Nuthatch

Plenty of activity today. Nuthatches coming down the trunks and Treecreepers up them.

Galeforce Smew

Broom reminded me of Pendeen today - digiscoping in a wind that blows your scope over being ever ambitious.

Yanky Sparrow @ Cley

Gets 2008 off to a flying start.

Buntings @ Salthouse

Early attempts from a hide......

An hour in the feeding station hide at Summerleys this morning.

Frost &Fog @ Willington

Bittern @ Sandy

Full adult plumage.

Florida - Gatorland

Gator Land proved a good location not only for viewing the alligators and crocodiles but also for getting very close to a good selection of wild birds such as Herons, Egrets and Wood Storks. The final species to be added to the trip list was Black-crowned Night Heron bring the total species seen to 124, 86 of them being new birds for me.

Florida - Cocoa Beach & Veira Wetlands

Our last full day which we decided to spend at Cocoa Beach on the Atlantic Coast. Tropical Storm Noel had been raging south in the Caribbean and was giving some dramatic seas on the Atlantic coast. The surf was high and some time was spent relaxing watching the waves and foam rolling in.

The drive back included a diversion to a location provided by Gallus called Veira Wetlands not far away from the Interstate 95 highway that we took to get to Cocoa Beach. Veira Wetlands is a purpose built reserve intended to be driven and viewed from a vehicle although today I walked the tracks and viewed each of the four pools. The highlight was an American Bittern that flew out from the vegetation. Also there were Green-winged Teal newly arrived for the winter as well as Tree Swallows, Savannah Sparrows, a Limpkin and another Bald Eagle being mobbed by a Red-shouldered Hawk.

Florida - Three Lakes

Today we drove around the St Cloud area stopping at various places including Reptile World and a call into the Three Lakes Management Area reserve to eat our picnic we had prepared in the morning.

This gave me an opportunity to look for a few specialist birds found in this slash pine habitat such as Brown-headed Nuthatch, Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Bachman’s Sparrow. The sparrow eluded me but the nuthatch and woodpecker both showed very well in pines close to the entrance track allowing me to get some decent photographs.

Supporting cast seen today included further Bald Eagles, Pine Warblers, Eastern Bluebirds and another Northern Harrier.

Florida - Fort-de-Soto

Another day on the beach was decided upon for today with a drive to the Gulf Coast where we would visit Fort-de-Soto, an island south of St Petersberg.

The island is a lovely spot and was very quiet today. The girls collected shells from the beach and I scanned the sandbanks for birds, soon finding a sizable flock of around 300 Black Skimmers which I had missed over at Merritt Island on previous visits.

Distant views required a concerted effort to separate out the small plovers and after a fashion I was able to pick out the Wilson’s Plovers and Piping Plovers from the more commoner Semipalmated Plovers on the sands. Scanning the edges of the mangroves from North Beach I counted seven Yellow-crowned Night Herons, a single Reddish Egret, American Oystercatcher and Roseate Spoonbill. Another Northern Harrier and Cooper’s Hawk were picked out on leaving the island later in the afternoon but the Dowitchers that apparently been near the causeway road earlier in the day had departed.