Red-Winged Blackbird

        Today's featured feathered friend is the Red-Winged Blackbird.  This abundant and familiar species can be seen year-round across most of the United States.  Only the northern most birds migrate south for the winter.  While growing up, we fondly remember their raspy "oak-a-lee" call as a sure sign of spring.  Their preferred habitat is around wetlands where tall grasses, reeds and cattails are present.  If you are near a marshy area, you should see them.

        For most of the species we have featured on our blog, the males and females are similar in appearance.  That is hardly the case for the Red-Winged Blackbird.  For them, their cone-shaped bills are similar and that's about it.  The male is glossy-black with beautiful red and yellow shoulder patches.  The female is streaked in brown with a buffy eyebrow.  Males are significantly larger than females.  The average male is around 9 inches in length (female is around 7), weighs about 2 1/2 ounces (female is about 1 1/2) with a wingspan of over 15 inches (female is over 12).   Immature Redwings resemble adult females.

        During the winter months our backyard is filled with a large mixed flock of Redwings, Brown-Headed Cowbirds and Common Grackles, often over 200 birds.  They empty our many feeders daily.  The noisy calls of that many birds is nearly deafening, but you can easily pick out the raspy trill of the Redwings.  When all the birds get spooked and take flight, the sound of hundreds of wingbeats at the same time is like a clap of thunder. 

        Click on the links below to learn more about this species.  Enjoy some of our favorite photos of the Red-Winged Blackbird.....tweet.....tweet!!

Male taking flight.
(Taken 10/12/14, The Celery Fields, Sarasota FL)

Female perched on reeds.
(Taken 1/12/14, The Celery Fields, Sarasota FL)

Immature Male

(Taken 11/20/12, our backyard)

Male displaying on a boardwalk railing.
(Taken 4/12/14, The Celery Fields, Sarasota FL)

Female blending in with her favorite habitat.
(Taken 10/12/14, The Celery Fields, Sarasota FL)


http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/red-winged_blackbird/id


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-winged_blackbird

Snowy Egret

        Today's featured feathered friend is the Snowy Egret.  This small, white Heron is a year-round resident of the Atlantic coast and Gulf coast states as well as most of South America and the Caribbean Islands. 

        Snowy Egrets are very sleek and elegant.  They are entirely white with black legs and bright yellow feet.  Their bill is long, black and needle like.  In breeding season their facial skin turns from bright yellow to a dull reddish-orange.  Adult males and females are similar in appearance.  Immature birds are similar to adults but with duller facial skin.  Snowy Egrets are 24 inches in length, weigh slightly less than a pound, with a wingspan of nearly 40 inches.

        There are several other white egrets in Florida; the Great Egret which is much larger with a very large yellow bill and the Cattle Egret which is slightly smaller with a thick yellow bill.  A more challenging I.D. is the immature Little Blue Heron.  A young Little Blue is also all white, but has a two-colored bill and green legs.

        Click on the links below to read how "plume" hunters threatened this species in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Enjoy some of our favorite photos of the Snowy Egret.....tweet.....tweet!!  

Looking great in my yellow slippers.
(Taken 3/5/14, Ft. De Soto County Park, St. Petersburg FL)

In breeding plumage.
(Taken 4/11/14, Pinelands Preserve, Laurel FL)

In attack mode, this Snowy just flew in and chased
 off another Snowy in a territorial dispute.
(Taken 10/5/14, North Skyway Bridge rest area, Pinellas County FL)

Note the size difference
(Snowy Egret, left - Great Egret, right)
(Taken 7/16/14, Fort De Soto County Park, St. Petersburg FL)

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/snowy_egret/id

                                        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowy_egret

American Flamingo

        Today's featured feathered friend is the American Flamingo, one of six Flamingo species in the world.  At 46 inches in length (tip of bill to tip of tail), it is the second largest in size behind the Greater Flamingo (50 inches).  Their legs can be even longer than their body length, making them very tall birds.  Most other Flamingo species have differing shades of dull pink, making the American the most brightly colored Flamingo by far.  It has a pinkish/red plumage with stunning black flight feathers and long pink legs.  The bill is pink and white with a black tip.  Males and females are similar in appearance although males are much larger, much heavier and stand much taller than females. 

        On September 27th, we visited Flamingo Gardens in Davie Florida.  We finally saw a Flamingo.  We also saw lots of Indian Peafowl (Peacocks) roaming the park.  In the Wildlife Sanctuary, "rescued" birds are rehabilitated and released back into the wild.  However, depending on the severity of their injuries, some birds become permanent residents at the Gardens.

