Sweetwater Wetlands Park

Hello,

I am sharing another great Florida park called Sweetwater Wetlands Park near Gainesville Florida. Sweetwater is considered a thriving habitat of 125 acres of wetlands and ponds. We met a Florida resident and birder at the Paynes Prairie Park earlier in the day and he told us that Sweetwater was a great place for seeing birds. Thankfully our Garmin GPS and my Iphone were able to take us there.

At Sweetwater Wetlands there are 3.5 miles of gravel trails and boardwalks. It was a pretty day for a walk on the trails and a lovely sky.

A Sora, a small secretive rail that hangs out in the marshes. It has a triangle body shape with a small yellow bill.

Black-bellied Whistling ducks with some Cormorants in the background.

This shot below looks better enlarged, there is a Belted Kingfisher perched on a stick in the background, a Great Blue Heron, two Wood Storks and a Limpkin far lower right.

Cormorant with fish.

A pretty blue sky with the white puffy clouds.

I believe these are two Savannah Sparrows below. These sparrows have a little telltale yellow colors near their eyes.

A Wood Stork showing off it's pretty wings.

I am sharing two videos, one with a large group of Whistling Ducks and Cormorants. the second video was of an alligator crossing the trail.





Be thankful for each day, because not everyone gets to see another one. 


For my thankful list today:
I am thankful for my Garmin GPS
I am thankful for friendly and nice people we meet on our outings.
I am thankful for blue skies and puffy white clouds.

Thank you for your visit and comments on my post. Enjoy your day and the weekend ahead!

Thanks to Michelle for the meme Thankful Thursday
I am also linking up to Skywatch Friday, I hope to see you there.

Thank you to Sylvia, Yogi and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday.

Sora

Linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes and NC Sue @ Image-in-ing

For this week's Wild Bird I am sharing the Sora I saw while in Florida.. It came out into the open at the Viera Wetlands..just as I was driving by..The Sora was not a lifer for me my first sighting was Sora @ Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico and last year I saw it in a local Maryland Park.  They are always cool birds to see..

The Sora is a secretive bird in the rail family. It has a short yellow bill, black face and a triangle-shaped body..

I was able to click two some what clear shots of my Sora..

The Sora did not stay out in the open long before it hightailed back into the reeds..

 I hope you enjoyed the Sora and my wild bird post.. Till next week's wild bird post.. I wish you happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird and nature photos please visit:

 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes and Sue for NC-SUE @ image-in-ing

thanks to all of our hosts... Michelle for Nature Notes and Stewart of Wild Bird Wednesday.

  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

Viera Wetlands, Florida

I am linking up with   Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday   They are both fun memes to participate in...I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts.

On March 17th we visited the Viera Wetlands, nearest city is Viera in Brevard County, Florida.   We drove down from our hotel near Merritt Island. This is another birding hotspot to visit while in Florida. Before leaving home I checked out the Florida Birding Trail  map for all the great birding spots around the areas we were visiting..It is a great source of information..  I was really happy with the birds we saw, below is a mosaic with just some of the birds we saw during our visit.

Top row starting from the left is a Sora, American Bittern and a Pied-bill Grebe.
Middle row is the American Bittern again, an alligator, Sandhill Crane.
Bottom row, a Tricolored Heron,  Limpkin and a White Ibis.

A look at one of the pond areas at the Viera Wetlands..You can bird by car, foot or bicycle. Birding by car can be great, because the car acts as a blind. All my photos were taken from the car except for the American Bittern shot. We climbed the observation tower and looked down at the American Bittern right below us..



I made a slideshow of the American Bittern, we were able to watch it walk right below were we stood on the observation tower.. It was a great sighting, to see this somewhat shy bird..

Some more images of a Sandhill Crane.

The American Coots were seen all over the place, every birding spot we visited the Coots were plentiful.

The Moorhen was another common bird we saw every place we visited.. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend visiting the Viera Wetlands.. A great spot for awesome birding.. I hope you enjoyed my post and photos.. Thank you for visiting and for all the nice comments.. Have a great day and week ahead!

I use Pic Monkey to create my mosaics, you can use Pic Monkey free or pay for an upgraded version.

I hope you can join in on our fun with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday

 Thanks to Judith our host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer.  I wish everyone a happy week ahead!

It was a Rail day

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

For this week's wild bird I am featuring the Virginia Rail..

 Hubby and I were among many of the Maryland birders that went to see the Virginia Rails being seen at the Swan Harbor Farms in Aberdeen, Maryland.. On one day 10-11 Virginia Rails were being seen.  Hubby and I saw 5 Virginia Rails, a Sora,  a Clapper Rail on the same day at the same place.. We sat in a blind and just watched them coming out of the reeds. It was so cool. We thought we also saw the King Rail, but it is not included in any of my photos..

 The Virginia Rail is a small water bird of the Rallidae family. Their breeding habitat is marshlands. They are secretive bird that usually remain hidden in the vegetation. They have a long curved red bill and gray cheeks, rufous throat and breast.

A Virginia Rail and muskrat

Together above were three Virginia Rails and a Sparrow.

 A few Sora's were being seen also.. With this bird their yellow beak is good to help with their id. This bird was able to hide and more shy than the rails..

Another Clapper Rail was seen with the Virginia Rails.. It's beak looks a little darker than the Clapper Rail I saw at Forsythe.  It was Rail weekend for me after seeing the Clapper Rail at Edwin Forsythe only two days earlier.



Thanks for stopping by my post and for all the nice comments.

Join in and post your birdies and to see more beautiful and wonderful bird photos please visit:
 Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and Michelle's  Nature Notes.  Thanks to our host Michelle our host Stewart.  Happy Birding and have a wonderful week!

More Bosque Del Apache NWR

November 16, 2013

Linking up Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-b-birdin  
I hope you are joining in and posting your birds and critters.

Can you believe half of November is over already? Gee, the days are just flying by. Pretty soon it will be Thanksgiving, time to prefer for the big family Thanksgiving day dinner.

 Above are some of the birds we saw while visiting the Bosque Del Apache wildlife refuge: the large photo is the Sandhill Cranes, top right is the Roadrunner, Gambel's Quail, White-Crowned Sparrow, Bottom left is a Marsh Wren, Snow Geese, female Northern Harrier and a couple of Killdeer.

 Neat reflection of the Killdeer.

 A Sora not far from the boardwalk trail. The Sora is a small waterbird, breeds in marshy areas.

Pepe le Pew thankfully running away from us, as we headed back to our car.

 Cute bunny also seen near the boardwalk trail.

Female Northern Harrier showing off its owlish looking face. The male Harrier is grey and is called the Grey Ghost. I hope you enjoy my birds and critters from the Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge.

Thanks for stopping by and  I wish everyone a happy weekend.

 To see more beautiful photos and cute critters

please visit:  Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious hosts Misty Dawn of Camera Critters and to Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin.