Headed South: Birding in Florida

I am, unfortunately, a bit of a procrastinator, and it's high time that I write about my trip to Florida. I made the drive down with Taylor to visit my sister Kati, my nephew Dylan, and to meet my niece Lily! I also had the chance to reunite with my grandma, my aunts, and one of my cousins. It was a great trip
, and I was so glad to see all of my family down there; I think I have a few readers in the group, so hello! Of course, being in Florida meant that I saw quite a few birds, including several new species.

September 20th

We arrived in Palm Coast, where Kati lives, the evening of September 19th, so the first real birding I got to do was on the 20th. Taylor and I decided to hit the beach like good Florida tourists, so we ended up near the pier of Flagler Beach. Right away I saw a couple of Willets in the surf with Ruddy Turnstones and Sanderlings. These shorebirds spend their days chasing the waves and looking for food in the surf. While all three visit Ohio, they're usually difficult to find. These birds had little fear though, and I had the opportunity to see them up close!

Willet feeding in the surf

Ruddy Turnstone

Sanderling

While Taylor worked on her tan like a normal person, I looked for the ocean-going birds that call Florida home. One of the most iconic birds of the southeast, the Brown Pelican, was easy to find out on the water, and an Osprey was entertaining to watch as it plunged into the water to catch fish. The best bird of all had to be my lifer Royal Terns! I've posted before about terns, the long-winged relatives of gulls that often show incredible maneuverability; they're definitely among my favorite bird families. The Royal Terns were easy to pick out, since in the winter they sport large orange bills and snow-white foreheads. I counted seven, which was great to see! I also saw a distant Black Tern, which might be my favorite tern of all. It was a great start; you can see my full list here.

Taylor and I then went to visit my grandma and my aunts in St. Augustine. Seeing my far-flung family was great, but added to that was a good look at a Tricolored Heron and a Snowy Egret in my grandma's backyard! Even small ponds in Florida can turn up awesome birds it seems. We ate some pizza and then enjoyed my Aunt Barbara's Toaster Strudel à la mode (the best idea that I've never thought of) for dessert. Since the sun was beginning to set, I suggested we go see the end of the day from the beach. Taylor and Dylan came with me on the short walk. I saw a few of the same birds that I'd found earlier in the day, but mostly we just watched the sun go down and then shouted for Dylan to come back to shore, since he'd decided to go for a swim!

September 21st

The next day, Taylor and I visited the gardens at Washington Oaks State Park. My idea was to take the Nature Trail through the park. It didn't take long for that idea to fall apart, as Taylor and I found some absolutely enormous spiders. We weren't going any further with those beasts around, so we walked through the gardens instead. There weren't a lot of birds present, but there were a lot of interesting dragonflies, butterflies, and lizards around to marvel at. White Ibises and a pair of Wood Storks! I have two lists you can see here and here.

Roseate Skimmer(?)

A well-camouflaged lizard 

I might need a field guide to lizards...

Wood Storks

There was a path that allowed for a view of the Matanzas River, and there I saw some birds including a big group of 

We took some time to meet my Aunt Patty for lunch along with Kati and Lily, which was long overdue; I hadn't seen my Aunt Patty in years! We spent some time catching up, which I was very grateful for. My aunt needed to get back to Clearwater, and my sister needed to pick Dylan up from school, so Taylor and I decided to go to the beach again (when in Rome, right?). We decided to visit Butler Beach in St. Augustine again, this time with a little more light. 

On the walk to the beach I saw a stunning Red-shouldered Hawk, which are much more common in Florida than in Ohio. This one was perched in a palm tree (also much more common in Florida than in Ohio) likely looking for lizards or an unsuspecting rodent. On the beach, I was able to see plenty of shorebirds, so I started scanning for unusual ones. There were plenty of Sanderlings and Ruddy Turnstones again, and even some more Royal Terns. The birds that really made me focus were some small shorebirds that looked like miniature Sanderlings. I knew this could be a new bird for me, but the ID was tricky! The two species I was hovering between were the Western Sandpiper and Semipalmated Sandpiper. The two birds are very difficult to separate in the field, and from the studying I've done it seems that they're even difficult to separate as museum specimens!

After some extensive time looking at the birds, I felt confident calling some of the birds Westerns, a species I'd never seen before! As far as I could tell, a few of the birds were Semipalmated Sandpipers, so I was able to tell the difference by comparison; they're definitely some bird identifications I need to practice though! You can see my full list here.

September 22

Tuesday we decided to explore the historic downtown area of St. Augustine, America's oldest city. We started with a tour of Flagler College, which was once the incredibly elegant Ponce de León Hotel. After the tour, we visited the Castillo De San Marcos National Monument. I was able to see some birds from the high walls overlooking the ocean, but there was nothing unusual except for a Ruby-throated Hummingbird that buzzed by on its way to Mexico. You can see my full list here.

