Florida Birds #4 - Cork Screw Swamp (Naples)

On route from Sanibel to the Everglades we stopped off at Corkscrew Swamp where we spent the morning.

Painted Bunting - my no 1 target bird!

Blue Gray Gnatcatcher

Blue Headed Vireo

Great Crested Flycatcher

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

Swallow Tailed Kite - on arrival we were told that no Swallow Tailed Kites had been seen so far in 2011. Julia changed that by spotting 2 drifting over!

Eastern Pheobe

Tufted Titmouse

Female Painted Bunting

Turkey Vulture - very common - hundreds seen

Florida Birds #3

The last few pics from our stay at Sanibel.

Roseatte Spoonbill or Pteradactyl coming into roost?

Another Roseatte Spoonbill at dusk

Roseatte Spoonbill - about 20 at Ding Darling

Anhinga - relatively common, 30+ seen

Pied Billed Grebe at Ding Darling at dusk - very common

Brown Pelican - very common

Florida Birds #2

More pics from the first 2 days of our holiday, on and around Sanibel Island.

Kildeer, only two flocks seen all holiday, this one of a dozen birds on Sanibel

Bald Eagle - this adult returning to the nest. The nest contained 2 chicks. We saw a surprisingly large number of Bald Eagles our holiday. We saw 2 nests, both with 2 chicks and a number of individuals including one on a lamp post in downtown Orlando!

Wood Stork - 20+ seen

Little Blue Heron

Ding Darling Preserve, Sanibel, at dusk

Juv Black Crowned Night Heron

White Ibis - very common - hundreds seen all over

Green Heron

The same Green Heron

and another.....

Florida Birds #1

The pictures below were all taken on the first 2 days of our holiday on or around Sanibel Island.

Spotted Sandpiper - on the beach outside our hotel

Ring Billed Gull - one of a zillion seen all over Florida

Peregrine - on a ledge about 20 feet from our hotel balcony

Black and White Warbler - one of a dozen or so seen during the holiday, this one on the first morning in the hotel grounds

Little Blue Heron, on the beach outside the hotel

Belted Kingfisher - on the jetty outside the hotel, probably over 100 seen on the holiday, with dozens seen later in the Everglades

Yellow Throated Warbler - hotel grounds

Red Bellied Woodpecker - hotel grounds

Yellow Crowned Night Heron - hotel grounds

Space Shuttle Discovery Launch - February 24th 2011 - Florida

I don't think myself, Julia, Sophie or Jamie will ever forget Thursday February 24th 2011. On our third attempt we managed to see a space shuttle launch. It was an amazing and quite moving experience, but we almost didn't make it! (see below)

This was Space Shuttle Discovery's last ever launch and the 3rd from last shuttle launch ever. If we didn't see this one, we would never see one. On the day of the launch we were in the Everglades. The launch was not until 4.50pm so we had plenty of time to get to Orlando, drop off our bags and then drive the hour or so out to Cape Canaveral. We left the Everglades at 7.30am arriving in Orlando at about midday. We were staying in a friend's house (many thanks to June and Terry!) so quickly dropped off the bags, and got back on the road, hoping to arrive early at our viewing spot and relax, but as we pulled on to the interstate (motorway) we ground to a halt. 1.5 hours later we had covered 3 of the 40+ miles to our destination, and it wasn't looking good. Another hour passed as we reached a toll that I hoped was causing the long delays. We now had less than 2 hours to cover the vast majority of the journey. Thankfully within half a mile of the toll, the traffic began to move. I guess everyone on that road was in the same position, we were soon cruising at 70mph, with fingers crossed there would be no more delays, we would make it. With traffic queuing to Titusville we carried on to Cocoa where we eventually found a car parking spot at the side of the road, and walked back to a bridge to view the launch site. Phew!

Just as we began to relax, another problem arose. Via the loud speakers relaying live feed from the Mission Control Centre, it became apparent there was a problem with one of the computers. The problem persisted with regular updates every 2 minutes stating the problem had not been sorted out I really thought we would miss out again, with 2 minutes and 20 seconds to go, the message came over that the glitch had been rectified and we were good to go. The crowd cheered and well the rest is history!

It took us 4 hours to get back to Orlando. We had been on the road for 13 hours that day, but it was well worth it. The news the following morning reported on the traffic chaos, stating there were over 300,000 people there for the launch, over double the usual numbers.

Dove at first site

Hot on the heels of ticking the mega Slaty Backed Gull at Rainham Marshes on Wednesday, myself, Shaun and Hawky headed to Chipping Norton, Oxon, bright and early this morning hoping to add another mega to our lists, this time our quarry being the apparently long staying and recently refound Oriental Turtle Dove.

Arriving at about 7.30am we found ourselves at the end of a long queue (approx 200 yards), which started outside No 41 The Leys where for a few days now the bird had been frequently visiting the back garden. With the kind owner allowing birders in 10 at a time at the cost of £5pp (donated to the RSPB) we soon realised that unless the bird showed away from the garden we would be in for a potentially very long wait, in the rain.

An hour or so in, and with no news from the front whether the bird had been seen or not, things were not looking good! Then from our left, across the road a bird appeared, Hawky called it immediately. Luckily it flew to the rear of No 41 and rather than settle out of site, it sat at the top of a large tree in the back garden. 200 birders jumped out of the queue and blocked the street all trying to view the bird between the houses. Everyone got onto it although not the best views were had.

5 minutes later the bird flew to the lawn in the back garden of No 41 and the 1st 10 in the queue no doubt enjoyed cracking views. Just a few minutes later again it was off and appeared to make its way along the back gardens. Despite searching we couldn't re find it, however, someone else had, it had slipped past us to the other side of the road and was showing in a tree at the back of a private field. This time I was much nearer the front which was just as well as the viewing area was small. I had a quick peek at the bird through someones scope this time providing much better views of the smart bird. With desperate birders climbing fences and generally not behaving, I thought it best to move away.

Shaun, Hawky and I celebrated with high fives, and a cup of tea and slice of home made cake, being sold by some girls living in the street rather entrepreneurially (is that a word?) raising money for charity!

Two amazing bird in 4 days! Long may this run continue!

Slaty Backed Gull - Tick and Run!

When Dominic Mitchell found the Slaty Backed Gull at Rainham a few weeks back I decided to give the mega twitch a miss knowing it would be madness over at Rainham Marshes, and with over 1000 people dipping that day I wasn't wrong. Up until a week ago less than 40 people had connected with this mega rare bird, with it seemingly touring Essex and who knows where else. Then yesterday it was refound at Rainham and seemingly playing ball for a lot of the time. With news again today that it was showing on Wennington Marsh and the opportunity to get out of work early for once, I worked through lunch and left work at about 2pm. Via a train, bus and car I found myself at Rainham about an hour later, along with 50+ others.

The gull was viewable for about 30 minutes distantly, providing pretty good scope views, until a Peregrine flushed all the gulls and off they went, with the SBG flying strongly south east.

Gulls don't exactly rock my boat, but I am glad to get this mega rare one on my list.