Florida Day 2 (Jan 29)

American Bittern, Green Cay Wetlands, Boynton Beach, FL, Jan 29, 2012

Green Heron, Green Cay Wetlands, Boynton Beach, FL, Jan 29, 2012

Pied-billed Grebe, Green Cay Wetlands, Boynton Beach, FL, Jan 29, 2012

Red-shouldered Hawk, Green Cay Wetlands, Boynton Beach, FL, Jan 29, 2012

Red-winged Blackbird, Green Cay Wetlands, Boynton Beach, FL, Jan 29, 2012

The second day began with a dawn visit to Loxahatchee NWR.  I arrived in the dark and had a pair of Great Horned Owl s dueting both before and after dawn.  As I was getting items set up for the walk in I noticed movement maybe 30 feet away which turned out to be a Bobcat walking through the parking lot.  After several minutes it ran off only to reappear a bit later with three others!  It was too dark to get photos but it appeared to be a mother Bobcat with three quite large juveniles.  I then walked in along the various water impoundments and had the typical birds here.  The morning flight out of various waders was impressive as always but seemed to be a bit less in number than in previous years.  After an hour plus here I then made a trip over to Green Cay and spent more time covering the area completely.  All the usual birds where here plus a couple of very cooperative American Bitterns that were within a few feet of the boardwalk.  It provided some great photo opportunities.  After a few hours here we drove up the Atlantic coast to Indialantic to spend the next few days on the coast.  The beach near our lodging provided some typical beach related species including a fair number of Northern Gannets (almost all adults) and a Magnificent Frigatebird (this was the furthest north I have ever had a frigatebird in Florida).