Carolina Chickadees - Pinellas County

Carolina Chickadees - Pinellas County
Monday, August 30th

As it was nearing the end of the month and my list of warblers was very modest, I elected to chase the migrants being reported up in Pinellas County (St Petersburg) area. A weather 'low' had grounded migrants  for several days and reports of some really good vireo and warblers lists, for this time of year, were turning up on the birding message boards.  On the down side was the fact that I could not get up there till yesterday, a day or to late, as the weather had cleared up.

I first checked the Tierra Verde neighborhood as I was nearing the Ft DeSoto County Park. The most interesting birds here was a trio of Nanday Parakeets busy preening each other. Also seen were several Wood Storks, A lone Roseate Spoonbill, several White Ibis, Brown Pelicans, Laughing Gulls and Double-crested Cormorants. The usual wire birds were on hand Mourning Doves, Fish Crows, Rock Pigeons, Grackles and a lone Brown-headed Cowbird. On the Tierre Verde ponds only a couple of Pied-billed Grebes.

White Ibis at Ft DeSoto

Lots of spider webs but few birds

Ft DeSoto County Park - I was too late for the warblers. Could not find a single one. Just a lone Eastern Wood-Pewee, several Northern Cardinals, a single Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.  There were several  Osprey, a few White Ibis, and Mourning Doves. The beaches had a few Black-bellied Plovers, Wilson's Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers and a Piping Plover. Lots of Laughing Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, Black Skimmers, Willets, Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones and Short-billed Dowitchers were also present. I was looking for the hundreds of Red knots reported but did not spot any. Same with the common terns. Did find Royal, Least, Sandwich and Forster's Terns. Was also hoping for Caspian terns and the long-billed curlew, but missed them too.  Ran out of time here as I had a lunch appointment with my daughter, who had recently moved to the bay area.

Blue Jay

Gray Squirrel

Boardwalk at John Chestnut

John H Chestnut County Park - Continued birding in Pinellas County following lunch. I checked out a new location for me called John Chestnut Park in Palm Harbor. The birding was much better but still lacked the many of the more interesting migrant warblers. Quickly found a mixed flock of warblers and vireos consisting of mostly local common warblers - Black-and-Whites, Northern Parulas, Yellow and Yellow-throated Warblers. Had also found a Red-eyed Vireo and several Yellow-throated Vireos. There were Moorhens and a Least Tern on the lake and Blue Jays and begging gray squirrels on the boardwalk. Seems to me that someone is feeding the animals here. On the boardwalk were more parula, Carolina Wren, several more cardinals, a pair of Red-Shouldered Hawks and Tufted Titmice.  Back out in the live oaks was a tree loaded with Carolina Chickadees, a first for the year for me, more yellow, parulas and yellow-throated warblers and more titmice.  Here popped up a Pileated Woodpecker, plus a Red-bellied and a Downy Woodpeckers.

Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal

On the way out of the park I was surprised to find a couple of pair of white-tailed deer. This ended a good birding visit here. Absent for the day were swallows. Only say a couple of Barn Swallows at Chestnut for the whole day.

White-tailed Deer in the park

Small buck in velvet

Florida White-tailed Deer

My List for today (49)

Pied-billed Grebe, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, White Ibis, Osprey, Red-shouldered Hawk, Common Moorhen, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Piping Plover, Killdeer, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Short-billed Dowitcher, Laughing Gull, Least Tern, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Black Skimmer, Mourning Dove, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Kingbird, Gray Kingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Yellow-throated Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Barn Swallow, Fish Crow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Northern Cardinal, European Starling, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird

My August List - (128)

1. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
2. Muscovy Duck
3. Mottled Duck
4. Wild Turkey
5. Northern Bobwhite
6. Pied-billed Grebe
7. Brown Pelican
8. Double-crested Cormorant
9. Anhinga
10. Magnificent Frigatebird
11. Great Blue Heron
12. Great Egret
13. Snowy Egret
14. Little Blue Heron
15. Tricolored Heron
16. Reddish Egret
17. Cattle Egret
18. Green Heron
19. Black-crowned Night-Heron
20. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
21. White Ibis
22. Glossy Ibis
23. Roseate Spoonbill
24. Wood Stork
25. Black Vulture
26. Turkey Vulture
27. Osprey
28. Swallow-tailed Kite
29. Snail Kite
30. Bald Eagle
31. Cooper's Hawk
32. Red-shouldered Hawk
33. Red-tailed Hawk
34. Crested Caracara
35. King Rail
36. Common Moorhen
37. Limpkin
38. Sandhill Crane
39. Black-bellied Plover
40. Snowy Plover
41. Wilson's Plover
42. Semipalmated Plover
43. Piping Plover
44. Killdeer
45. American Oystercatcher
46. Black-necked Stilt
47. American Avocet
48. Spotted Sandpiper
49. Solitary Sandpiper
50. Greater Yellowlegs
51. Willet
52. Lesser Yellowlegs
53. Upland Sandpiper
54. Marbled Godwit
55. Ruddy Turnstone
56. Sanderling
57. Western Sandpiper
58. Least Sandpiper
59. Pectoral Sandpiper
60. Short-billed Dowitcher
61. Long-billed Dowitcher
62. Laughing Gull
63. Least Tern
64. Gull-billed Tern
65. Black Tern
66. Forster's Tern
67. Royal Tern
68. Sandwich Tern
69. Black Skimmer
70. Rock Pigeon
71. Eurasian Collared-Dove
72. White-winged Dove
73. Mourning Dove
74. Common Ground-Dove
75. Monk Parakeet
76. Nanday Parakeet
77. Burrowing Owl
78. Barred Owl
79. Common Nighthawk
80. Chimney Swift
81. Belted Kingfisher
82. Red-headed Woodpecker
83. Red-bellied Woodpecker
84. Downy Woodpecker
85. Hairy Woodpecker
86. Red-cockaded Woodpecker
87. Northern Flicker
88. Pileated Woodpecker
89. Eastern Wood-Pewee
90. Great Crested Flycatcher
91. Eastern Kingbird
92. Gray Kingbird
93. Loggerhead Shrike
94. White-eyed Vireo
95. Yellow-throated Vireo
96. Red-eyed Vireo
97. Blue Jay
98. Florida Scrub-Jay
99. American Crow
100. Fish Crow
101. Purple Martin
102. Bank Swallow
103. Barn Swallow
104. Carolina Chickadee
105. Tufted Titmouse
106. Brown-headed Nuthatch
107. Carolina Wren
108. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
109. Eastern Bluebird
110. Northern Mockingbird
111. European Starling
112. Northern Parula
113. Yellow Warbler
114. Yellow-throated Warbler
115. Pine Warbler
116. Black-and-white Warbler
117. American Redstart
118. Prothonotary Warbler
119. Eastern Towhee
120. Bachman's Sparrow
121. Northern Cardinal
122. Red-winged Blackbird
123. Eastern Meadowlark
124. Common Grackle
125. Boat-tailed Grackle
126. Brown-headed Cowbird
127. Orchard Oriole
128. House Sparrow
129. Scarlet Ibis x White Ibis hybrid