Cooper's Hawk from Robert in Mercer County

 

 

I live in Hamilton Square in Mercer County, New Jersey. My back yard is small in a 1950's housing development. My wife and I were astounded to see what I believe to be an adult Cooper's Hawk in a tree in our back yard on the morning of 12/29/08. The hawk was actually inside a squirrel's nest and within a few minutes moved out.

Leftovers from Florida

Here are a few of the photos from Florida in mid December that we didn't get around to posting yet.

Little Blue Heron

Common Moorhen

Common Moorhen

Loggerhead Shrike

Loggerhead Shrike

 

Killdeer

Unidentified Bird: Probably a Warbler.

Ring-necked ducks on Lake Nelson

 

While watching the ruddy duck, we saw a group of three male ring-necked ducks land on Lake Nelson. They stayed for about 30 minutes and flew off again. We thought they were lesser scaups yesterday, but the ring around the bill is present only in the ring-necked ducks. If it were up to us, they'd be called ring-billed ducks.

Female Black Ducks on Lake Nelson

Female Ruddy Duck looking for some friends

We haven't been posting much recently. We were busy with our older daughter visiting us from California. The lake was frozen which cut down on the number of waterfowl we see. It's been gray and cloudy. Chris' heart grew two sizes and she put up two Christmas trees.

Anyway, Chris spotted a small duck two days back. At first, we thought it was a grebe, but when we got the binoculars, we saw it was a lone female ruddy duck. She was trying to hang out with other ducks but the mallards, ring-necked ducks, and Canade Geese snubbed her. At least our daughter got to see some of the fancy ducks, even if some were not on their best behavior.

Hawk Photo from Niranjan in Belle Mead, NJ

 

I was in my breakfast nook early this morning cradling my new Nikon D90 when this bird with a kill landed about 30 feet from me in my backyard. I do not know what bird this is (Cooper's Hawk?) but I took this shot through the glass window with a 105 mm lens setting.
Niranjan
Belle Mead
Dec. 21, 2008

Roseate Spoonbill

 

 

 

We went to a few birding locations in the St. Petersburg area looking for a Roseate Spoonbill but didn't see any. However, we spotted one in a drainage pond in front of a condo, did a U-turn, and got a few pictures. Mike likes the roseate spoonbill because they have the same coloring as cotton candy.

Kestrel

 

 

Tricolored heron

 

 

 

Photos of a tricolored heron from Sand Key Park, Clearwater and Boyd Hill Nature Park, St. Petersburg.

Anhinga

 

 

 

 

 

We visited Boyd Hill Nature Park in St. Petersburg and saw what we thought was an unusual brown and grey cormorant. Later, we identified it as an anhinga, also known as the snake bird. We should have known something was different, this bird is much more vocal than the normally silent cormorant and spends more time in trees. At the time, we also didn't notice the white on the wings. The bottom three photos are from John Chestnut, Sr. Park in Clearwater.

Northern Mockingbird and Friends

 

 

Sometimes when bird watching, we encounter other creatures. We usually don't mind, but there are limits.

Northern Cardinals on Vacation in Florida

 

 

 

 

Photos of Northern Cardinals from Honeymoon Island (top) and John Chestnut, Sr. Park (the rest).

Wood Stork

 

 

Wood Storks from Boyd Hill Nature Park, St. Petersburg (top) Fort De Soto Park (middle) and Sand Key Park, Clearwater (bottom).

Happy Bird Day

 

 

 

We went to John Chestnut, Sr. Park on Lake Tarpon in Clearwater, Florida, in hopes of spotting a limpkin. We had no such luck. As we were getting ready to leave, we heard a bird that sounded a bit like a kingfisher fly overhead. Chris noticed that it flew more like a woodpecker and was larger than a kingfisher. We followed it and immediately identified it as a Pileated Woodpecker by its size and distinctive "hair." Chris jumped for joy, but didn't scare it away. It stayed in our area for about 10 minutes in a few different trees and briefly interacted with a second one. What a happy bird day!!!

White Ibis

 

Here is a photo of a White Ibis from Boyd Hill Nature Park in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Bald Eagles Nesting

 

 

 

There is a pair of nesting bald eagles at Honeymoon Island State Park. Part of the trail is fenced off by orange fencing (also known as snow fencing outside of Florida) for 300 feet around the nest to protect the eagles. We arrived first thing in the morning and saw the nest but it was empty. In an uncharacteristic act of persistence and patience, Mike suggested that we return later in the day before leaving. This time, one eagle flew away as we arrived. We waited a while and it flew back. As it landed, we saw that another eagle had been concealed in the nest. We watched them interact a bit, fly to a branch near the nest and mate.

The close-up on top is of an injured eagle cared for in an aviary at Boyd Hill Nature Park.

Armadillo

 

We know it's not a bird and we didn't take the picture in New Jersey.