Barred Owl in the Everglades

We went to the Everglades! Because each trail was so unique and had such varied wildlife, we decided that each trail deserves its own post. Although it is June and very hot, there was no shortage of birds to be found today. So armed with full-body coverage to ward off the swarms of angry mosquitoes, flies, and many more insects I have never seen before, we spent the day in search of feathered friends.

One of the first stops we made was at a Mangrove canopy near the Anhinga trail. The sign advertised, Barred Owl! Well, we weren't too optimistic about seeing owls in the middle of the summer in the middle of the day. But its pretty hard to be disappointed exploring the Everglades. Even driving into the park, there were herons, Anhingas and blackbirds flying and snooping around in the agricultural fields right outside the park entrance.

So you say!

It had recently rained in Florida, and so there was quite a bit of green vegetation, including scattered flowers of various sorts.






 I will admit, we pretty much ready to give up on every single trail we went on today because of the swarms of hostile insects! Somehow, they bit us through our hiking boots, and socks. But even after a few minutes, we were rewarded by several cheerful cardinals, and several Red-Bellied woodpeckers swinging around on the airplants and calling to each-other in the mangrove trees.

Taking a break, so fluffy.

We had almost finished the entire trail and contemplating lunch when a brown shape swooped up in front of the trial and scared the whoozles out of us (I pretty much assume almost everything in the Everglades is an alligator, because, there are a lot of alligators). But then- we realized it was an OWL!! A barred owl! He didn't seem too perturbed to see us, and immediately swooped down and caught...something.

Hunting...looking...

 

Pounce!

Eating a...lizard? Bug? Snake? Something.

Almost sleepy.

 That was pretty neat. He kind of hung out for awhile, but got spooked by a screeching hawk chasing around some crows in the canopy. Sir owl stayed out of the commotion.

Scraaaaawww!

]

What?

What is going on up thar!?

No concern of mine.

Rodeo Lagoon

This morning we went to Rodeo lagoon, west of Sausalito in Marin country. It was easily accessible, so we were able to get there shortly after dawn.

Huge (10 or 15 foot) waves crashed down at Rodeo Beach, so we stayed quite a bit away.

Huge waves on the beach at dawn

 It was a great time visit the lagoon, since there seemed to be quite a number of migratory waterfowl taking up residence. One of the most charismatic birds we saw was the Hooded Merganser. The bird has beautiful, stark colors and impressive hairdos.

 The female birds also have a unique appearance.

The majority of the lagoon seemed to be swamped by giant piles of american coot. Interspersed, we were excited to find the Ring-Necked Duck. We weren't close enough to see the brown colors on his neck but the beak rings were very obvious.

We saw a few species of grebe, included one or two pied-billed grebes.

Eared Grebe

In addition to the waterfowl, we also found a number of songbirds while hiking the trails around the lagoon.

Song Sparrow

Wrentit

Fox Sparrow

On the side of the lagoon, a few California Towhee posed very photogenically. I love the rust coloration of their faces. Not too far away, a couple of Spotted Towhee foraged around near the road as well.

California Towhee

California Towhee

California Towhee

We chanced on a flock of california quail grazing in the dry grass by the side of the main road leading to the lagoon. This was probably the highlight of our morning, since we previously have only seen Gambel's quail.

qualios!

To round it all out, we saw a fair variety of herons too.

Snowy Egret

Great Egret

Green Heron

• Hooded Merganser
• Pied-billed Grebe
• Ring-billed Duck
• American Coot
• Mallard
• Eared Grebe
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Green Heron
• California Towhee
• Spotted Towhee
• Wrentit
• Song Sparrow
• White-crowned sparrow
• California Quail