Prothonotary Warblers at Spring Hammock Preserve

Prothonotary Warbler

This morning I walked the Osprey Trail at Spring Hammock Preserve in search of the Prothonotary Warblers I'd seen there a couple times in May.  With all the rain we've been having, there is a lot of water under the board walk, and it seemed to me a great place to look for breeding Prothonoary Warblers..  There were more mosquitoes along the trail than birds, but I was rewarded at the end of the boardwalk with the sight of a beautiful male Prothonotary Warbler.  He perched in the sunlight for me; unfortunately, it was so dark under the canopy of trees that I had my ISO set to 2000, but the photo above doesn't show the noise very much.  I walked to the very end of the board walk and heard a couple Purple Gallinules there before deciding to head back.  On the way back I found a male and a female, and the female was foraging for food; at one point she took off with a tasty morsel for the nest (that photo had to be shot at ISO 4000). Once getting home and looking at my photos, I noticed some of my  photos of the male had what appears to be a tick, while others did not (and they were in two different spots), so I now think that there are two males there.  Pretty fun morning, and worth the itching for sure.

Prothonotary Warbler
With what looks like a Tick

Prothonotary Warbler
Getting ready to take off with food for the nest

Other highlights were several Red-eyed Vireos, Northern Parula, and Pileated Woodpeckers.  Walking back to my car, I found a Florida Box Turtle and an Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly.

Florida Box Turtle

Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly