ABA 600: Yellow-throated Vireo

I guess this is Vireo week for me.  I found the Code 4 and very seldom seen Thick-billed Vireo in Bill Baggs on Monday and after 4 or 5 attempts, the Yellow-throated Vireo, this morning in Brooker Creek Preserve up in Tarpon Springs, Florida.  It may not be a Code 4,(it's a 2), but it's not that easy to find one, and I did not see one last year, so it has become my third Lifer of 2013, all in Florida.  It is also the 600th Bird on my ABA List.  The Dusky Grouse is the only bird on the list I haven't seen since the beginning of 2012.

I had a break from work this morning and an hour to search the boardwalk, playing the Yellow-throated Vireo call on my iPhone until it finally called back.  It would have been hard to locate that specific bird high in the trees if it had not called.  It was like a serenade or a little duet as it sung in nearly perfect time with it's virtual mate on my iBird App.  It was then just a matter of luck if I'd get a good photo of the bird, and though it's not as good as the photo of the Thick-billed Vireo, I am happy to have just got the bird and an adequate photo.

On the way back to work I spotted a hawk on a wire, and stopped to photograph it.  It flew across the road and directly above me and I was able to capture a spectacular photo of a Red-shouldered Hawk.  I also enjoyed looks, outside the park of Wood Storks and White Ibis's and some Barn Swallows on hte wires next to the Hawk.   Later in the day, at Possum Branch, got to see a Common Gallinule frighten a Killdeer.  Admittedly, Killdeer's scare easily and are a little overly dramatic with their peeping when scared, so perhaps the Gallinule wasn't that menacing after all.  Still, no possums.