Northern Gannet

Northern Gannet: 

This picture is from http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Gannet/id.  Unfortunately the bird that I saw was not alive laying on the beach.  Quite sad because it is a beautiful bird so I hope to see more flying around soon.  As you can see they have a beautiful brilliant white body and black tip wings.  There is also the light brown/bronzish color on the back of their heads and a light grayish/blue beak.  I had to do a bit of research of this bird because I have never seen one birding before and I found out that the adults look like the picture above but the juvenile of this species looks quite different.  The juvenile Northern Gannet is mostly dark and from the link above it explains that it takes the juvenile three or more years to reach the adult plummage.

 

 

 

 

American Robin

Hello Birders!  This picture was taken last year when a ginormous flock of birds came through our neighborhood!  First I saw a few in St. Augustine while my family and I were walking around the historic streets, however I wasn't sure what they were.  It wasn't until a few days later I noticed a large amount of birds flying all through our trees and neighborhood!  I finally caught a clear glimse and sure enough it was the American Robin.  Truly beautiful birds but I must admit at the time I thought I was in the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds"!  Lol!  I was pleased (and relieved lol) to find out they were migrating then.  So this weekend going to and from work I noticed a large group of birds and this morning I saw that they were the American Robins!  They are back!  I didn't think it was the Robins because it seems a little early however this year it is a fairly short and warmer winter for Florida coupled with the horrible snowy blizzard weather in the northeast that perhaps the birds might migrate a little early this year. 

On another note I am pleased to announce my new job is going well and has proved to have quite a bonus....I had mentioned that I am able to get some birding done during my working hours but I had no idea how much!  Just this weekend I saw the following:  American Robin, a small woodpecker (that I have yet to identify), Pileated Woodpecker, Red Cardinal, Red Shoulder Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Great Blue Heron, Great White Heron ( Great White Egret, Great Egret, etc.), Mockingbird, Carolina Wren, and oodles of little Finches that I wish I could have seen better to accurately identify them.  It's been such a blessing to not only have a job but to have a job that I don't feel bad going to work on a beautiful day because I'm outside and can observe all the beautiful birds :) 

Anywho, I hope everyone has a great week!  Happy Birding :)