American Bittern, Viera Wetland
BEFORE THE SHOW STARTED TODAY WE HAD TIME TO SQUEEZE IN SOME MORE AMERICAN BITTERN! A visit to Viera Wetland eventually resulted in the hoped-for bittern sighting, a prolonged view of a bird working its way along the edge of one of the large tanks - life in slow motion. I am rather obsessed by bitterns so this was a particularly welcome result and although backlit it creates quite a nice effect. Also here today were: Blue-winged Teal; Northern Shoveler; Ring-necked Duck; Hooded Merganser; Pied-billed Grebe; Double-crested Cormorant; Anhinga; Great Blue Heron; Great and Snowy Egrets; Little Blue and Tricoloured Herons; Cattle Egret; Black-crowned Night Heron; White and Glossy Ibises; Turkey Vulture; American Osprey (we saw around 15 today); Bald Eagle (two, adult and immature); Northern Harrier; Red-shouldered Hawk; American Kestrel; Common Gallinule; American Coot; Limpkin (including some very tame birds); Sandhill Crane (one); Killdeer; Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls; Caspian Tern; Mourning Dove; Belted Kingfisher; Red-bellied Woodpecker; Eastern Phoebe; Loggerhead Shrike (five); Fish Crow; Tree Swallow; Marsh Wren; Northern Mockingbird; Common Yellowthroat; Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers; Savannah and Swamp Sparrows; Red-winged Blackbird plus Boat-tailed, Great-tailed and Common Grackles. A coupe of otters bounded right past us only a few metres away, completely unconcerned by our presence. There were so many tame birds here a hide is completely unnecessary and in our limited time we look pretty much exclusively for the bittern, finding one in a suitable position just at the right time before the light became too glary. Fantastic stuff despite the invasion of the birders today. The birds did not seem to mind at all.
Back north along the coast we called in to the Merritt Island NWR, where the stars were three Florida Scrub-Jays. Amazingly confiding and inquisitive they were a true delight. I had to back off them with the 500! Also new here were: Brown and American White (one) Pelicans; Black Skimmer; Northern Flicker (two, yellow-shafted) and a Gulf Fritillary, which was another lifer for me. Florida Scrub-Jay is now very local and its small population (around 6,500 individuals only) is in decline owing to development, disturbance and the suppression of the fires that are necessary to maintain its preferred scrub habitat. It was very impressed with it and although it took some time to find as walked down the trail in the wrong direction at first, when we did find them they were much mroe strikingly pale mantled than expected and are a very smart bird. I am hoping to have another try with a little more time to improve on my photos so far...
Back north along the coast we called in to the Merritt Island NWR, where the stars were three Florida Scrub-Jays. Amazingly confiding and inquisitive they were a true delight. I had to back off them with the 500! Also new here were: Brown and American White (one) Pelicans; Black Skimmer; Northern Flicker (two, yellow-shafted) and a Gulf Fritillary, which was another lifer for me. Florida Scrub-Jay is now very local and its small population (around 6,500 individuals only) is in decline owing to development, disturbance and the suppression of the fires that are necessary to maintain its preferred scrub habitat. It was very impressed with it and although it took some time to find as walked down the trail in the wrong direction at first, when we did find them they were much mroe strikingly pale mantled than expected and are a very smart bird. I am hoping to have another try with a little more time to improve on my photos so far...
From top: American Bittern; Glossy Ibis (and American Coot); Limpkin; Boat-tailed Grackle (female); Florida Scrub-Jay and bottom: US birding legend Paul Lehman calls in to say at the Birdquest/Wild Images booth - he has probably found more firsts for North America than anyone else in recent decades.
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