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| Screech Owl |
What a fantastic trip! I was able to enjoy my sister's company for the first 10 days. Then I was the guest of friends, Don & Deb for 4 days. I loved stayed them and they made sure I got to see most of the birds on my list in their area plus I got a life bird ~ Burrowing Owl on a trip over to Marco Island and life butterfly ~ Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak in their yard. They took me down into the Everglades which was also a first for me. Just awesome and I thank them from the bottom of my heart!! You guys rock even though we never did get into the pool. Then I was off for another week by myself traveling more of the state and revisiting some areas. I ended up seeing a total of 107 species of birds with 5 of them life birds. I saw 20 plus species of butterflies with 4 lifers. Add in alligators, turtles, tortoises, manatees, dolphins, lizards and more which makes for just a photographers delight. My arms were really tired on March 24th when at Merritt Island, FL I could barely hold the camera up anymore to do flight shots of the birds. My pictures are on the preceding pages with identification of the amazing nature found in FL. Enjoy them.
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| Great Egret Preening |
screech
Drove over from Belleaire Beach to St. Petersburg this morning which isn't such a long drive. I had decided to explore the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve. When I arrived I asked some hikers leaving what there best bird of the day was "Horned Owl and owlets." They gave me the information on where to find them and off I went. When I first started my hike I was pleased to find a butterfly garden and then all along the way I found butterflies on Shepard's Needle. The Screech Owl (left) was in captivity having been injured and is not able to be released again into the wild. They have a display with a number of birds including Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Black and Turkey Vultures and more.
