21 April 2023 - Palm Harbour am

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Northern Cardinal, Eastern Screech-owl, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, White Ibis, Tricolored Heron, Reddish Egret, Great & Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret, Mourning Dove, Willet, Common Grackle, House Finch, Palm Warbler, Northern Parula, Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Bluebird, Tufted Titmouse, Common Merganser, White-winged Dove, Short-billed Dowitcher, Red-winged Blackbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Peregrine Falcon, Roseate Spoonbill

I was up early before it was properly light, and the first bird I saw and heard was a Northern Cardinal singing from a telegraph pole just outside the house. I walked towards the beach and saw a small owl fly down to the road to pick up some small prey item, then fly back into a tree in the garden of one of the houses on the street. I managed a very poor photograph, and it proved to be an Eastern Screech Owl. Unfortunately it then flew and disappeared and subsequently couldn't be found. All around from every direction were the calls of Tufted Titmouse, but I couldn't see any of them in the early morning light. I reached the beach area where a number of herons and egrets were flying by, including Reddish Egret and Tricolored Heron. An Osprey was quite vocal, perched in a nearby pine, and a White Ibis nonchalantly fed on the grass just by the shore; the first one I've seen on the ground. I walked south following a footpath along the shoreline, though most of the shore was hidden by bushes. Here I encountered some good birds including Palm Warbler, Northern Parula, Eastern Bluebird, Mourning Doves, a couple of House Finches, Blue Jay and plenty of Northern Mockingbirds. At one point I reached a gap in the bushes where a small patch of shoreline was visible, and a party of 7 Short-billed Dowitchers were busy feeding. I got a bit too close though and they saw me and flew off. A little further on I came to a suburbia type of area where there was a small lake, and saw a White-winged Dove and some Common Grackles, and eventually some Tufted Titmouse; an adult feeding a young bird in a bush.

After breakfast, Joanne and I followed the same path, where in addition to the species mentioned, we also saw a couple more Palm Warblers, several Black Vultures, a Bald Eagle and after spending some time trying to locate a singing Brown Thrasher to no avail, suddenly came across another, perched in the top of a tree, singing, in one of the gardens. As we strolled back, a kind local lady let us walk down her dock, where we saw a Spotted Sandpiper and a Common Loon. White Ibis were flying over from time to time, and a Downy Woodpecker showed briefly in one of the gardens.

Reddish Egret, 1/500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 10000 (view full size image)