        Once native to south Florida, the American Flamingo has been eradicated from the U.S.  It breeds in Central America and the Caribbean Islands.  Occasionally, they will stray as far north as the Florida Keys or Everglades National Park.  Perhaps some lucky day we'll be in the right place at the right time to score a Flamingo on our life list.  We can't count this sighting on our list because the rules of birding require birds to be free, wild and unrestrained.  Regardless, we have now seen Flamingos.  Enjoy these photos of the American Flamingo.....tweet.....tweet!!

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Pileated Woodpecker

        Today's featured feathered friend is the Pileated Woodpecker.  It is the largest woodpecker in North America and one of eight woodpecker species seen in Florida.  Like most other woodpeckers, the Pileated is non-migratory and resides year-round in its range.

      The Pileated is a very large, long-necked, long-tailed woodpecker with a massive bill.  They have a brownish-black back, wings and tail, with bold white stripes down the neck and a flaming-red crest.  Males have a red "moustache" stripe and a red forehead.  Females have a black "moustache" stripe with a brownish-black forehead.  Juveniles are similar to adults but are a duller black with a dark eye and a pinkish crest, The average Pileated is 17 inches long, weighs 10 ounces and has a 28-inch wing span. 

         These birds eat mostly insects, especially carpenter ants.  They chip away large chunks of trees searching for ant colonies.  In breeding season they excavate nests in dead trees (snags), usually making multiple entrance holes.  After the young birds have left the nest, it is abandoned.  The site then becomes a home for song birds or other small animals.  Their distinctive "kekekeke" call is very loud and easily heard from long distances.

        Enjoy our favorite photos of the Pileated Woodpecker.....tweet.....tweet!!

Male Pileated Woodpecker
(Taken 2/27/13, Oyster Creek Regional Park, Englewood FL)

Female Pileated Woodpecker
(Taken 2/12/14, Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve, Fort Myers FL)

Pair of Pileated Woodpeckers
 (<--- male; female ---->) at nesting site (out of picture on the right)
(Taken 2/20/13, Oyster Creek Regional Park, Englewood FL)


http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/pileated_woodpecker/id


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pileated_woodpecker

  

SWALLOW-TAILED KITES, BLACK SKIMMERS, AND BLACK TERNS

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Black Skimmer

        Today's featured feathered friend is the Black Skimmer.  It is the largest of the three skimmer species in the world.  The Indian Skimmer and the African Skimmer are smaller with only minor differences in appearance.  The Black Skimmer can be found along U.S. coastlines from Cape Cod to Northern California and most of Central and South America.  They can also be found along the shorelines of inland lakes, such as Lake Okeechobee.

        Black Skimmers are large, long-winged, short-tailed, short-legged tern-like birds.  Their bill is unmistakable; it is long, deep-based, gradually tapered, and the lower mandible is much longer than the upper mandible.  From the side the bill appears long and thick, but is razor-thin which enables the bird to "skim" the surface of the water.  Without this bill the bird would merely "plow" through the water.

        The Black Skimmer is beautifully colored.  It has a black cap, neck, back and wings with a bright white forehead, face, neck and underparts.  Its long bill is black with a brilliant orange base.  Its legs are reddish-orange.  The average adult Skimmer is 18 inches long, weighs from eight ounces to a pound and has a wingspan of around four feet.  Males and females are similar in appearance, although males are slightly larger, heavier and have longer bills.  Juveniles are similar to adults but have a "mottled" appearance.  Young Skimmers and chicks have normal looking bills, the lower mandible becomes longer as they grow.

        We visited  Lido Beach, near Sarasota, and found a nesting colony of Skimmers and captured some great photos of parents with their chicks.  Skimmers like many other water and shore birds lay and hatch their eggs in a "scrape", a depression in the sand.  Here is a video of a parent with three chicks.  Click here ----->  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mZ2kJsTdVY&feature=youtu.be   

        We visited Fort De Soto, in St. Petersburg, and took this video of a Black Skimmer foraging along the surface of the water.  Click here ----->  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qai0czsryQ8&feature=youtu.be

        Click on the links below to learn more and enjoy some of our favorite photos of the Black Skimmer.....tweet.....tweet!!

Adult with chicks
(Taken 8/9/14, Lido Beach, Sarasota FL) 



Foraging for food
( Check out the wake left on the water)
 (Taken 8/12/14, Ft. De Soto Park, St. Petersburg FL)

Black Skimmer in flight
(Taken 8/12/14, Ft. De Soto Park, St. Petersburg FL)

Juvenile Black Skimmer
(Note the "mottled" appearance and the coloration of the bill)
(Taken 8/9/14, Lido Beach, Sarasota FL)

Up Close and Personal
(Taken 8/9/14, Lido Beach, Sarasota FL)

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/black_skimmer/id

                                      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_skimmer