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| Willet, Merritt Island NWR, FL, Jan 19, 2014 |
Just back from a short trip down to central Florida and lucky for
me I arrived just before the arrival of another snowstorm and more below zero
temperatures! At least it was nice down south even if it was a bit chiller than
normal down there on a couple days. We stayed in Orlando and made a few day
trips to various spots. Nothing too exciting but did mange to find a total of
105 species without too much effort during my time there.
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| Red shouldered Hawk, Southport Rd, FL, Jan 18, 2014 |
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| Eastern Meadowlark, Disney Wilderness Preserve, FL, Jan 18, 2014 |
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| Orange crowned Warbler, Disney Wilderness Preserve, FL, Jan 18, 2014 |
On the first full day down there I headed south of Orlando
to Southport Road and then down to the Nature Conservancy's Disney Wilderness
Preserve. Southport road is a good spot for open country birds in among the
large working cattle farms. The Disney Wilderness Preserve is a large area of
pine savannah with a different groups of birds. No luck with the Red cockaded
Woodpecker on this trip but spent lots of time looking.
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| Northern Pintails, Merritt Island NWR, FL, Jan 19, 2014 |
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| White Pelican, Merritt Island NWR, FL, Jan 19, 2014 |
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| Belted Kingfisher, Merritt Island NWR, FL, Jan 19, 2014 |
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| Dunlin with leg band, Merritt Island NWR, FL, Jan 19, 2014 |
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| Dawn, Merritt Island NWR, FL, Jan 19, 2014 |
On Sunday I
headed to the coast for the morning going to Merritt Island NWR and the nearby
Canaveral National Seashore. A few other spots I have stopped at on previous trips were
closed on Sunday so I had to be satisfied without hitting those areas. Merritt
Island NWR held lower than normal numbers of waterfowl once again. The area was
not as dry as last year so I have no idea why the numbers were so low. I
actually did not find a single American Coot (normally there are
thousands)...weird. I also ran across a group of three Dunlin that were fairly
freshly dead along one of the side access roads. I didn't see any obvious
trauma. Perhaps they hit some nearby power lines or perhaps someone killed
them...who knows? One of the birds had a federal leg band which I
reported. I'll post more details when I get them back about the bird.
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| Split Oak Preserve, FL, Jan 20, 2014 |
On the
last day we took a trip over to the Split Oak Preserve east of
the airport and enjoyed a long walk during our warmest day down there. A few
nice pockets of birds but once again nothing too unusual.
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| Wilson on the run, Jan 21, 2014 |
Once I got home I decided to
take Wilson on a short walk despite the arctic like conditions. We got our walk
in without freezing to death and before the snow arrived. A short stop at the still open water of the Quabbin didn't feature any waterfowl
at all...just a couple of Bald Eagles and a handful of other species. Perhaps
with this next shot of cold weather the water will freeze over?
