It's hard to bird without optics, and this new scope will do the trick for helping me see new things, and document them as well. I also hope to retool and review what I'm using as well.
I'm renewed in my purpose for birding. The world has so many wonderful things to see and understand. I want to share them with my kids, who will add their own perspective, and find their own purpose for enjoying creation, and all the lessons it's here to teach us. I want to share what I'm learning, that there is beauty in odd places. There's so much here to see and do!

Come with me to the future!
Let's go see some birds!

Incredible!

The birding has been good in August, September, and October so far in Polk county and other places I've been.
Highlights:
We went to a wedding the weekend of August 24th to St Augustine. I woke up early every day and went birding. I saw wave upon wave of Little Blue Herons one morning, and had a generally good time Birding in St Johns County for the first time since starting eBird, indeed, since my college days.
I made my first trip out to the Avon Park Cut Off Rd Sod Fields. There I saw many righteous shorebirds, including a group of White-rumped Sandpipers, and insane numbers of Least Sandpipers.
A trip this last Saturday (Oct 13th) yielded some good birds at Saddle Creek park, including a Yellow-bellied flycatcher I'm trying to confirm. That trip will be worth it's own post.
Also,
I'm going to do a big day on the 26th , and am starting a facebook page to track it.
It's an experiment.
Feel free to join me, either at a particular spot or for the whole trip. I'll be leaving early morning, and back to Lakeland by 5pm. Not sure where we will be visiting just yet. There's reports of a Double-toothed Kite in Hernando county though...

Summertime, the Birding is Not So Easy

It's summertime in Polk county. Lakeland is chock-full of Fish Crows and Grackles (Boat-tailed and Common), mostly recent fledgling birds. Some birds are still nesting. I've located a Blue Jay nest, but these are likely second or third efforts. I've seen at least two young Blue Jays in my backyard this month. There's also signs of nesting Mourning Doves in the parking garage at work. These mostly appear to be past efforts, but I'm keeping an eye out.
    Every bird I see now I'll likely see again. That's something that hit me the other day while birding. They're residents, they don't move much. They're old friends. The Red-bellied woodpecker that drums on my fascia, the Cooper's hawk flying around with a protesting group of Blue jays.
Northern Mockingbirds.
Ohhhhh, mista NOMO, give me NO MO' of that midnight singin'.
Cardinals.
It's time to pay attention to the details. Find the new birds, not the new species on the list, but the birds that didn't exist before this year, the REAL new birds. I've watched a family of cardinals in my yard raise at least two broods, this year, I'm actually catching the males go from drab to fab. It's an interesting process.
June is gone.
There's likely to be little activity this month. The birds will grow quieter. I might find another Mourning dove nest, I don't know. Today (7/9) I found a Brown Pelican on Lake Morton. That's about as exciting as I can expect right now, unless I manage to find a Yellow-crowned night heron.

I'll watch the littles grow, with gladness.
It's good to know the birds have a future.

Always Be Birding

Most lists I submit to eBird are of short trips I take walking around Downtown Lakeland, while running an errand. This time, I found a Great Egret hunting lizards. This video was 30 seconds after he gulped down a Brown Anole.

Fall Report

I've been birding more, not biking so much. I did take the time to train and run a 5k though. Still feeling some positive effects from that, but I'm getting that old restless urge to exercise more again.
I have, after all, finally turned forty.
It use to be, I was the young guy at all the Audubon Society meetings, now I'm the old guy.
Of course, I haven't been to an Audubon Society meeting in a long while either , so I could still be the young guy. I hope not though, conservation should be something we all care about regardless of age.

Bird notes:
I got my first sparrow at Holloway park!
Saw 3 Savannah Sparrows on the north side of the race course parking area on November 5th. There's a ditch that didn't get mowed with some tall standing weeds in it, and the birds were there. At first I reported them as grasshopper sparrows, but the breasts on all three birds were well streaked, and showing a spot in the middle. Plus the median crown stripe was thin, and not very light. Also, the birds were very brown, not buffy at all, except a little toward the lores. Sibley convinced me. I was really looking at Savannah sparrows.
I'm grateful for them now though, because I saw another one this last Saturday. If ebird is to be believed, Savannah is one of the more common sparrows at Holloway in the winter. Know what's always there, and you'll discover what's new when something new shows up!
The catbirds are back. On my birthday, my dad and I went out there, and we counted no less than 9, probably heard more too.
Lake Morton has returning ducks.
There's a growing number of Ring-necked ducks, and Lesser scaup. I've even managed to count a few Ruddy ducks! As the season progresses, I'll be paying close attention to this spot either after work, or during my lunch break.
Can't wait to find a Hooded merganser there!
My use of eBird is ever expanding, what a valuable tool! I'm doing my best to submit useful lists that detail information. I've expanded my personal list locations, and even started a yardlist to catch those birds that pass through here at the home base.
My wife and I are in talks about what to do for our wedding anniversary next year. Part of it may involve some travel out of state. I hope to be able to use this as an opportunity to open up more locations on my eBird life list.
We shall see!
Until then, the bike is going in the shop ASAP and getting road worthy, time to dust off the wheels, and take 'er fer a spin, keepin' the 'nocs out the spokes.

Planning the Birding

New Year, added focus.
Every year, I want to go birding more, and every year, I eek a little more out of birding, try different things, make it more productive I think. I really like eBird, and last year I expanded my use of it. Things kind of tapered off at the end of the year though.

After New Year, I decided to go birding around Lake Morton after I got off work. So far, this has been a pretty good activity, the couple of times I've made it. There's a bunch of introduced swans and ducks, but for some reason, this is the lake all the winter diving ducks seem to hang out. All winter, Scaup, Ring-necked, and Ruddy ducks play around. There's even a bunch of American pelicans that hang out around the edge of the lake in the winter. Summer time, there's still waders of all kinds, Wood ducks, occasional Solitary Sandpipers, not to mention all the exotics that are kept as wild pets.

There's the local hotspots as well, especially Circle B Bar Reserve. The sandpipers there have really been showing out! Reports of Ruff, Western, and a Phalarope. I got Stilt, Pectoral, White-rumped, Solitary, Least, and Semipalmated sandpipers in addition to a nemesis bird: Bobolink!

Holloway shines bright as the closest hotspot to my house. I'm still sparrowless at that site, but I'm managed to see 73 species there so far. This year, I've added 8 species to my site list there, and I've got high hopes for the rest of the year. Even after the sandpiper blitz at Circle B, Holloway is still the place I've seen the most species of birds. It's my goal to be 90+ species there by the end of November.

I also want to expand out of Polk county. Get into Pinellas and Ft Desoto. Visit some of the other coastal spots. I anticipate a birthday big day that encompasses the I-4 corridor somehow. This summer I plan to visit my parents, and I want to open up some places on the way there, and where they live with the kids. Visit the Louisiana State Arboretum and Chicot state park. The kids would like it there, I think. It seems to be set up similarly to the nature center at Circle B Bar. I want to tromp around Kisatchie National Forest looking for Red cockaded woodpeckers!

I'm making plans. Plans to bike and go birding, hike and go birding, teach kids about the outdoors and go birding. I can't wait to find out what I'll see next.