Week 5 (2/3/19) - New Month, Same Disappointment...

First of all - thank you so much for the support shown for the last entry. I had people here, on Facebook and in real life reach out to me and that means a huge amount. So thank you all. Also, to my work peeps who have been supporting me, thank you as well. It is amazing to think of how many people I have around me who care.

Ok, enough mushy stuff.

So, after being soaked through last week I naturally ended up doing the exact same thing this week! But we're not there yet. I continued with my daily walks at work, but my step count has been dropping. I've let myself slip to one short walk, instead of two. I need to try and get back to a morning and afternoon stroll. My brain needs a break from work and my body needs a break from sitting constantly. I'm going to try and rectify that moving forwards.

Despite their relative shortness, I have been able to have a number of nice encounters with the resident Red-shouldered Hawk(s) at the office, with this chap hanging out over the road last week.

Red-shouldered Hawk surveying their realm

I haven't got good enough to know if I"m seeing the same bird over and over, or if there's more than one there. I know for a fact there are multiple Ospreys living in the area, as I've seen three at once there. I can't remember if I've seen more than one hawk at a time.

Saturday I took a personal day. That is to say, I took the day to do things I needed/wanted to do, but I did it all on my schedule. I didn't rush myself, I didn't set a real agenda besides knowing a couple of things that really needed attention.

After writing the last blog post on Friday evening, I was a little nervous about the response I would get. It's scary putting yourself out there in the world and being vulnerable. It is also incredibly cathartic and liberating, at least it was for me. I understand that not everyone would feel that way - we're all wired differently and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Saturday I started getting some responses to the post and couldn't believe how much views it received (over 80, which is more than all the other posts combined to date). 80 isn't a huge number, but for a dude just writing about himself and birds it's a pretty decent start.

I didn't go birding on Saturday, but I did a little chilling in the back yard just soaking in the noisy atmosphere. I apparently had timed it really well, and the birds were making a lot of noise and it was awesome. I took a video. I have since watched the video and it isn't exactly amazing, the birds aren't very clear and their singing and chirping isn't nearly as loud as it was on the day, but I'll share it here nonetheless. It's 90 seconds. Feel free to watch or not.

On Sunday I arose relatively early and headed to Spoonbill Pond at Big Talbot. There's a boat ramp there where sparrows gather at high tide, and checking recent reports I knew that early morning was the right time to be there. I arrived around 8 and sure enough the tidal river boat ramp was well submerged, leaving relatively little ground for the sparrows. I bumped into a couple of other birders there who had seen some Seaside and Saltmarsh Sparrows. I tried to maintain my composure as I prepared to watch the rocks - both would be year birds, but Saltmarsh would be a lifer. 405 incoming?

I should note, like a total muppet I left my binocs at home on Sunday. Still not quite sure how I managed it, but thankfully the places I went were very scope-friendly, so I muddled through. Eventually I spotted movement on the rocks and brought the scope into focus.

405? Is the line on the chest clear across or is it blended?

This was very much not a Seaside Sparrow - the giss was all wrong. That gave me two choices - Nelson's and Saltmarsh Sparrows. The first time I saw sparrows here I was with David, who is something of an authority on such things. We thought we had a Saltmarsh that day, but it turned out to be two Nelson's that looked a little different. I initially talked myself into seeing this one as a Saltmarsh, because I didn't think the chest had a definitive delineation between that buffy color and the pale chest. On review I'm resigned to it being a Nelson's however. To be honest I'm still not 100%...

I did find two definite Seaside Sparrows though. Note the nice bright yellow mark next to the eye and heavy bill. 

After looking at sparrows for a while and trying to decide what I had seen, I headed over the road to Spoonbill Pond itself and had a number of birds showing off for me. 

Red-breasted Merganser looking a little unimpressed with the weather

Tried to turn the nearer bird into a Greater due to the clean white flank, but pretty sure this is just a couple of Lesser Scaups

Blue-winged Teal with a gorgeous female Northern Pintail in the background

American Avocet - still never get tired of seeing them

Snowy Egret taking an unusual pose at the top of a snag. He also seemed unhappy with the wind and rain

I left Big Talbot and drove south to try and find the acursed Purple Sandpiper at Huguenot. I do not have many pictures from Huguenot, which is to say I have zero pictures. I was drenched within a few minutes and, having opted to go shoeless on the sand, was rather cold to boot. I scoured through probably two thousand birds all nestled on the sand to get out of the weather, many hiding in the lee of the large Herring Gulls and Brown Pelicans. I saw a group of twenty or so Ruddy Turnstones and picked them over, but once again failed to find my quarry. 

The above video summed up my feelings after dipping once again. I have since sent out a message to some other birders in the area to see if I'm just not looking in the right spot. I'm getting e-mails on a daily basis about these birds, yet they continue to elude me. Gah. 

Ah well. I'm still deciding on plans for this weekend. A Japanese bird showed up among the thousands of gulls down the coast at Daytona - a Black-tailed Gull. I would love to have joined the throng of birders hoping to catch of glimpse of this legit mega-rarity but, alas, to date only a handful have actually seen the bird since it was originally documented by gull expert Michael Brothers last week. I am monitoring the situation, but unless it becomes more inclined to show its face, I may just save myself the heartache and try and find a less risky chase. 

For now, unless someone talks me back around to Saltmarsh Sparrow, I remain on 404. I did add 4 years birds though, taking my tally to 127 for Duval County and 133 for the year. Still a long way to go, but it would be nice to try and make some more progress towards 500 before April... 

A final note before the eBird lists for this week, for those who have been wondering I feel like I've been doing better this week; more even-keeled and generally in better spirits. I am throwing myself into my work, having accumulated around 30 hours through Wednesday evening, but frankly there's a ton of work to be done and I have the time to work on it at the moment, so why not? I think as long as I take regular breaks and remember to interact with real humans every now and then it'll be ok. With my weekends being filled with more birding and D&D than in the past, I feel like I need to try and maximize my time during the week so I can contribute the hours I'm aiming for without feeling the need to cut short a weekend birding trip to work. 

I neglected to add my eBird checklists for last week's post - I'm going back to add those in case you wanted to follow along. 

Big Talbot Island - Spoonbill Pond list

Huguenot Memorial Park list