Florida Bird Photos

It's taken a while to find the time to get these online, but here is a selection of some of my photos from a wonderful 3.5 days birding in Florida out of Miami. Massive thanks to Carlos Sanchez (http://www.ecoavian.com/) for showing us these birds on a whistle-stop tour of southern Florida. Highlights included and range of quality ABA birds such as: Mangrove Cuckoo, Bachman's Sparrow, Snail Kite, Spot-breasted Oriole, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Egyptian Goose, Limpkin, loads of herons and egrets and a few tickable parrots!

If you want guiding in Florida get in touch with Carlos! I'll need to put a trip report for my US trip together when I can, but I've got to get my Spain and last years Australia ones finished first!

American Swallow-tailed Kite © Andy Walker 2015 (record shot - unfortunately all I got!)

American Coot © Andy Walker 2015

American Purple Gallinule © Andy Walker 2015

Bachman's Sparrow © Andy Walker 2015

Bald Eagle © Andy Walker 2015

Barred Owl © Andy Walker 2015

Black-and-white Warbler © Andy Walker 2015

Black-bellied Whistling Duck © Andy Walker 2015

Black-whiskered Vireo © Andy Walker 2015

Brown Pelican © Andy Walker 2015

Brown-headed Nuthatch © Andy Walker 2015

Cuban 'Golden Yellow' Warbler © Andy Walker 2015

Double-crested Cormorant © Andy Walker 2015

Egyptian Goose © Andy Walker 2015 - ABA Mega!

Glossy Ibis © Andy Walker 2015

Great Blue Heron © Andy Walker 2015

Green Heron © Andy Walker 2015

Grey Kingbird © Andy Walker 2015

Laughing Gull © Andy Walker 2015

Least Tern © Andy Walker 2015

Limpkin © Andy Walker 2015

Loggerhead Shrike © Andy Walker 2015

Magnificent Frigatebird © Andy Walker 2015

Mangrove Cuckoo © Andy Walker 2015

Mottled Duck © Andy Walker 2015

Nanday Parakeet © Andy Walker 2015

Northern Bobwhite © Andy Walker 2015

Northern Cardinal © Andy Walker 2015

Osprey © Andy Walker 2015

Ovenbird © Andy Walker 2015

Palm Warbler © Andy Walker 2015

Pileated Woodpecker © Andy Walker 2015

Prothonotary Warbler © Andy Walker 2015

Red-shouldered Hawk © Andy Walker 2015

Red-whiskered Bulbul © Andy Walker 2015

Red-winged Blackbird (male) © Andy Walker 2015

Red-winged Blackbird (female) © Andy Walker 2015

Ring-billed Gull © Andy Walker 2015

Roseate Tern © Andy Walker 2015

Sandhill Crane © Andy Walker 2015

Short-billed Dowitcher and Willet © Andy Walker 2015

Spot-breasted Oriole © Andy Walker 2015

Summer Tanager © Andy Walker 2015

Tri-coloured Heron © Andy Walker 2015

Tufted Titmouse © Andy Walker 2015

Turkey Vulture © Andy Walker 2015 

Great Egret © Andy Walker 2015

White-crowned Pigeon © Andy Walker 2015

Wild Turkey © Andy Walker 2015

Wilson's Plover © Andy Walker 2015

Wood Stork © Andy Walker 2015

Ohio and Michigan bird photos, and other wildlife etc pictures coming soon......

US Photos... Coming Soon...

Have been back from my USA trip for a couple of weeks now and am almost finished sorting through my photos - hope to get a few pics up on here soon! Had a great time (as you'd expect!) birding in Florida, Ohio and Michigan. Loads of great birds and other wildlife. A definite highlight was seeing over 30 species of American Warblers in their full breeding plumage glory!

In the meantime go and check out these awesome State Bird T-shirts from Ornithopolis! The shirts show the shape of the state with the state bird and the 4-letter ringing (banding) code! Seriously cool clothes! See the collection here. In honour of my time in Ohio I got the Ohio state shirt - complete with Northern Cardinal! I also ordered a few other T-shirts of cool states/state birds just because they look good!

A Northern Cardinal in Yorkshire! 

Spain Summary and Photos

I spent the first week or so of April over in Southern Spain (Andalucia) and had a brilliant time. Spent the first half of my trip with York legend and Blind Mole specialist Paz, and the second half of the trip I bumped into the Next Generation Birders trip led by Oliver Reville who had provided me with a load of gen prior to my trip (thank you Oli). It was great to be able to spend some time with this group of young, and very talented people.

This post is just a brief summary, I'll put together a proper trip report in my usual format after I've finished my Australia trip report, and got back from my rapidly-approaching US trip...

The trip was a recce for Birding Ecotours so as well as looking at the birds/wildlife I was keen to make some useful contacts and check out some good accommodation/food outlets etc. The wildlife on the trip was a huge draw with Iberian Lynx, the worlds rarest feline being the main prize but with many quality birds available, headlined by the impressive Spanish Imperial Eagle it had the potential to be a great trip. Throw in some cool butterflies - e.g. Spanish Festoon and assorted Swallowtails, a range or stunning Orchids, and Blind Mole and a good time was pretty much guaranteed.

Locations visited included the Andujar, Lantejuela, Tarifa, Bonanza, Brazo del Este and Montejaque areas, as well as a few other places in between.

Highlight birds of about 190 species included Spanish Imperial, Golden, Bonelli's, Booted and Short-toed Eagles, Black, Egyptian and Griffon Vulture, Great and Little Bustards, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Iberian (Azure-winged) Magpie, Iberian Grey Shrike, Iberian Green Woodpecker, Northern Bald Ibis, Black Wheatear, Marbled and White-headed Ducks, Rock Bunting, Rock Sparrow, Audouin's and Slender-billed Gulls, Bee-eater, Roller, Hoopoe, Woodchat Shrike and Scops-Owl among many others.

Non-avian highlight (in fact the highlight of the whole trip) was two Iberian Lynx - simply stunning and incredibly exciting to see! Lots of butterflies too - including the Spanish Festoon which was a big target for both of us.

Oh, and Paz and I got to go ringing Lesser and Common Kestrels with a couple of bird ringers we got talking to! Awesome time!

All in all it was a great trip, for now some photos.

Iberian Lynx - not my photo, taken by Jeroen Vanheuverswyn

(check out his website here)  

Iberian Lynx - not my photo, taken by Jeroen Vanheuverswyn

(check out his website here)  

Spanish Imperial Eagle

Black Vulture

Andy with male Lesser Kestrel

Male Lesser Kestrel

Male Lesser Kestrel

Montagu's Harrier

Short-toed Eagle

Short-toed Eagle (phone pic)

Woodchat Shrike (phone pic)

Bee-eater

Black Wheatear

Black-bellied Sandgrouse (Phone pic)

Booted Eagle

Booted Eagle

Booted Eagle

Great Bustard (distant phone pic)

Greater Flamingo

Hoopoe

Iberian Grey Shrike

Iberian Yellow Wagtail

Nightingale

Northern Bald Ibis

Rock Bunting

Roller