Mead Gardens, 4/21/2012

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Chuck-will's Widow
This morning I went to Mead Gardens again with the great people with the Orange Audubon Society. We had a wonderful morning.  Easily the best highlight of the morning was seeing a Nightjar, in particular, a Chuck-will's Widow.  We saw one our way to the board walk.  On the board walk, we were happy to find an Indigo Bunting and a beautiful Prairie Warbler.  When we circled back to where we saw the Chuck-will's Willow, we saw it again, and when it flew away, another came and perched on another branch.

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Chuck-will's Widow
I don't know if this is the same as the first I saw
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Indigo Bunting
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Prairie Warbler
We saw some nice Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Great Egrets, and on a few occasions, I saw Northern Cardinal fledglings.  While I saw only one at at time in the same general area, I'm pretty sure there were more than one there.  It was also great to see a Cooper's Hawk.

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Cooper's Hawk
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Cooper's Hawk
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Cardinal Fledgling
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Great Egret
There were several other birds I was glad to see but never got a presentable photo: Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Cape May Warbler, and Northern Parula.  After the Audubon group left I walked around  the park one more time and found a Black-and-white Warbler and a female Scarlet Tanager.  Here's a list of 40 species we saw this morning, including two seen by members of the group but not by me:

Wood Duck 6
Wood Stork 2
Anhinga 1
Great Blue Heron 2
Great Egret 4
Green Heron 1
White Ibis 30
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 1
Cooper's Hawk 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 3
Chuck-will's-widow 2
Chimney Swift 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 5
Downy Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 3
Blue Jay 2
Fish Crow X
Purple Martin 2
Tufted Titmouse 2 (seen by others, not me)
Carolina Wren 7
House Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 6
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird 2
Cedar Waxwing 50
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
American Redstart 3
Cape May Warbler 1
Northern Parula 6
Prairie Warbler 2
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 5
Indigo Bunting 1
Common Grackle 2
House Finch 1 (seen by others, not me)

Comments

  1. NIce shots Scott! Looks like it was an exceptionally good day of birding. I've never had the pleasure of finding a sedentary nighthawk/nightjar, but it seems surreal. 
    Love the Bunting--they're much more exciting than the buntings in baseball.

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  2. That Indigo Bunting is amazing! What a beautiful color. The Cooper's Hawk is outstanding as well. Definitely looks like an exciting day.My son has an appt.in Winter Park next week, so we are hoping to have time for a stop at this great location. 

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  3. I caught a Lyre Tailed Nightjar asleep on a tree near the road in Ecuador..What a thrill! Your blog is always superb..outstanding shots!

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