Carolina Chickadees in the neighborhood

Black-capped Chickadee, Rainy Lake, Canada, September 2018. We will not see this species in Florida, rather, it is the Carolina Chickadee that resides and visits.

Something wonderful about living here is birding with fellow Wildewood birders. 

Wildewood Springs neighbor John Lynn taught me something I want to pass on. (Thank you, John.)

Perhaps like me you hear chickadee calls when you're outside. Or, you see chickadees. Well, if you see or hear a chickadee in Florida, it is the Carolina Chickadee (not the Black-Capped Chickadee). The appearance difference between the two is subtle so this is why bird-identification websites need to know the date and place of your sighting when trying to identify a bird species. Another factor with chickadees—they do not migrate (information from a conversation with birders on What's this bird?, a Facebook birding ID group).

Here is a screengrab from All About Birds that shows their difference along with descriptive information.

About the Carolina Chickadee - John James Audubon named this bird while he was in South Carolina. The curious, intelligent Carolina Chickadee looks very much like a Black-capped Chickadee, with a black cap, black bib, gray wings and back, and whitish underside. Carolina and Black-capped chickadees hybridize in the area where their ranges overlap, but the two species probably diverged more than 2.5 million years ago.

Spoonbill Roseate is a frequent visitor

The Roseate Spoonbill is a frequent visitor to Wildewood’s ponds. Though I see spoonbills year-round, my Wildewood sightings start in June and continue through the summer. I took this photograph of a Spoonbill standing on a limb of a Southern Live Oak across the pond looking out from our living room window.

As often as I see them, I haven't heard them! Here is a link to the Cornell Lab All About Birds website to hear a Roseate Spoonbill utter low grunting sounds, and a video showing a bowl (yes, that's the word for a gathering of spoonbills) using their spoon-shaped bills to strain small food items out of the water.

The spoonbill is social, but this June sighting was special. I could hardly believe what I saw outside our bedroom window and porch. A Roseate Spoonbill was making these heart shapes with its wings! I ran to get my camera because I wanted a memory.

Birdorable is a cute, fact-full website with a brief list about this bird's awesomeness.

Links to my favorite bird websites are in the right sidebar of this blog.

Wood duck

Male wood duck. Susan Michael Barrett, Pineneedle section of Wildewood.

Wood ducks nest and frequent the ponds in Wildewood. 

I’ve even heard their calls!

Here is a video on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds website of a pair of wood ducks swimming in a pond. This is a sight that anyone who lives in Wildewood Springs might see. 

Wood ducks are called perching ducks because of their highly developed toes and claws that allow them to grasp and balance on tree branches.

Wood ducks are cavity nesters, preferring to nest in trees. They are “uniquely equipped to fly through a tangle of branches to reach their nest site…they have the largest eye of any duck, a broad wing for maneuvering, and are aided by a tail that is long and wide.”