OOPS! No, that says the eyes are yellow.

Go through these photos & see if it's in there anywhere:
http://www.galleryofbirds.com/...

Ann, I think you were right and it's a Red Legged Seriema. If you click on the Wikipedia photo in your link, only the bird on the left (black beak) has yellow eyes and red beak on the right has blue eyes. So perhaps Mr Blue eyes is really Ms Blue eyes?

Ann, I think you are correct in the ID of Red Legged Seriema for cliftoncat's mystery bird! Maybe juveniles have blue eyes??
https://commons.wikimedia.org/...
https://commons.wikimedia.org/...
https://commons.wikimedia.org/...

Last ones from me today ... need to finish getting dinner on the table.

Red-bellied Woodpecker, female


Red-winged Blackbirds ........................ squabbling pair ............................... Grackle

Wonderful photos, Lin You seem to have beautiful visitors every day.

Thank you cliftoncat! We do have a large variety of birds here in Florida.

The lighting was perfect for those photos today Lin.

Well, I guess I was right after all about the Red Legged Seriema. Go figure. I have now looked at probably a hundred photos of the birds & only about 1 in 25 has yellow eyes. All the others "appear" to have blue eyes. However, I have also now checked almost every reference out there & they all say the iris is yellow. They almost all refer to the blue skin surrounding the eyes. i guess that blue skin makes the eyes appear blue except in certain lighting conditions. I found no explanation for the different color beaks that were in the Wiki link I provided.

I did find something on them that I found terribly interesting; maybe you guys will too:
http://www.animalphotos.me/bir...

Ann, thank you for posting that link ... very interesting bird indeed! One photo mentions blue eye shadow so perhaps it is the lighting against that blue which makes the entire eye appear to be blue! That is so cool how they fling snakes against rocks etc. to stun or kill them before eating them! Cool voice too!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

@cliftoncat, @flaflwrgrl, @plantladylin - great discussion on the Red Legged Seriema! I wish I'd had one of those around last week, when we had a water moccasin in our garage Wonder how hard it would be to import a Seriema?!

IbisFla said: The Red Legged Seriema - I wish I'd had one of those around last week, when we had a water moccasin in our garage Wonder how hard it would be to import a Seriema?!

I was thinking it would be nice to have one too ... a couple of months ago I saw two moccasins in the same week; one was swimming in the water behind the house and the other came out of the water up towards the fence! Scared the beejeebies outta me and I was so glad the dog wasn't out!

I had to look up what a water moccasin is - all I can say is that I'm grateful we don't have them here! How does one evict a water moccasin from one's garage? (Assuming, of course, that one's pet Red Legged Seriema isn't around...)

Did you see the link below the Red Legged Seriema? It's for the Secretary Bird: http://www.animalphotos.me/bir...

Crazy looking bird!!!

IbisFla said:@cliftoncat, @flaflwrgrl, @plantladylin - great discussion on the Red Legged Seriema! I wish I'd had one of those around last week, when we had a water moccasin in our garage Wonder how hard it would be to import a Seriema?!

@IbisFla
OMG!!!!! IN the garage???!!!!!! Cruuuuuuuudddddd!!!!! I've had my share of run in's with water moccasins in my life but never one in an enclosed space like that & where it's on a slab. That's a real sticky wicket there!!!! Moccasins are MEAN too! They wake up in the morning plotting what trouble they're going to cause that day. They have a nasty attitude 24/7/365.

flaflwrgrl said:

That's crazy! What in the world possessed the cats to drag that in? Now we know where the saying came from, "Look what the cat just drug in."

I had a dog (unfortunately coyotes killed him ) Pepper who drug home > 2/3rds of a deer leg one time. He was so proud of himself - sitting on the deck wagging his tail. No doubt from a coyote kill. Where I used to live, we were surrounded with them.

I won't say anything about the rabbit.

cliftoncat said:I had to look up what a water moccasin is - all I can say is that I'm grateful we don't have them here! How does one evict a water moccasin from one's garage? (Assuming, of course, that one's pet Red Legged Seriema isn't around...)

Where do you live? They are scary as all get out. We have them and 2 or 3 types of rattle snakes. Much worse. I have encountered them when mushroom hunting. My Father was bit in 1976 and he was by himself ~ 20 miles from town/hospital.

DavidLMO said:

Where do you live? They are scary as all get out. We have them and 2 or 3 types of rattle snakes. Much worse. I have encountered them when mushroom hunting. My Father was bit in 1976 and he was by himself ~ 20 miles from town/hospital.

North Central Florida David. Used to be southeast FL right on the coast to a couple miles inland. Also encountered them when we lived in the Tallahassee area which is north FL --- anywhere near fresh or brackish water is whar they be.
Whew! What did your dad do? Did he end up okay? Sick as a dog I bet.
I understand they are not as toxic as rattlers -- at least here. I looked it up & here, in order of toxicity is of course in the #1 spot Coral Snakes, #2 & #3 are Diamondback Rattlers & Timber Rattlers (not sure what rank the Ground (Pygmy) Rattlers take, #4 is Moccasin, #5 is Copperhead (but where I am we don't have Copperheads thank goodness!). Copperheads are another that are born pissed off. I have a friend in AL who breeds dogs -- she's lost a couple to Copperheads & several have been bitten but survived.

David, so sorry to hear that a Coyote got your dog!

The Coyote population seems to be increasing greatly here in Florida; I'd never heard anything about Coyotes being here until about 15 or so years ago. My mom has been gone almost eleven years now but she lived in a mobile home park in the Fort Lauderdale area and I remember folks in her neighborhood having their cats taken by Coyotes. I saw a couple of Coyotes in the neighborhood and sometimes heard them at night. My mom's cat was strictly an indoor pet and one night the cat was on the enclosed porch (glass windows all the way around) and I noticed she was walking along the back of the sofa and then going from one chair to another looking out the windows. I was curious so I looked out to see what it was that she saw ... it was a Coyote and that Coyote was intently watching her, following along outside, eyes never leaving the cat as she walked from window to window along the back of the furniture. Another time my oldest sister was leaving mom's house to drive home and I was standing in the driveway talking to her before she drove off and we watched a Coyote come from around the back of the next door neighbors house and walk down the driveway and across the street to another yard. One city here if Fla. plans to use Drones to track them so that they can try to find their dens and trap them: http://www.clickorlando.com/ne... I

cliftoncat said:I had to look up what a water moccasin is - all I can say is that I'm grateful we don't have them here! How does one evict a water moccasin from one's garage? (Assuming, of course, that one's pet Red Legged Seriema isn't around...)

We ended up calling a wildlife trapper since the snake was around 4ft long and it was under the refrigerator. Now I'm very cautious when going into the garage

Just saying, I think we all need a Red Legged Seriema

I'm sure we have enough snakes to keep them alive here in FL. But I wouldn't want a voracious snake-hunting bird just because I like having the harmless snakes around.

I feel really lucky that in my 14yr. living here, I've never yet seen a venomous snake. Lots of black snakes and the orange-y rat snakes, though. Maybe they keep the others away?