Week 3 (1/20/19) - Not at the Beach!

First of all - please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in getting this week's post published. I delayed my main outing to Monday and frankly was exhausted, and then life just got in the way and all of a sudden it is Thursday evening! Anywho, I am back with another installment, but this time there's no sand in sight!

Before I get to Monday's expedition, I want to share some pics from one of my little walks near the office. I decided (foolishly) not to take my bincos, therefore making the chances I would need them almost 100%. Most of what I saw was run-of-the-mill birds that you would expect next to a busy road in an urban setting really, but this guy caught my attention.

Mystery hawk - presumed accipiter

I had my phone on full zoom and then cropped the following pics to try and help

I was stumped - that is to say I had narrowed it down to two birds. I did try putting it into Merlin and got utterly ridiculous results - Northern Goshawk, Peregrine Falcon, White-tailed Kite - though it was clearly none of those. I posted the pic onto an ID group to get help choosing between Sharp-shinned Hawk (missing from my Duval life-list currently) and Cooper's Hawk. The two are very similar and differentiated from these pics was not necessarily easy. I could have made a case for either, but thankfully a more experienced birder let me know that due to the giant head, this was almost certainly a Cooper's Hawk. Bit of a shame, but a nice random bird nonetheless. 

I delayed my big outing to Monday, as previously noted, due to prior commitments on Saturday and poor weather on Sunday. I was able to head out on Monday and decided that I would like a break from trudging across sand at Huguenot and the Talbots, and decided instead to head to Reddie Point Preserve. 

Me at the entrance to Reddie Point trying to get a ridiculous amount of sun flare - mission successful

Reddie Point is located in a crook in the St. John's River, so at the end of the park there is river running along the east and north sides, a vast expanse of water. During migration the park is often swamped by warblers and their buddies as it represents a nice green patch amid the suburban sprawl. I decided that it was high time I got myself a Black-crowned Night-heron, and there's nowhere better in town for a guaranteed BCNH than Reddie Point. I have been there a decent number of times now and I think I've seen one every time. 

When I arrived around 730, there were zero night-herons in view in their usual spot. I was greeted by this Tricolored Heron, as well as a handful of geese. 

Tricolored Heron head - the two-toned yellow and grey bill tells us this is not a Little Blue Heron

Canada Goose - though his neck is a little tucked up, there's no way any of these guys were Cackling Geese - I wish!

 I spent a little while coming through the trees on the far side of the lake, as well as looking around me for passerines. I realised that I actually arrived a little early - most of the birds had stayed in their roosts due to the cold. Things picked up as the temperature rose, but this Great Blue Heron was happy to be out in the cold - apparently there were still fish for him to find.

GBH doing his best tree impression. I wasn't fooled, but the fish might have been. 

A little further into the park I found a nice mixture of passerines and woodpeckers, but none wanted to sit still long enough for me to take their pictures. That's just the way it goes sometimes. I cut through the wooded path to see if that would rustle me up some more variety, but it was colder and less birdy in there still than the main road.

At the far end there's a jetty which is typically lousy with fishermen, though only two were present when I arrived. Sadly there were none of the birds I hoped to see at the end - sometimes there will be collections of gulls, terns, pelicans and waders like turnstones. I did hear some high-pitched whistling while out on the jetty and turned back to the parking lot and was greeted by a flock of Cedar Waxwings. I just can't go anywhere without seeing them this year - they're still hanging out at the office as well.

One of about 25 Cedar Waxwings at the park

On the way out I checked back at the first pond and found what I was looking far - Black-crowned Night-heron. The picture is just atrocious - but that's ok, that's just birding sometimes. I also tried to get a picture of the egret next to him - that went as well as you'd expect. I have very few egret pictures which don't feature seemingly ethereal or divine birds. 

Black-crowned Night-heron unwilling to show his face, but that grey and black is unmistakable

Behold the Holy Egret of Antioch

 I finished up at Reddie point far earlier than I expected, so decided to hit another spot I thought might yield a couple of county birds conspicuous by their absence from my 2019 Duval list. Barely a minute into my arrival at Sheffield Regional Park on the northside of the river, I found my quarry - Common Gallinule and American Coot.

Common Gallinule - very similar to Moorhens, but not quite the same. The Coot didn't stick around for a pic. 

I was a little surprised it had taken me so long (I'm aware three weeks isn't actually that long, but it feels like it sometimes) to get those two birds, and knowing that I was already at three new county birds put a spring in my step. I ventured out into the rest of the park to see what else would show up for me.

There were two of these Turkey Vultures hanging out at the side of the football field, no idea what attracted them

Decided I wanted a picture of a Yellow-rumped Warbler - it's a shame there was some trash in the pic though

Obliging Little Blue Heron - the lighting isn't overly helpful here, but his beak really is more of a pale grey rather than the yellow seen on the Tricolored heron previously

Sadly I was not able to get pics of two more year birds - Hermit Thrush and Brown Thrasher. I knew I hadn't seen a Hermit Thrush this year and was very pleased to see one pop up in the same spot as the Yellow-rumped Warbler pic above. I thought the spots looked a little pale on it's chest, but the rusty tail and rump as well as the unlikeliness of any other thrushes at this time of year helped convince me. I thought I'd already seen a Thrasher this year, but if I did I didn't log it - because this guy showed up at my 123rd Duval bird of the year.

It was still very early after I completed my tour of Sheffield Regional Park, so I decided to go chase an unexpected rarity -  a pair of Fox Sparrows had been sighted at a park I'd never even heard of also on the north-side of the city: Seaton Creek Historic Preserve.

Seaton Creek is a long, winding park. Very long. Much winding. The paths are not paved. The paths are really quite long. I completely underestimated how much walking was involved in this - despite the reports showing the birds to be around 8000 steps from the parking lot. That seemed farfetched to me so I decided to not believe it. I should have believed it.

I will say now that I did not see the birds. I was in the right area, but I think I was just too tired and not focused enough to really try and dial in to search and listen for them. I heard various birds calling, but couldn't get anything definitive. I was able to find a couple of things worth pointing a camera at though.

Grey Catbird being catty in a tree. I love that the red butt was showing nicely here - not always visible

Not a great pic, but it's only an Armadillo! This is only my second encounter with a wild armadillo and I watched it forage for a few minutes before leaving it in peace. 

Note the glazed expression - and this was on the way out, I dread to think how bad I looked on the way back to the car!

So while not a roaring success in terms of the Fox Sparrows (I have seen them in NC, so I wasn't devastated) I was so happy to spend some time hanging out with the armadillo. I walked around 10 miles all told on Monday. I had some serious leg aches on Tuesday and Wednesday, thankfully they've passed today.

I weighed myself this morning for the first time since November 1st. Despite a little excess over Christmas, I've actually dropped six pounds. I have a long way to go, but that is a step in the right direction, especially since I probably gained a little in December. I think combining walking and birding as I have been has been really good for my health, both mental and physical. I really can't recommend it enough.

Current plans for this coming weekend are for a trip out of Duval County for the first time this year, in search of an amazing duck I've wanted to see for quite a few years. Fingers crossed it sticks around.