Birding with the Locals

Well, kind of.  The locals were not local to Florida, they were locals from back home.  Yesterday at Dunedin Hammock Park I ran into a nice woman, birding on a ten dollar garage sale bike, from Markham, Ontario.  Today, in my quest to find a pair of Vesper Sparrows, at the southern edge of their winter habitat in Brooker Creek Preserve, I ran into a birder from Hamilton.  He was on his way to the airport and decided to stop for a lifer on the way.  

I had been searching for the Vespers on and off all afternoon and was taking one last look before I left for the day, and finally found them minutes before Carl arrived.  I could hear them "hsip-ing" very clearly and chased them from tree to tree for about 15 minutes, finally getting some photos of the pair.  To be honest, Vesper Sparrows are nothing to write home about, and without knowing they were there and identifying them by both sound and sight, I'd have completely overlooked them.  If that makes me a birder of opportunity, so be it.

Earlier I had chased down a Carolina Wren, but was unable to find either the Yellow-throated Vireo that was calling or Warbler I briefly heard and saw for an instant as it flew into a tree and then vanished.  Later, I went to Kapok Park and enjoyed some birding before it began raining, finding an Anhinga, and Limpkin.  Before I even got to the park, I found my first Brown Thrasher of the year and on the way out, 4 more Nanday Parakeets.  I have now seen them 3 times this year in a variety of locations.  And that is what is so cool about birding.  It's great when you find the bird you're looking for, frustrating but still fun when you don't, and every time out is like a little treasure hunt.  Geocaching with birds instead of hidden tupperware.