Saw a Great Blue Heron last night as I was going to Panera. I'm beginning to think a lot of birds live in that cow pasture. I see most of them around dawn or dusk. Not so much in the middle of the day.
Also, my favorite place to go hiking is called Brooker Creek Headwaters Preserve (no facilities, owned by Hillsborough County). But on the other side in Pinellas County is Brooker Creek Preserve and Environmental Center. They have a nature center and I've been there for classes before. They have a free Birding 101 class at the end of the month I think I'm going to sign up for. In the meantime, I follow them on Facebook and they recently posted pictures of something called a Chuck-Will's-Widow. I thought they were making it up, but it's in my book. It laid eggs right on the ground - they don't build nests! And it did it kind of close to the trail so they were a bit concerned about its choice of nesting area. They blend in really well, too. There was one photo where it took me a minute to find the bird.
Hopefully, I can get myself educated and learn how to go into stealth mode to take more pictures! Dad's a hunter; maybe I can borrow his camo? I don't think they'd let me set up a tree stand in a preserve, though.
Does anything nest in that purple martin house? We had two of those bird condo types at our old house and they weren't mounted high enough to attract the martins ... but every year the little Carolina Wrens built nests in them and it was so much fun to watch the adults and then the young. I see you have the Red-bellied Woodpecker in Iowa ... they are very common down here but I love them, especially the male with that bright red head! That Baltimore Oriole is so beautiful ... I wish I could see them down here but they seem to be rare sightings for me.
How about that! I've never seen the Chuck-will's-widow but I've heard it for years now, it sounds like a Whippoorwill but much faster. Always wondered what it was and now I know.
