Posted in Florida, skywatch, Skywatch posts
Pete and Pat retired from motor homing a few years back and bought a fixed foundation in a nice community in Arkansas where Pete can golf to his hearts content..and Pat can dance.
We have yet to visit them in Arkansas, but hopefully our wheels will get there.
Pete and Pat read my Bloggy and when they found out we were in Florida, where they are spending a few months this winter, they sent us an email.
As luck would have it we were traveling from Titusville to the Pan handle …and Crystal River was right on our path.
We met them at their winter rental ..which is a very cool cluster of attached homes on stilts with marsh and river surrounding them…Dawn did not bring her camera that night and has no pictures of the stilt homes!
We had a nice night at the potluck that all the winter residents had.
Yesterday we went out for lunch with Pet and Pat and their friends…on couple from Ocala and another traveling from Michigan to a vacation spot. I did take a few pictures here..
OK not so good ones…but I am posting them any hoo….
Here’s to friends….our paths may not cross every day, every month, every year…but when they cross it is like we saw each other yesterday!
Posted in Florida
Goodbye Snipe
You sure do blend in well with your surroundings.
Goodbye salt marshy mud flats…..
See Ya Tri-Colored Heron
Our last day birding here….Our Homey was at the service center ..so we took the fur boy…Balliecat….
Ballie love looking at the birdies.
I didn’t want him strolling around outside because of these guys!
See Ya later Gator!
Last but not least….Goodbye Dixie Crossroads…
Thanks Loralee ..for starting the Space coast birding and wildlife festival 12 years ago!
Thanks for the great food at your Restaurant.
I always …always get the Rock Shrimp and Key Lime Pie…
Yummy..
Posted in Birding, Birding(Florida)
Yes the Space Coast Bird and Wildlife festival is over.
We had a terrific time!
Met some new birdie friends and met some of my Birdie blogging buddies.
We had some very cold mornings!
The last two days it got warmer! Almost too hot..tee hee…
See Kevin Karlson in the below photo…he is on the right.
We love birding with him!
He has a wonderful book on Shorebirds..The Shorebird Guide…a must buy if you want to be better at shorebird Id…Kevin uses a great approach that makes Shorebird ID much easier…
Now we can Id 4 shorebirds instead of 2…tee hee..
For those of you who have never birded Florida…I suggest you get your butts over here.
There are some wonderful places all over Florida to bird.
Check out the Florida Birding Trail…
Set up beautifully online…you can search for what birds are in the area you want to visit..
You can search for target birds that you want to see.
———————————————————————-
Isnt it just bee U T ful here?
YOU will see lots of Birdies….not just shorebirds…
We went on a great bird walk in an Oak hammock…Saw many warblers…Vireos….had an amazing 15 minute display by a Whip or will…… Heard a Barred owl hooting.
Look at the Great Blue Herons yellow eye..
I took a digiscoping class….
I learned that I have no clue how to operate the manual settings on my camera…
I always have used my handy dandy automatic settings for different scenes.
I have no clue what iso…f stop etc…are..
I need to study…I hate to study…
but if I want better photos..I guess I should …
anyway…
because my point and shoot is not a fast SLR camera…I took photos of allot of
butts….
I did get a few photos I liked..
This little Coot looking at its relfection..
Not the best composition..but some very cool Aveosets..
A nice Little Blue Heron
Pintailed ducks…
Blue winged Teal
There was a Falconer at the festival that showed off the talents of this beautiful bird.
We saw sandhill Cranes.
I didnt capture the silly display the male was doing to entertain his female…wish I did…but alas I did not…..
He was jumping up and down like a fool…fun to see.
http://www.youtube.com/get_player
This morning we found this cool moth.
Does anyone know what kind it is?
Oh…and by request of sista Dellare …
and my other family members who read this..
I will do a contest for that previous berry photo post and this moth…
Whoever guess correctly first wins a prize…sorry to my other bloggy friends…My family would off my head…. if others were in my contests! tee hee…
So today is my non Birdie day….
Jeff has gone birding…
I needed a break…laundry ..vacuum..dust…shower……
and time to spend with my Balliecat.
We have one more day here in Titusville and then head over to the Panhandle for a new adventure. We have never been…so if anyone has any suggestions on where to go and what to see…give me a shout out..
Thanks..
Update
And the winners are….drum roll..
Sista Beachgrl and mother chicky
mother and sista both guessed the moth correctly….. Luna Moth
and sista…got the berries.
Brazilian-pepper tree, Christmasberry tree, Florida Holly
Posted in Florida
We said goodbye to our Lake Worth Campsite a week ago..
……….
I saved one last sunrise series for my Skywatch post.
