"Better than 40 Below" |
February 4, 2008 – Ocala, FL Started the day driving to the Osceola National Forest. We drove through pretty dense fog until about 8:00 AM, and arrived at the Osceola National Forest at 8:30 AM. Our target bird was the Red-cockaded Woodpecker, or “RCBs” as the lady at the headquarters put it. We drove down Forest Road 215 and, after a modest effort and sightings of most every other woodpecker in Northern Florida, we picked up two different Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, a lifer and a trip target bird. Also Downy, Hairy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Northern Flicker and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. It was that kind of day. A few minutes later, we found a mixed flock of dicky birds, including Carolina Chickadee and Eastern Bluebird. Very nice. We drove around Ocean Pond – seriously, a medium-sized lake in the forest – but didn’t see much. Then to Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, southeast of Gainesville. After a very hot walk (2:15 – 4:00 PM) featuring a disappearing river and about a hundred alligators, we saw Great Sandhill Cranes, but not a lot else. We can report that Greaters seem to have a lower register call than our Lessers, and maybe a longer. But otherwise they are just Sandhills. Dinner at Sonny’s BBQ, a Florida (?) chain. Pretty good ribs, But we passed on the fried okra. Walking back from dinner, we found a trip Barn Owl hawking bugs off a streetlight by our hotel. Hey, we'll take them any way we can get them. I'm a member of http://www.naturephotog and have been posting a few photos from this trip some evenings. I was stunned to have my raccoon shot chosen as an Editor's Pick this week.
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