Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Beginning at the End in Florida: Crested Caracara

1. crested Caracara-kab Crested Caracara, Rt. 17 North of Arcadia, FL 3-7-2014

When we left for the train station in Winter Haven on March 7th, I thought my Florida Life List and Trip List were complete. Still, as we drove the two hours to the train station in Winter Haven, I kept my eyes open for birds along the highway. the chance of seeing something at 55 mph hours is was slim but still possible, so when I spotted this Crested Caracara alongside the road I was thrilled! My brother was more than happy to turn around and take me back to get a shot. He loves this bird and he wanted my mother to see it as well. The Mexican Eagle was actually on the ground when we first pulled over, but it quickly flew up onto the fence post, watching us warily. 

2. Crested Caracara taking flight-kab When I rolled the window down to take some pictures the Caracara took flight and flew right across the road in front of us and into a tall tree on the opposite side. The Crested Caracara made species #116 for my Florida Life List and species 101 for this trip.

3. swooping low-kab 

4. in the tree-kab

Little did I know then that I would get one more species before boarding the train in Winter Haven, for there at the train station a large flock of Tree Swallows was swooping over the train tracks! While I have seen Tree Swallows in Florida before, they made species 102 for this 2014 Trip to Florida!

Note: I’m settling in and unpacking more boxes while also trying to count birds and blog. Today was the first day I finally offloaded some of my photos. More pictures and stories to come!

Florida 2014 Trip Bird Species Final Count

  • Florida Life Birds: 116
  • Florida 2014 Species seen: 102

And finally, a new poem!

17 comments:

  1. Fabulous bird and amazing photos!
    Best regards from Poland/Michał and Piotr

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank You, Dzial! It is nice to have you visit my blog! I liked your hornbill shots on your blog as well!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Crested Caracara is always a great bird to see. I am sure that many people do not know it is known also as Mexican Eagle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David, you are so right and it IS a great bird to see!

      Delete
  4. Amazing bird! I was so thrilled to see one in Brazil last year

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kathryn, they are so cool and my mom and brother were both so excited! I was glad to get one on my Florida list. Do you remember seeing some with me on our way to Organ Pipe national Monument one of the times you visited me in AZ?

      Delete
  5. Such a variety of colours for a Raptor Kathie.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Roy, it really is colorful, and though it is known as the Mexican Eagle it behaves more like a vulture.

      Delete
  6. Lovely flight photo, Kathie. I saw them a couple of times in Costa Rica and prefer them to the Yellow-head ones.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. happy, I did not even know there was a yellow-headed variety!

      Delete
  7. Replies
    1. Thanks Chris. You never know, you might see one yourself while you are there!

      Delete
  8. beautiful images of the Caracara :) Love the light in the images.

    http://nfbird.blogspot.se/

    ReplyDelete
  9. I saw one today in the same area on the road side as well, beautiful bird only seen two in 30 years living in florida.

    ReplyDelete

Welcome to my nest! I hope you will enjoy spending time here with me and the birds. Thank you for your comments. I will try to get back to you as soon as I get back from counting more birds.