SLEEPY SUNDAY

This morning I committed one of the (forgive the pun) cardinal sins a birder can make...I slept in.  However, to purge this sin I decided to check in on some of the smaller spots around town to see if any interesting activity was taking place while running some errands.

My first stop was at Colclough Pond Sanctuary.  Even though it was late morning, I figured there might be some activity, being the weather was still cool and pleasant.  Boy was I wrong.  The dearth of activity was pretty surprising.  Yellow-rumped warblers were present in the shrub marsh, but they were the only species observed.  A few american coots, an adult great-blue heron, and a cormorant were the only other species present.  Based on the habitat available, I've been wondering if the shrub marsh might be conducive for rusty blackbirds.  A lone individual was seen by Felicia Lee at Magnolia Parke the other day, so I figured it might be worth the while to see if any other early individuals might be hanging around town.  Perhaps it is still a bit early, or maybe it's just not preferred habitat, but regardless there were no rusties present.

The second stop was to the Depot Avenue ponds.  There wasn't much more activity occurring there either.  Species present included american coots, pied-billed grebe, eastern phoebe, and a house wren.  Overhead activity consisted of black and turkey vultures, and one flock of approximately 38 sandhill cranes headed in an easterly direction.

The last stop was the UF beef teaching unit off Williston.  The only birds present were a handful of eastern bluebirds hanging out on the utility wires and fenceline and some cattle egrets.  Otherwise the beef teaching unit was devoid of bird activity.

Later in the afternoon I took the dog for a walk around the Townsend subdivision and the retention pond there.  It was actually fairly birdy for the pond, with a male and female hooded merganser being the nice standouts there.  Also present were several great egrets, little blue heron (with some flying overhead), a tri-colored heron, and a snowy egret.  Since there is actually water in the stormwater pond this year, it will be interesting to see what duck species end up utilizing it.