Saturday 3.14.15 Pi Day! The Green Mountain Scenic Overlook & Trailhead was the location for my wedding and as a birder that meant keeping a checklist and watching for birds! Thankfully no new birds interrupted the ceremony or it may have been the shortest marriage on record….lol I did manage to see a Short-tailed Hawk during it all! Afterwards there were pictures and cake and as I was looking out after some photos I saw a bird way off in the distance and I said I think its is a Swallow-tailed Kite, asking who has binoculars! Peg Lindsay came to the rescue with hers and I raised them to see the distant bird and sure enough Swallow-tailed Kite, YEAR BIRD!!! Lots of excitement from me on that! Then the bird decided to show off and swoop in directly over the wedding party so everyone got looks! (Notice the highlight of the day was the STKI…lol)
Sunday and Monday I had 3 friends from PA and NY in to go birding, but we only spent Sunday birding Lake County. We started off at Clearwater Lakes Recreation Area and as soon as we stepped out of the car we heard the first of the year Yellow-throated Vireo singing! We started up the Florida Trail towards the Red-cockaded Woodpecker spot with lots of activity going on. We all quickly got on a small flock the launched from the tops of the pines and were calling in flight, all of us immediately said Pine Siskin like on cue. Year Tick and a good one. Flock was at least 6 birds but my friends said it was more like a dozen. Red-headed Woodpeckers were everywhere calling and drumming, the morning song was amazing! Soon added Great Crested Flycatcher to the list calls echoing through the forest. Along the way we saw Brown-headed Nuthatch and Bachman’s Sparrow which were singing as well. Upon reaching the Red-cockaded Woodpecker spot we quickly found 3 birds which put on quite a show for us.
After leaving Clearwater Lake RA we headed to Venetian Gardens and got them all killer views of Purple Gallinule and Limpkins. Afterward we headed to Publix for subs for lunch and then drove to Lake Apopka.
We parked at the North Shore Trailhead (CR448A) and hiked out into the heat of the day hoping for Rails and other goodies. We reached the Ani location knowing the Ani had not been reported in 2 weeks when we flushed a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds and Groove-billed Ani!!! The Ani gave us killer views for several minutes, I went on to try rail calls, Soras called back and then while playing King Rail one popped into the tall grasses after a short flight across the canal, called once, and disappeared never to be seen or heard again.
From here we headed south to the Green Mountain Scenic Overlook and Trailhead in hopes of Short-tailed Hawks which have been hanging around there, but no luck. The views did amazing everyone though.
We continued our journey to Scrub-jay Lane adding Loggerhead Shrike to their list and then a turn onto Citrus Grove Rd and 3 very cooperative Florida Scrub-jays. While they drooled and photographed the Jays several bird came across the road, White-crowned Sparrows, first 4, then 5 more including 1 “Gambell’s” subspecies! Amazing find!
We head further south to 5 Mile Rd. to look for Burrowing Owl but we did not find any, however we did get 2 American Bittern in the Farm Pond across from the Tree Farm we also had 2 Least Bittern calling back and forth from the pond, YEAR BIRD!!
We finished up a long day birding at Burger Craft eating awesome 100% natural burgers! They all got lots of lifers and I added 4 birds to my Big Year bringing the total to 181.
Gallus Goes Birding 