Spent last week with my family in Punta Gorda, Belize. Had a beautiful week of birding and exploring areas outside of Punta Gorda with Mom, Tim, Mary and Tina. Nora and Warren (Mary’s kids) also joined in the fun.
I am processing about 1,400 images from the week and will have lots of good stuff displayed over the next several weeks. Here are a couple of shots of the Blue-grey Tanager outside the Belcampo Lodge.
6am & 24 degrees, 1 cup of coffee and we start looking for Owls. After visiting 3 different parks in our ‘circle’ with no luck, we headed to Perkins for some breakfast and warmth. Following breakfast, we spent the next 4 hours wandering from open space to open space counting bird numbers and species. It did warm up a bit, but the birding was slower than in past years. One theory was the cold made for very little open water, but the lack of snow spread the birds out as they have lots ore food sources this year with lots of open grass and plants.
Highlights included 2 mature Bald Eagles, flocks of Cedar Waxwings and Robins, 2 Red-tailed hawks and a possible Song Sparrow. Total numbers for the area will be tabulated next week and posted.
Here is a lone female Downy working on a next cavity at Harriet Alexander Nature Center.
View Snowy Owls in the Upper US, 2011-12 in a larger map
Most Monday mornings, I join several local birding friends for a couple of hours of birding and photography. Today, we explored several Minneapolis lakes looking for water fowl. Seems most of the ducks have left town for points south. One highlight was 2 young Common Loons on Lake Calhoun.