Posted in Florida
Burrrrr…
Didn’t i say it was going to be cold today?
Well it was…for Florida’s standards it was purdy darn cold. Below 30…
Ice forming cold.
We left for our walk at Little Big Econ State Forest at 6am.
The air was cold…the ground was frosty.
Look at the chunk of cold fog in the distance…
the morning fog approaching the bundled birders
grass crystals
and now we are engulfed
Oh Goodie…the sun is peeking thru!
notice we took off our down jackets.
We watched a male, female and Juvenile Bald Eagle.
After the morning bird walk…Jeff and I took a Sparrow ID class.There are so many wonderful, knowledgeable birders here!
I was so excited to meet fellow birdie blogger Lee (from Lees Birdwatching Adventures) and her husband. If you haven’t read her blog…you should check it out.
I also have enjoyed meeting and talking with John Riutta from Born again Birdwatcher. He is so knowledgeable about all things Birdie related and more!
Tomorrow another morning bird walk and more birdie classes.
Should be warmer…
Goodie gumdrops!
Posted in Florida
I want to read all my fav. birdie blogs…I am looking at my blogroll and saying to myself..I have no energy and need to sleep so i can get up at 5am for another birdie walk.
So I will catch up when I can.
I miss your bloggys already!
bye for now…
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Posted in Florida
Thank goodness Jeff remembered his camera…and though it didn’t fit the attachment..he was able to get a few photos of what we and another large group of birders say is a
Ross’s Goose
you can convince us otherwise.
This birdie from what I have read is not common in this area. We saw it with two snow geese, who were much bigger that little Ross…but that photo did not come out!
What do you think?
Jeff and I drove the 9 mile Black Point Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refugee
This was not the only good birdie we saw…but it was a Life bird for us and a rare bird ..I think for this area.
Lots of ducks I have no pictures of…lots of egrets and herons I have no pictures of…
My favorite reddish egret was doing its dancing fool walk….and I have no video of that!
I am madder than a Hatter…as my mother would say.
So I wont go into detail of all the birdies we saw and I didn’t photograph because I will just cry..but the good thing is we are here for over a week.
I don’t think I will leave home without it again!
The Spacecoast birding and wildlife festival starts Wednesday and we start at 5:45 for an early morning birdie walk…Yikes …a deep freeze is coming this way and It might be a chilly 52…Ok I wont complain!
So Jeffy did manage to digascope with his point and shoot these lovely Roseate spoonbills.
I think they look like gangly guys with pink tights and tutus! Check out their outrageous bill……What do you think they look like?
Today I will be glued to the Television!!!!!
What a historic event!
I am so proud that we as a country voted for a man who is not white!
What high hopes I have for a man who I think is wonderful and enlightened and peaceful!
I know he has allot to overcome..but I have High hopes…high in the sky apple pie hopes!
Go Obama!
What are you doing on this Historic Day?
Posted in Florida
So…I do love Green Cay…we have only been 3 times…and the last two times very briefly….but we always see lots of Birdies and the scenery is always lovely.
This is the entrance to Green Cay.
Boat tailed Grackles in dead tree…I love the reflections here…
lots of duck weed
beautiful islands.. water for reflections
clouds in water with duckweed and reeds
more duck weed..at least i think that is what this weed is…anybody know otherwise?
Jeff and I played around with the digascope contraption he made for 12 dollars.
and Birdies in the weed…isn’t it sweet…
Pied-billed Grebe
Green Heron in weed
Tri-colored heron in weed ..I cant get enough of the green weed…
Purple Gallinule above the weed…
they are silly little tightrope walking birdies with huge feet and beautiful purple coloring.
A common site in Green Cay…two or three and even four or more species of birdies in one shot.
here we have a little blue heron and a tri-colored
Anhinga drying its wings
A sweet little Sora…On the birdie walk with Eva..we saw four.
a tricolor stuck around and showed off its beauty..
And Again thanks Eva for mentioning me and my bloggy on your bloggy!
You are one lucky gal to work at Green Cay!
Continue to enlighten!
Our wheels are on the pavement headed north for a new adventure..
Spacecoast Birding and wildlife Festival here we come!
Posted in Birding(Florida), Florida
The photo below I took at Steve and Anita’s…they have this really cool decorative brass ball knob thing….I had fun taking pictures into it…I placed it on the floor and took this one.
that’s the four of us…guess which one is me…ha
We went to a very nice and very crowded Art show yesterday with locals Steve and Anita and Birdie friends Dick and Judy .
If you look closely you can see allot of retirees….
Our two weeks went by so quickly…most of the time we spent visiting Aunt and Uncle…Posted in Florida
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Dawns Bloggy Blog 