Bottoms Road

I'm a believer now! Andy has been telling me for months that Bottoms Road is the best place around to see rails, and I've said, "Yeah, right! I haven't seen any." Well, Saturday I saw at least eight! Yay! Also, all along the road little Seaside Sparrows popped up and said, "Howdy! Please take my picture." Maybe not all of them were so forth-coming, but several were. I really appreciated the cooperation.


Seaside Sparrow

Clapper Rail

St. Andrews State Park

Carol writes....

We went to St. Andrews on Friday with our grandson Sean and his family, and still managed to see some good birds. (I know, Andy, they're all good.) The lagoon had Laughing Gulls lined up to snag the little fishes along the shore, Snowy Plovers working the wrack line, and Least Terns preening on the dunes. A couple of Snowy Egrets joined the gulls and a single Black Skimmer moseyed out from behind the Terns and took off.

Sean

Black Skimmer

Snowy Egret



Least Terns

Snowy Plover

Ospreys

We went on the Wakulla River and I got these shots of an Osprey family and flight shots. It was so cool to see the heads pop up out of the nest.

Kim

St Marks NWR - Kim Chason

Kim writes.....

Thank you for posting my photos. My new Nikon D40 is amazing and now my world is never ending. I'm old school 35mm camera but I haven't picked it up in years. The digital world makes it so much easier now. My husband took me to St. Marks this past weekend and I took over 200 photos of birds, bugs and wildlife and these are just a few. Some aren't of birds but I couldn't resist sending them since one of them is a 3' gator that was crossing the road as we were exiting the park. After I took my photos of him I took a few steps closer to make a few noises to get him to cross the road and of course he grunted at me before going on his way. Then there was the doe that just stood as if she was posing just for me. .


Great Egret

American Alligator

White-tailed Deer

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Black-necked Stilts

Black Skimmer

Black-bellied Whistler's!

Carol Miller writes....

Last night I read on www.birdingonthe.net that two Black-bellied Whistling ducks had been spotted in NE Jefferson County. Wow! Something special almost on my doorstep! I had Mike drive me over this noon to check them out. Our first views from CR 257 showed a flock of Storks and a few Cattle Egrets, Snowies, and Ibis, but NO ducks. I was so disappointed. But as we were heading back, I had him let me out on CR 146 for a different view. Bin-go! I immediately spotted the pair and got excellent looks at both. In a few minutes, a couple friends dropped by for dinner. Check out the size of that turtle--he's as big as the ducks.



Black-bellied Whistling Ducks & Wood Stork




Wood Storks



Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

Kim's Pictures

Hello Wild Birds Unlimited,

What a wonderful store!

I just bought a new digital camera and have been taking pictures of all the birds that have been visiting us. I'd like to share these photos with everyone. Maybe you'll add them to your blog page. I had to add photos from last early spring that were actually taken with our video camera. They're not as clear (you'll see which ones) because we did it from inside the house looking out. This hawk spent a good amount of time bathing in our pond. I have at least 3 birdbaths in my yard but never expected a hawk to use our pond, but I guess they need to bathe as well!

Kim


Red-bellied Woodpecker


Ruby-throated Hummingbird



Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

Carolina Chickadee

Northern Cardinal

Pelagic

Wilson's Storm-petrel

I went on my first pelagic trip last Saturday, with Andy as one of the leaders. It was amazing. I couldn't believe the way the leaders were identifying the different birds at 50-200 yards! I only got good looks at five of the species: Black-capped petrel, Wilson's Storm-petrel, Audubon's Shearwater, Bridled and Sooty terns. The official list was amazing. What was really surprising were the warblers and dove that flew around the boat fifty+ miles out. These are the best pictures I got. (I had enough trouble trying to focus my binoculars!)Maybe Andy will post some better pictures. Hint, hint!

Carol Miller

Black-capped Petrel

Sorry Carol, I did not take my camera with me as it's hard getting good photographs especially when I'm trying to show other people where the birds are, however I did take my video camera and made a short movie of the songbirds we encountered on the trip.

The day began at 345am when we set sail out of New Smyrna and headed due east for the Gulf Stream. Like Carol said we encountered a Eurasian Collared-dove 50 miles offshore! Very lost! Our first seabirds were Bridled Terns followed by Audubon's Shearwaters but once in the Gulf Stream (60 miles offshore) we saw several Black-capped Petrels, the species we all wanted to see. These F-16's of the ocean made flying seem effortless as they shot by the boat flying in huge cyclic arcs. Wilson's and Band-rumped Storm-petrels followed the boat attracted by a slick of menhaden oil mixed with chopped sardines and popcorn. Out beyond the Gulf Stream we came across a large flock of noisy Sooty Terns; they put on a great show!

As Carol mentioned we saw many songbirds, some of which were 70-90 miles offshore heading north on their spring migration. Perhaps the most amazing was a Black-billed Cuckoo..75 miles out! Both American Redstart and Common Yellowthroat accompanied us for much of the journey but sadly a Blackpoll Warbler didn't make it. Boblinks also flew by!

Marine mammals such as Spotted Dlphin and Short-finned Pilot Whales were enjoyed as well as an enormous Loggerhead Turtle, a Hammerhead Shark and White Marlin.

Andy