Sunday, December 18, 2011

White Ibis, Summerland Key

Before field work today I did some pre-breakfast birding around Summerland Key. First I checked the lagoon on East Shore Drive which held 7 Tricoloured Herons (very active feeders), 7 White Ibises, 18 Snowy Egrets, 8 Greater Yellowlegs, and singles of Belted Kingfisher, Great White Heron, Great Blue Heron, Brown Pelican, Great White Heron, Pied-billed Grebe, Ring-billed Gull and American Kestrel. A pair of Ospreys were active at a roadside nest. In the surrounding scrub were Gray Catbird, Palm Warbler, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Mockingbird and 12 Red-winged Blackbirds while a few Turkey Vultures circled overhead.

I then moved on to a small freshwater pond on Katherine Street which held 14 Blue-winged Teal, a pair of Wood Ducks, two pairs of American Coot, a Pied-billed Grebe, 2 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a Great Blue Heron, and a White Ibis. Wandering around the roadside, a group of 8 White Ibises were probing in the verge.


Later in the day, I saw two Northern Waterthrush while kayaking some small mangrove channels on Sugarloaf Key.







5 comments:

Russell Jenkins said...

Super photos of a beautiful species. It looks very different to Australian White Ibis which I am most familiar.

Fraser Simpson said...

Thanks Russell.

Bilal said...

Great Photos!
Wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Fraser Simpson said...

Happy New Year Bilal!

Lee Dingain said...

Very nice photos. Takes me back 5 years to my trip to Florida! nice blog also.