We found a great place to eat dinner called La Pentola and then walked around town for awhile. We headed home as it started to get dark. Right after we crossed the Matanzas River we passed a small retention pond with some wading birds in it. On a hunch, I made a U-turn and went back to investigate. As a approached the pond, several of the birds took flight. With the tiny bit of sunlight we had left, I was still able to see a bit of pink on the birds: Roseate Spoonbills! I turned around again and looked for a way to get near the pond. It turned out that the pond was on the campus of the Flagler Hospital, a local birding hotspot where spoonbills were often reported. We found the pond, and could see seven spoonbills that had stayed behind. Another life bird! We made plans to visit the site again during the day for pictures, and headed back to the hotel.

September 23

Wednesday I decided to chase a few birds that I had the best chance of seeing in Florida. Taylor wasn't too keen on heading out with me since the forecast called for on-and-off rain, so I went solo while she stayed with Kati and Lily. I drove about an hour south to Chain of Lakes Park in search of a few life birds. There was a large kettle of Black Vultures in the parking lot, along with a few Osprey and even a Bald Eagle! After applying a generous amount of sunscreen, I made my way down a trail through a small patch of wetlands. As soon as the trees thinned out, I started to see plenty of birds! The trees surrounding the large lake in the middle of the park had about 50 White Ibises along with a couple Glossy Ibises. They were joined by Snowy Egrets, a Tricolored Heron, and an Anhinga. Lurking on the water's surface was an alligator, reminding me to watch my footing!

Anhinga, sporting some bright color

I'm not in Kansas (or Ohio) anymore

I wish I could tell these Common Gallinules that they'll look less silly when they're older, but they won't.

A few small canals held a life bird for me: Mottled Ducks! This far south, the Mottled Duck replaces the Mallard as the most common duck, so it wasn't a surprise to see them. I continued walking near some athletic fields and tried to get a good count of  the numerous Fish Crows that filled the air with their nasal "CAH-CAH." They were rivaled in their noise-making by the Boat-tailed Grackles. Interestingly, I found a Semipalmated Plover hanging out on a baseball field, along with quite a few Eurasian Collared-Doves.

Life bird: Mottled Duck

I circled back toward the trees, and saw an awesome bird: a Loggerhead Shrike! These predatory songbirds look like mockingbirds from a distance, but up close they have a burlier build and a raptor's hooked bill. In Ohio it's possible to see the Northern Shrike during winter, but it takes a lot of searching. The Loggerhead was much more cooperative and even let me get a few pictures.

Loggerhead Shrike

Back in the trees I found some familiar Ohio birds: White-eyed Vireos, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and a Pileated Woodpecker. I headed back to Palm Coast with some disappointment, since I ended up missing both my target birds. It wasn't all bad though since I did get one life bird and saw some others that were definitely out of the ordinary! You can see my full list from the park here.

September 24

Thursday was set to be our last day in Florida, so we decided to have lunch by the beach. We planned to eat on the deck of the Funky Pelican, but it proved to be too windy. Inside, we still had great views of the ocean, including the birds flying over the waves. I could see some shorebirds down on the beach too, including what looked like a plover of some sorts... I started to worry that it was a Wilson's Plover, a bird that I've never seen! Taylor rolled her eyes, but told me to get my binoculars. Optics in hand, I could see that my bird was a Black-bellied Plover, not new but cool never-the-less. I enjoyed a delicious breakfast wrap while we watched impressive waves roll in.

Stormy seas!

After breakfast the weather looked like it was clearing up a bit, so Taylor and I decided to go down to the beach. The familiar shorebirds were present, and allowed for more excellent views, and I found a few more Black-bellied Plovers. Taylor and I collected shells for a while until we decided it was getting close to time for us to get back.

Very cooperative Ruddy Turnstones. Check out those orange legs!

Black-bellied Plovers, though not this time of year

I did one more scan of the beach, and I spotted a large group of terns resting on the beach in the distance. We jumped in the car and I drove a few hundred yards to where I could view the terns more readily; most of the birds were Royal Terns, but to my excitement there were also several Sandwich Terns! This was another life bird for me, and a fitting one for the last day on the beaches of Florida.

Mixed flock of Royal Terns and Sandwich Terns. The Sandwich Terns are smaller, with black bills.

We made one more birding stop back to the Flagler Hospital to get some pictures of the Spoonbills. To my surprise, there was also a Muscovy Duck, another new species for me! These ducks are sometimes found wandering around in Ohio, but it's safe to assume they're escaped farm birds. In Florida, the ABA has deemed the Muscovy Duck a "countable" species, so I happily added it to my list. Taylor and I met with my Grandma and my Aunt Nancy, and went to the South Beach Grill for an excellent dinner right on the beach. For the full Florida experience, we split a plate of alligator nuggets as an appetizer: delicious!

Roseate Spoonbills!

We packed up early the next morning, and departed Palm Coast for Savannah. It was great to visit with so many of my family members, and I'm sure that I'll be down again soon!