Search for an Ani



March 10th

          This morning was a birding morning.  We got up at the crack of dawn to beat the traffic, the heat, and the predicted rain.  We drove from Boca Raton to Homestead in search of a Smooth-billed Ani that would have been an ABA lifer.  We drove to a canal near the Everglades National Park and had to hike a mile to get to the spot where the Ani had recently been reported.  An Ani is a big black noisy bird, but we had no luck trying to locate it. 

          We did find a number of other good birds in the area.  When we started walking on the trail, we noticed a lot of Blue Jays making a racket.  It turns out that they were mobbing a Great Horned Owl.  Next, we saw a beautiful male Painted Bunting which is another Florida specialty bird in the wintertime.  As we walked along, we saw a Gray Catbird and some Common Ground Doves which were new trip birds. 

          As we neared the spot to look for the Ani, we saw Wood Storks soaring, a Snail Kite patrolling the marsh and a Western Kingbird flycatching. There were also many Halloween Pennants, a dragonfly named for its orange and black coloration.  Even though we failed to find the Smooth-billed Ani, it was a really good morning of birding.

(6 new FOY species, total in Florida 50)

          Common Ground Dove

          Wood Stork

          Snail Kite (scarce)

          Western Kingbird (scarce)

          Gray Catbird

          Painted Bunting


                                       Painted Bunting (male)

                                       Common Ground Dove

                                       Western Kingbird

                                       Wood Stork   

                                       Halloween Pennant
                



Comments

  1. AnnMarch 11, 2022 at 8:37 AM

    Halloween pennants? I thought people had forgotten to take their decorations down.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John SobetzerMarch 11, 2022 at 11:52 AM

    I like the painted bunting picture. They are a pretty bird. Long ago when I was a kid we had a period in time when my mother bought us these plastic bird kits and we kids would paint them. My favorite was when I painted an unpainted painted bunting.

    ReplyDelete

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