Florida Gulf Coast Creations

Tag: Palm Warbler

  • Backyard Bottlebrush

    Backyard Bottlebrush

    We’ve been fortunate the past few years to have some beautiful visitors come to our bird feeders. The painted buntings are marvels. The males are some of the most colorful birds we see. Their combination of a deep blue head, green back and bright red breast and belly is stunning. Even the females are distinctively colored. Their overall hue is green with a yellowish tint on their bellies while their shoulders and wings have a wash of teal.

    Painted Bunting Female Resting In Shade Of Bottlebrush
    Painted Bunting Female Resting in the Shade of a Bottlebrush Shrub

    They are often timid when first coming to the feeder but eventually gain confidence and don’t get scared as easily. It can be very difficult to snap a good photo because they like to work their way to the feeder from the bushes and are often obstructed until they hop out to feed. They prefer caged feeders which is not good for pictures. This year we have a palm warbler who likes to chase the male bunting. I was lucky to be in the right spot at the right time to capture the photo below. The warbler was chasing the bunting and he landed out in the open just long enough for me to fire off a few quick shots.

    Palm Warbler Resting On Bottlebrush Limb
    Palm Warbler Resting on a Bottlebrush Limb

    Painted buntings are one of the most sought-after birds for photographers visiting Florida. We are blessed to enjoy them from October through March.

    Painted Bunting Male Perched On Bottlebrush Limb
    Male Painted Bunting Resting on the Top of a Bottlebrush Limb

    For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.

  • A Long Autumn

    A Long Autumn

    It’s been 3 months since my last post and a lot has happened. September began with a bout of Covid for Pam and me. As soon as we started to feel better, Mother Nature sent us hurricane Ian. We spent the last week of September making preparations for the storm and then spent the first week of October cleaning up the debris. Thankfully our damage was minimal compared to those a few miles south, although we did receive over a foot of rain. Unfortunately for my photography buddy, Art Nadelman, he tore his bicep muscle tendon while cleaning up his yard and had to have surgery.

    Ian delivered quite a blow to our birding activities. Many parks and preserves were flooded or sustained severe wind damage making them inaccessible. One of our favorite state parks is still closed. The bald eagles that we’ve watched and photographed for the past several years have been displaced. The tree with their nest blew down as well as all the trees surrounding their nest. This is a great loss for photographers because the nest was so accessible. We’ll be watching to see where they choose their next home and hope that we can get another great shooting spot.

    If the hurricane wasn’t bad enough, we lost one of our 4-legged babies on October 13. Gabby, our beloved 12-year-old Bichon Frise was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer on October 7 and passed just 6 days later. Needless to say, it was a devastating loss.

    Backyard birding has been the norm this fall. The good news is that our male painted bunting returned to our feeder in mid-October, and we’ve been fortunate to attract a pair of ruby-throated hummingbirds to a feeder since the end of September. Our winter waterfowl migrants are just beginning to arrive so it will be good to start getting out again.

  • Fort De Soto Park

    Fort De Soto Park

    A great location that is often featured on many photography websites and in magazines is Fort De Soto Park in Tierra Verde. The park has a very diversified environment which includes several miles of beaches. Fort De Soto Park sits at the end of Tampa Bay where it flows into the Gulf of America. In addition to the wide range of shore birds by the water, there are also hardwood areas where we often find warblers and songbirds.

    Hooded Warbler Resting On Branch Among Green Leaves
    Hooded Warbler Resting on a Branch with Green Leaves

    During the spring migration, the variety of birds increases significantly. The park is known for the migratory stopovers, which sometimes last for only a day or two. Every day in late spring brings different birds on their way back north. There are abundant ospreys and pelicans. It’s also common to see bald eagles.

    The link below provides more information on Fort De Soto Park.

    A few more pictures from this journey are featured below. For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.

Don`t copy text!