Elena, Cathy, Mike & Harley in Ocala
We took a trip up to Ocala, a delightful town NW of Orlando in Central Florida. It can be referred to as the Horse Capital of the World as it is home to some of the finest stud farms and equine training centres anywhere on the Planet. My very good friend Capt. Mike Trickel lives there with his wife Cathy. They have a beautiful 10 acre spread where Mike drives his horses in teams drawing superb carriages, but more of this later.
Eastern Bluebird - sialia sialis
Eastern Bluebird - sialia sialis
The countryside here is flat with wonderful pastures of very rich grazing grass interspersed with mainly deciduous trees. The road to the Trickel residence is lined with gorgeous large oaks draped in Spanish Moss.
Cathy has placed a number of bluebird boxes around the estate and these delightfully colourful birds are a fine sight to behold. The top photo shows the lovely blue and orange plumage of an Eastern Bluebird just glowing in the early morning sunshine. The other bluebird is perched on a batbox roof. Mike has placed this on a tall flagpole in the garden and it was fun watching almost two hundred bats pouring out of their home at dusk. A very effective way of controlling mosquito numbers, apart from the fun watching them while enjoying an aperitif from the veranda.
Cathy has placed a number of bluebird boxes around the estate and these delightfully colourful birds are a fine sight to behold. The top photo shows the lovely blue and orange plumage of an Eastern Bluebird just glowing in the early morning sunshine. The other bluebird is perched on a batbox roof. Mike has placed this on a tall flagpole in the garden and it was fun watching almost two hundred bats pouring out of their home at dusk. A very effective way of controlling mosquito numbers, apart from the fun watching them while enjoying an aperitif from the veranda.
Northern cardinal female - cardinalis cardinalis
Cardinals are regular visitors to the farm and this female made a nice picture in the garden oak tree with some sprouting Spanish moss showing on the branches.
Pileated Woodpecker - drycopus pileatus
The oak trees are also the haunt of other species including the Pileated Woodpecker. This is America´s largest woodpecker and is a very handsome bird with a bright red crest on its red, white and black striped head.
We saw so many birds around Mike´s farm that I would just love to have spent more time with the camera trying to capture all the different species, but we had so much else to do and so little time to do it in. I regret missing out on a chance to photograph the statuesque Sandhill Cranes that were wandering around in the pastures but I did not have a camera to hand.
We saw so many birds around Mike´s farm that I would just love to have spent more time with the camera trying to capture all the different species, but we had so much else to do and so little time to do it in. I regret missing out on a chance to photograph the statuesque Sandhill Cranes that were wandering around in the pastures but I did not have a camera to hand.
Carolina Wren - thryosorus ludovicianus
I was however lucky enough to catch this Carolina Wren perched on an old fenceboard, which made a nice shot. Also a Red-shouldered Hawk that was busy collecting nesting material and was always around somewhere on the property. A very vocal bird, its far-carrying keeyahíng call was a regular sound, was it perhaps calling for a mate?
Red Shouldered Hawk - buteo lineatus
Still louder than the hawk, this American Crow was extremely noisy, even Mike commented on the cawing noise it was making as it sat alone on the grass. I´m not sure what all the fuss was about but it was very agitated about something.
Baltimore Oriole - Icterus galbula
Cathy was pleased to see that I spotted a Baltimore Oriole in one of the trees in her pony paddock.
These highly colourful songbirds are generally very welcome visitors to garden feeders and she hoped to see more of them in the future.
Finally, a couple of less conspicuous but nonetheless attractive little birds in the garden were the Palm Warbler (I think) and a member of the flycatcher family called the Eastern Phoebe. I am not certain about the warbler, it is just the the closest match I could find in Sibley´s Birds. Any help with this ID would be appreciated.
These highly colourful songbirds are generally very welcome visitors to garden feeders and she hoped to see more of them in the future.
Finally, a couple of less conspicuous but nonetheless attractive little birds in the garden were the Palm Warbler (I think) and a member of the flycatcher family called the Eastern Phoebe. I am not certain about the warbler, it is just the the closest match I could find in Sibley´s Birds. Any help with this ID would be appreciated.
 Palm Warbler - dendroica palmarum |  Eastern Phoebe - saornis phoebe |
