Payne's Prairie La Chua Trail, 3/21/2014

Sedge Wren

Every year in March I make a trip from my home in Central Florida to a conference in Dothan, Alabama. It's a perfect opportunity for me to get up early and visit Payne's Prairie, La Chua Trail just south of Gainesville. So Friday morning I left before 6am to arrive at La Chua Trail before 8:30am.  I was hoping for some fun sparrows, but it's getting a little late in the year, I think, and it was a little windy. But I did get my best photos of White-crowned Sparrows in Florida, as well as a few others.

White-crowned  Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

There were also plenty of wading birds. One Snowy Egret was particularly photogenic, and an American Bittern came out in the open to at least get to see most of him, even though surrounded by grasses.  There were several Black-crowned Night Herons here too, some immature.  The immature below I found quite interesting. It kept its head raised and neck extended the whole time I watched it, much like Yellow-crowned Night Herons do.  However, all the field marks were consistent with Black-crowned (pointed bill, yellow on the base, streaking on the belly, etc).

Snowy Egret

American Bittern

Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron (imm.)

At one point I saw a Yellow-rumped Warbler fly out from the grasses and grab a dragonfly, right when I was very near by.  It then flew back to its original spot.  It took a little while for the bird to consume its prey, and so it didn't seem to mind me being so close, so I just crouched down and took a few pictures. I haven't yet tried to figure out the ID for the dragonfly; if anyone knows, I'm all ears.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

And one Palm Warbler posed nicely for me. We're going to lose these warblers soon; in fact we've already lost most of them, so it was nice to see this one.

Palm Warbler