20 April 2023 - Titusville to Palm Harbour

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Osprey, Great & Snowy Egret, Anhinga, White Ibis, Chimney Swift, Downy & Red-bellied Woodpecker, Brown Pelican, Swallow-tailed Kite, Black & Turkey Vulture, Cattle Egret, Sandhill Crane, Wood Stork, Boat-tailed Grackle, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Mourning Dove, Purple Martin, Common Gallinule , Northern Mockingbird, Red-tailed Hawk, Little Blue Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, Laughing Gull, Willet, Blue Jay, Night Heron (sp)

A quick look around the shoreline at Titusville before setting off to the Gulf Coast and Palm Harbour resulted in a typical selection of Ospreys, Great & Snowy Egrets, Brown Pelicans, Anhinga and White Ibis, along with a Chimney Swift and both Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers.  En route to the Gulf Coast, we saw a good selection of birds including 2 Swallow-tailed Kites, 3 or so Cattle Egrets, 2 Sandhill Cranes and a Wood Stork by the roadside (at 55mph), as well as other typical fly-over species such as Anhinga and Osprey.  We stopped for lunch at Tavares, where there was parking and a picnic area next to a small lake. Here we had both Boat-tailed and Common Grackles (my first of the latter), and Red-winged Blackbirds, but all proved a bit tricky to pin down for photos.  A couple of Purple Martins were new for me and the trip, and there were also Mourning Doves and Common Gallinule.  The Merlin app picked up a King Rail calling, though I never noticed it.  Continuing on we had increasing numbers of Northern Mockingbirds as we moved east, as well as Red-tailed Hawk and a Little Blue Heron over.  After settling into Mango Cottage, our AirBnB for the next three nights, we strolled down to the beach to watch the sunset.  Several Roseate Spoonbills went over, and a Willet landed on the muddy foreshore.  A number of Night Herons also flew over at dusk but the light didn't allow for positive ID to species. 

Most of the day was spent travelling, so there are just a handful of photos.

Osprey, 1/2500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 500 (view full size image)

Red-winged Blackbird- Male, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 320 (view full size image)

Red-winged Blackbird- Female, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 125 (view full size image)

Common Grackle, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 500 (view full size image)

Boat-tailed Grackle- Female, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 640 (view full size image)

Anhinga, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 100 (view full size image)

Sunset At Palm Harbour, 1/640 sec, f/5.6, 123 mm, ISO 200 (view full size image)