subbuteo

I spent a ten day family holiday in Sanibel Island on the Gulf of Mexico coast of Florida, USA.  The island is mostly managed conservation land and home of the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge.  The birds are incredibly approachable.  I took a few pictures with a compact camera some of which turned out surprisingly well considering.

Along with the birdlife I also saw alligator, racoon, bobcat, marsh rabbit, armadillo, gopher turtle and heard coyote calling (when emergency vehicle sirens went past).  I will add a list of birds seen later- happy to be corrected on some of the IDs here- working from memory.

Dylan

Pied billed grebe


Red knot


Magnificent frigatebird


Magnificent frigatebird


Magnificent frigatebird


Magnificent frigatebird and tree swallows


Yellow-throated Warbler


Northern Cardinal


Marsh rabbit


Mourning dove


Common gallinule (moorhen)


American coot


Red-bellied Woodpecker


Killdeer


Louisiana Heron


Yellow-crowned Night Heron


Double-crested cormorant


Common grackle


Tree swallows


American alligator


American alligator


Snowy egret and white ibis


Least sandpiper



Snowy egret


Laughing gull


Red-breasted Merganser


American White Pelican


American White Pelican and Brown Pelican


Spotted Sandpiper (I yhink... need to check!)


American White Pelican


Roseate Spoonbill


Ding Darling bird flock


Little Blue Heron


Yellow-crowned Night Heron


Eastern Phoebe


Royal Tern


Roosting Terns, gulls and waders


Herring gull (need to confirm?)


Laughing gull


Willets and red knot


White Ibis and sanderling


Willet, red knot, dunlin


Dunlin


Turnstone


Willet


Laughing gull


Ring-billed gull


Laughing gull


Laughing gull


Sandwich Tern


Terns


Terns


[ Last edited by subbuteo at 5/01/2016 17:48 ]

lmichael

Nice pictures for a compact!

I think that the bird labelled Herring Gull is Lesser Black-backed Gull - American Herring Gull is pale manteled and always has pink legs (these are yellowish). However I would not want to rule out a hybrid.

Also the 'Sandwich Terns' are Cabot's Terns Thalasseus acuflavidus. This is a DNA split - the North American taxon looks much like Sandwich Ter.

Cheers

Mike Leven

subbuteo

Thanks Mike- the camera performs well when you can get that close to the birds- nearly treading on them! The American warblers (actually most passerines) respond very well to pishing so come very close.  I missed photos of Grey Catbird, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-rumped warbler, Pileated woodppecker and a lot of other birds due to the slow focus and shutter response.  Ospreys are seemingly everywhere but hard to get a decent picture of.

Dylan