Southern Florida - Part One - Dec. 14 - 16, 2012

The intent of this trip was not to go birding, but one cannot help one self when the birds find you.  Plus, it helps that last time my uncle was in town, I kinda helped him get into birding.  Yay!  It's always nice to convert people. ;)
The real intent of the trip was to bear witness to my uncle's graduation.  Congratulations Uncle P., for earning your Master's Degree!  Such a tremendous accomplishment! 



Uncle's Backyard:

Turkey Vultures - they're there year round and in GREAT numbers, like I've never seen before.

South Beach:

Common Grackles - a lifter! :)

Monk Parakeet - Not an introduced species,  which I would have assumed.  Apparently they were blown over in a giant storm and stayed and thrived. 

Uncle's Backyard:

Northern Mockingbird - a lifer! :)

Another view of the Northern Mockingbird

White-Winged Dove - another lifer!

North Palm Beach, on the way to John D. MacArthur Beach Park to go kayaking - with my brother and uncle. 

My first White Ibis.  On the side of a busy road... I would have never guessed! (Lifer!)

Next sighting of White Ibis was in the parking lot of the wildlife area.  Two adults, one juvenile.

Ahhhhh!  This was crazy! And a couple walked by and said, "Oh, a small one."  I stared at them for a moment, checking for sarcasm.  Finding none, and probably with a look of shocked horror on my face, I said, "We're from the NW..."  Later we saw several, larger ones, and it was confirmed; no, they weren't being sarcastic.  haha! :)

This next section is the actual kayaking portion of the trip.  So much fun!!! (All photos taken from the front of the kayak, while my uncle was kind enough to steer and paddle.  Thank you Uncle P.! :D)

Osprey - year round resident of Florida.

Osprey

Common Loon.  I was a little thrown off by this.  I've only seen them on the west coast in the winter, and here, in S. Florida, in Dec., it was so hot.  When I saw it, I couldn't piece it together at first.  Florida is full of surprises, that is for certain!

Little Blue Heron.  Like most birds in Florida, a lifer! :)

We were SO thrown off by this one!  Looks like an Egret, but doesn't quite fit the criteria for any one Egret.  Later, I researched and found it's a young Little Blue Heron.

Brown Pelican perched high in a large, bushy tree.

Double-Crested Cormorant perched close to the Brown Pelican.  It was interesting to see birds I've seen many times before in Oregon, in a whole different environment. Almost like a new bird altogether.   

Turkey Vulture.  At this point we had parked our kayaks on a shore and found a short walking trail.  This guy was so close! =)
(We also saw Black Vultures! -further away, not pictured :(, but Lifer!:))

Continued in next post: 

Southern Florida - Part Two - Dec. 16, 2012