Bay Photos by Donna

<BIG SIGH>  The time had to come to leave Florida and “Bird Paradise”.   🙁

We spent the last couple days cramming in the remaining things we wanted to do before packing up camp and hitting the road.  We’ve made a stop-over in South Carolina for a few days where I’ve been chasing Blue Jays and a Red-headed Woodpecker.   🙂

With that fun going on, I’m still also going through my bird photos from Florida and have two more lifers to add to my bird list.

The first lifer is a Limpkin!  I found one visiting the campground around one of the ponds late evening.  I had to lighten up this to see him well enough!

Limpkin

Another time I found a pair at a pink sunset at the same pond area….

I was a bit disappointed with the late evening lighting but at least I had photographs for my list!

During our stay, we stopped by a few local Lake Okeechobee boat ramp areas where I sighted a lone Limpkin and was a lot more successful.  And no longer disappointed!

Limpkin on the move, not wanting my photography services

This next lifer is a bird that is also found at home around the Chesapeake Bay, but I never took the time to confirm I had photographed the Boat-tailed Grackle that is very close to the Common Grackle that I knew I had.  The Boat-tailed Grackle has a longer, pointed beak and longer tail that is more than half of it’s body’s length.  Boat-tailed Grackles are also quite common in southern Florida so it made this lifer-add easy, and I can finally count him.   🙂

This Boat-tailed Grackle was busy at a fish stand gathering up a few tidbits left by fishermen who had just finished cutting up fish or bait.

For those of you ‘home’ around Grasonville, Maryland, and the Chesapeake Bay area who follow me, I’ve got exciting news that one of our ‘famous’ Osprey that nests atop one of the Rt.50 W signs has already returned!  My blog-follower, Tammy, sighted the Osprey early morning on February 29th and immediately commented her finding in my last post.  It was sighted & recorded later that day and many sightings today by birders through the QAC bird e-alert.  Way to go, Tammy!  You definitely had your Osprey-eye on!

To celebrate, here’s a couple Osprey photos I took in Florida where the Osprey reside year-round.

Although Florida has been awesome, I will admit I have sorely missed my winter birds around the Chesapeake Bay, where it is migrating ‘duck’ paradise!   🙂