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Eastern Kingbird
the first I've seen in the park |
Today I joined the Orange Audubon Society's bird walk for Mead Gardens. Normally this time of year, the park is just hopping with migrants. I checked the eBird reports from last year at this time, and there were some really nice sightings in the park. However, this fall has been extremely slow, so I've only visited a couple times. I hoped for some surprises this morning, but I think this was the slowest September day at Mead that I can remember. We had five species of warbler: Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Prairie Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, and Northern Parula. We had a few Red-eyed Vireos to liven things up a bit, and several of us had the chance to see a couple Baltimore Orioles. Those that stayed past 11:00 am were rewarded with nice views of three Eastern Kingbirds. Those were the first I've seen in the park, so that's something. There were still the normal residents to enjoy, though, and a bad day birding at Mead is still pretty nice because the park is a pretty place to visit.
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| Great Blue Heron |
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Pileated Woodpecker
This one has something going on with its eye |
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| Barred Owl |
We also had some good views of turtles, an invasive Red-eared Slider and a couple native turtles that I now know are Peninsula Cooters. I photographed two individual Peninsula Cooters. They have lines above the eye, and the highest part of the shell is about a third of the way back, rather than than half way back, like in the Florida Red-bellied Turtle. That's a new species of turtle that I can now identify.
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| Red-eared Slider |
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| Peninsula Cooter |
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| Peninsula Cooter |
There were many butterflies there, and if I wasn't helping lead the bird walk, I'd have spent my time photographing butterflies. Instead, I just photographed one that was a little too tempting to resist. This Spicebush Swallowtail was shoving its head into a Scarlet Morning Glory.
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| Spicebush Swallowtail |
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| Spicebush Swallowtail in Flight |
Good evening, I got a late start and not much time at Central Winds and it was less birdy than during the week. had 7 of the usual species still 30 Parulas
ReplyDeletebkbut missed on Ovenbird and Yellow-Throated but they were probably there. I went to the Seminole Cty. Environmental Center and got a worm eater and the Ovenbird but birds were sparce 5 species there. Total of 9 today but cut it short to spend some time with the family since it was obviously a slow day. It can only get better. Brian who you see in the evenings