Now it doesn't get any better than this! What a day, warm, sunny and lots of birds. Our total count for the day was 73 species. We had 4 cars that continued to bird after lunch and off we went to Bio-Lab Road which runs along Mosquito Lagoon. All was well and the birds were great when about half way through your leaders car died, deader than a doornail. Here we were in the middle of no where, warm turned to HOT, shade was at a premium and 2pm turned to 5:30pm when the tow truck finally showed up. My faithful servants, thanks to all of you, never left my side. Now I know why we carry cell phones, it would have been a long walk out. Gert and I finally made it home at 9pm, sweaty and pooped. But what great birds we had!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great Pictures by Paul Nistico

Birds Seen Today:
Anhinga, Avocet, Red-Winged Blackbird, Catbird, Coot, Cormorant, Brown-Headed Cowbird, American Crow, Fish Crow, Mourning Dove, Ring-Necked Duck, Northern Pintail, Lesser Scaup, Northern Shoveler, Blue-Winged Teal, Green-Winged Teal, Bald Eagle (In Nest With Eaglets), Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Common Grackle, Boat-Tail Grackle, Pied-Bill Grebe, Herring Gull, Bonaparte's Gull, Laughing Gull, Great Black-Backed Gull, Ring-Billed Gull, Northern Harrier, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Red-Tailed Hawk, Sharp-Shinned Hawk, Osprey, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Glossy Ibis, White Ibis, Killdeer, Belted Kingfisher, Common Loon, Hooded Merganser, Red-Breasted Merganser, Mockingbird, Common Moorhen, Brown Pelican, American White Pelican, Phoebe, Black Belled Plover, Dunlin, Marbled Godwit, Red Knot, Sanderling, Willet, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Common Snipe, Roseate Spoonbill, Black-Necked Stilt, Wood Stork, Tree Swallow, Ruddy Turnstone, Caspian Tern, Forster's Tern, Royal Tern, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Yellow-Rumped Warbler And Common Yellow-Throat



Birds Heard Today:
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Sora And Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Next up:
Friday, January 20 - Audubon Center for Birds of Prey - meet at Belk's parking lot 9:00am. (I think I'll ride on this one). This is a new venue for the club and should be very educational. This center cares for and rehabilitates injured and sick birds of prey, set in a beautiful natural setting on a lake near Orlando. There will be a $100.00 fee for the club so the more we have the cheaper the price. We will have a special guided tour of the facility. Fee will be collected in the parking lot based on the number going. Hope to see you on Friday!