Robin’s Nest Away from Nest-Week 4!

Hi everyone! I am home in Western Massachusetts now. My first week back here was frigid. There was a high temp of 1 degree and a low of negative 12 degrees with wind chills close to negative 40! I spent that week birding from a window or on my deck with a million layers of clothes and an electric heater! My TikTok followers can see me all bundled up! I also shared some beautiful videos of my songbirds cuddling at my heated birdbath. Climate change is impacting bird migratory patterns. I was planning to go to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area after I got settled back into my house and teaching routine. I have been waiting all year to see the spring migration of the Snow Geese there. My Bestie sent me a video that I shared to YouTube and Facebook pages which was AMAZING. I am hoping to get there before it is too late!

Time to share my last week of birding adventures in Florida with you now. I saw a lot more birds and alligators! You can check out the birds I saw on my eBird checklists for January 25^th-30^th on my eBird profile link on my Robin’s Nest page. I visited some new spots and my favorite spot-my parents’ clubhouse lake. My parents saw 2 Sandhill Cranes with their baby in their yard, but we couldn’t find them when I got there. I also explored my little neighborhood more and found a large pond next to a canal and a large field. I saw a Great Blue Heron catch a fish and a Limpkin there. There were tons of Yellow-rumped Warblers singing. I got some nice audio for you to hear too!    

I traveled to the Vero Beach area to visit the very first National Wildlife Refuge in the US! President Roosevelt established the Pelican Island National Wildlife Preserve to help save the population of Brown Pelicans. I must give a shout out to my husband here! We needed to travel TWICE to this refuge because I forgot my camera battery the first time! Of course, I HAD to see my first Reddish Egret (actually saw 2) on our first trip. Cell phone cameras just can’t cut it. We tried to get a picture using the scope that was there, and I included it below, just to prove I saw them. My husband was also trying to video a Black and White Warbler I saw, when he encountered the giant spider you can see on Robin’s Trips page with the other Florida creatures. I posted a video of his funny reaction to TikTok! Sadly, I searched in vain both days for the Painted Bunting I heard might be there. I did see some Black-bellied Plovers and more beautiful Roseate Spoonbills and LOTS of herons on day 2 here!

The rest of my birding was in Port St. Lucie this last week. My parents and I visited the Tom Hooper’s Family Park and walked the River Boardwalk nearby. I learned that immature White Ibis are actually brown! I also got some pretty photos of an immature Little Blue Heron-and they are actually white!  We also visited Veteran’s Park-no birds but beautiful monuments to honor or veterans. My husband and I went to River Park Marina and I saw some nesting Ospreys, a Northern Parula, and my first ever Egyptian Goose! I went birding solo in the Paleo Hammock Park. It was mostly dark woods and I almost got lost. I saw a few Red-shouldered Hawks and LOTS of fire ants! Enjoy the pictures and audio below. As always, I appreciate my followers and anyone who can share my sites more than I can say! Thanks so much for reading this, and take care, Robin.