My early morning outing was a great one today, imagine 3 species of woodpeckers in the same tree? Well that was the main event. Not only that, 2 off them are new birds for me in Florida, at least photographically. "Yellow-shafted Flicker", "Hairy Woodpecker" and the ubiquitous "Red-bellied". It's hard to decide which was the most memorable but I think probably the Flicker. There is a puddle of fresh water on the road by the park and in good light, there was great reflections. This pool of fresh water is the product of the early morning lawn sprinkler system, this is part of the interesting story.
Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker - Colaptes auratus
As I drove past, a Boat-tailed Grackle was bathing and I stopped to take pictures which were good. Then suddenly I became aware that in a puddle nearby, another bird was bathing and it wan't a bird I had seen so far this trip. I quickly positioned the car for a better view and was thrilled to see that it was a woodpecker. I fired off shots and right there, my Florida trip was made worth it. As if that weren't enough, when the Flicker left the pool I followed it's flight to a nearby tree and saw that there was a female Red-bellied Woodpecker. I climbed from the car and crept slowly towards "my quarry" only to focus my camera on to a little woodpecker which proved to be a Hairy Woodpecker, common apparently, but not a bird That I have been able to photograph nicely before. As if that wasn't enough, in the same tree was a Red-belied Woodpecker. Quite why they were all in the same tree is a mystery, they didn't appear to be feeding so I have no idea why?
Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus
Red-bellied Woodpecker – Melanerpes carolinus
So it was a great morning and then on the way home I called in to John U Lloyd to see if the Osprey was there again……. bingo!!!!!!! It was in the same exact spot as yesterday morning. Now the light was better and I also had the time to stand and wait for it to fly off the perch. Today I watched from 8.45 until 1015 when it eventually dipped in to the creek just like yesterday. It circled around me and landed back on the perch…… my first wow of the trip!!!!!. I took some photos of the flight but I disappointed with myself not to get the actual plunge…… still mustn't complain, a couple of good-uns in the camera. Just a shame about the distracting background.
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