With Valeri Ponzo; the final day of a three-day trip to Walker, Louisiana and back, taking a very circuitous route through the Panhandle to iNat several counties that we had rarely or never visited before. I have now photographed at least one bird species in each of Florida's 67 counties!
A brief stop because we saw some birds. We left at 0828 and continued to Laguna Beach, Panama City.
A solo visit after a job nearby. Hurricane Debby passed by yesterday morning, but I thought that there might be something -- a Sooty Tern maybe -- lingering. There wasn't! But 45 Magnificent Frigatebirds were almost exclusively southbound -- some quite low -- in groups of 1, 7, 2, 2, 4, 2, 4, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 3, 5, 1 (northbound), 2, 2, and 4. Several Brown Pelicans following the same pattern may also have been storm-dispersed: groups of 4, 4, 2, 3, 1, 1, 2, 1, and 1, all southbound. It was easy to count the birds as they flew directly overhead -- but determining precisely how many photographs I took of each individual was impossible. I am submitting 38 records of Magnificent Frigatebirds and 6 records of Brown Pelicans. The weather at 1240 was sunny, 88 degrees ("feels like" 99), and windy. I was surprised to find three West Indian Mangrove Buckeyes; this was my first visit to the park since getting into butterflies, so maybe they have always been here; I also photographed four White Peacocks. I left at 1420 and headed home.
Group of four traveling and feeding together