We tend to take our local patches and our common birds for granted. One of the pleasures of birding while traveling though is that we get the opportunity to experience the common birds of another location that might be difficult to see in our own patch. This happened to me this morning as I was birding a small community park. Actually it was more of a recreation complex, consisting mostly of tennis courts and ball fields, but bordered by a small waterway and scrub area along a power line cut. It’s not a destination that traveling birders flock to. Few people outside of the neighborhood or the county visit here. But it struck me how the birds that we saw in a mere 30 minutes with very little effort can be seen here nearly every day of the week, yet they would have filled the rare bird alerts back in New Jersey. Imagine a day in NJ with Anhingha, Loggerhead Shrike, Common Gallinule, Wood Stork, Sandhill Crane, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Nanday Parakeet, Monk Parakeet, Red-shouldered Hawk, and Tricolored Heron. But here in this simple local patch in Florida its just another day. Here’s a few photos from this morning’s walk:
An adult male Anhingha posing.
A Wood Stork perched behind one of the neighborhood homes.
One of the two Loggerhead Shrikes hunting around the ball fields. Or maybe its waiting to play soccer?
Monk Parakeets were feeding and gathering nest material here.
A Common Gallinule (formerly Common Moorhen)