July 4, 2010 - Overstreet Road Birds

At the photo workshop that I attended near Vero Beach, Florida, we did a lot of our work at Blue Cypress Lake. But we also took photos at Overstreet Road, a local birding spot. One of the birds we saw was this Loggerhead Shrike. Shrikes are classified as songbirds but they look and act more like miniature birds of prey. Note the hooked tip on the bill. They typically sit on an exposed perch (as in this photo) when they are hunting. Shrikes eat a lot of large insects, some small birds, and some rodents.

ShrikeLoggerheadOverstreetRoadOceolaCounty20100523

This White Ibis flew over and gave us some practice taking flight shots. In the United States, White Ibis are found only along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The long, curved, pink bill is distinctive. An ibis sweeps its bill back and forth in the water as it is foraging for food. Note the black wingtips which are usually hidden when the bird is on the ground.

IbisWhiteflightOverstreetRoadOceolaCounty20100522

Swallow-tailed Kites are very graceful and acrobatic in flight. They’re quite large, about the size of a Red-tailed Hawk. During the summer, they are found in the far southeastern United States. During spring and fall migration, some have been known to wander north and we have even seen a few of them in Minnesota. They spend the winter in the tropics. Able to catch and eat their food on the wing, Kites eat a lot of large insects. They also nab lizards and small birds right out of the tops of trees.

KiteSwallowtailedOverstreetRoadOceolaCounty20100522

We were surprised to see this White-tailed Kite because they are uncommon in Florida. Smaller than the Swallow-tailed Kite, they are also very graceful flyers. They tend to hunt over open fields and often hover while searching for small rodents, their main food source. This Kite dove into a field near us and when it flew back up I snapped a photo. It appears to have been successful: you can see a small rodent in its talons.

KiteWhitetailedOverstreetRoadOceolaCounty20100522

The Northern Bobwhite is often heard before it is seen. It seems to say its own name as it whistles bob-WHITE (the last syllable is higher and louder than the first). It’s fairly small for a game bird, only 9-10” long. In fall and winter, Bobwhites live in coveys of about a dozen birds. At night they gather in a circle and roost on the ground, with their tails in the center of the circle and their heads facing out.

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