Lakeland, Fl - 10 Jan 2009

Its Saturday morning and the last day of our short trip. Since we have to drive into town to pick up a rental car for the trip back to the airport, we decided to stop once more at the Lakeland Cancer Center. I had seen a Loggerhead Shrike there yesterday, and was hoping to get some pics today.

As we pulled into the parking lot I quickly spotted it perched atop a lone tree along the driveway. Stopping in the road I grabbed the camera and snapped several quick frames from about 40 feet away before reaching for the scope. I moved within about 25 feet and digiscoped several frames before backing away from the still-perched bird.

Walking back to the car I heard an American Kestrel and found it perched on an overhead wire. I slowly moved along the hedgerow so that the sun would be at my back, and grabbed a few digiscoped images from about 30 feet away. The Kestrel paid me no attention as I headed back to the car.

Several Double-crested Cormorants were swimming in the nearby pond and flushed when I approached. As they circled and flew past me I grabbed several flight shots. Some of the birds flew off, but some landed in the Spanish Moss-ladened trees. 

It was then that a quiet Belted Kingfisher was flushed from its perch and had to circle several times before it could find a new one. I took a few shots from a distance as it approached its new perch.

With the airport beckoning us we reluctantly headed back to the house to pack and head home to snow and cold.

Lakeland Cancer Center, Polk, Florida, US
Jan 10, 2009 8:00 AM - 8:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
0.2 mile(s)
4 species

Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum)  3
Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)  1
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)  1
Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S166407835

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)