Day 19.021: Florida birds: miscellany

We did go out for a walk with our nature group today, but let's finish off the Florida birds first. Here are the rest of the birds I saw and managed to photograph:

Boat-tailed grackle

Palm warbler not in a palm tree

Nanday parakeets in a palm tree

European starling

Fish crow

I was pleased to get my ear-in recognizing fish crow voices. Almost all - if not all the crows I heard were fish crows.

Palm warbler not in a palm tree

Northern mockingbird in a palm tree

Boat-tailed grackle

Boat-tailed grackle

Day 19.020: Florida birds: raptors

A few Florida raptor sightings:

There was clearly a nest next to where this osprey landed, but I don't know if that had any relevance on this January day

Cooper's hawk (next two photos are the same bird)

Osprey (different occasion)

My first turkey vulture of the year

Another osprey sighting

Day 19.019: Florida birds: gulls and seabirds

Another roughly drawn category. Another collection of photos from my short birding walks in Clearwater Beach. 

Laughing gull

Lesser black-backed gull

Lesser black-backed gull

Royal tern

Hungry gulls

Double-crested cormorant

Brown pelican

Double-crested cormorant

This gull seemed to be having trouble swallowing this fish

A pelican kindly offered to help him out, a chase ensued, expanding to include a fish crow. Eventually the gull dropped its prize and the pelican made short work of it

I specifically went out hoping to find an anhinga

Small rearrangement required

Once I spotted one, I found a couple more

This one was displaying nicely (maybe the same one with the fish in the earlier photos

Nice view of a cormorant from one of the bridges

Black skimmer

More skimmers and other birds

Laughing gull

Classic pelican pose

I sadly didn't see any diving this year

Another anhinga on a later walk

Two of these are additions to my life list - the lesser black-backed gull and the black skimmer.

Day 19.018: Florida birds: waders and shorebirds

I’ll attempt to collate my bird photos from Florida in some broad and probably imprecise categories along with my best guess at IDs. Corrections and other thoughts are welcome as ever!

Willets

This one found something good in that ball of seaweed 

More willets

Ruddy turnstone 

Willet

Ruddy turnstone

Semipalmated sandpiper

Great blue heron 

Snowy egret

Great egret

Great egret

After much doubting, even further research and discussions, despite black legs and downward curve of the bill that suggested a western sandpiper, I now believe these next two pictures are a sanderling. Bird identification is hard at times!

Snowy egret

I was rather pleased with this photo (taken just before the opossum encounter)

Great blue heron

Great blue heron

Great egret

Great egret

American oystercatchers

Oystercatcher flyby

Willets

Willets

Great blue heron