Friday, December 10, 2010

3 Armadillos, 2 Bald Eagles and 1 Harrier Hawk and no Partridge in a Pear Tree!

Gail and Bill guided us to a visit to the Babcock-Webb National Wildlife Management Area. In the past, they have seen thousands of birds and it is home to the endangered Red Cockaded Woodpecker which Gail wants to add to her life list. Well, the birds were few and far between probably because the water was too high but I saw one bird I had never seen before as well as three armadillos up close and personal!! I had only seen an armadillo once before and he was dead by the side of the road. It was a riot to watch them rooting around. This is the Nine Banded Armadillo -- the first one we saw which Warren spotted. It was right next to the van and we took a lot of shots!

This is the third one we saw a little later and he didn't even notice when Bill got right up next to him. Eventually he looked up and ran for the woods. They are really funny looking little creatures with these perky ears.

Here is another shot from in front of him. They look downright prehistoric!

We had hoped this might be a Cockaded woodpecker but I believe it is the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. He blends right into the tree so a little difficult to see.

This is the general look of this grassy plain. It is hunting season and the hunters use these huge jeeplike vehicles to drive through the grass. We were lucky enough to see one of the many wild boars as well but he ran too fast to get his picture taken!
This is one of the American Bald Eagles we saw. The other one I spotted on the way over to Gail and Bill's condo. They are getting more common down here as I have seen four this trip!


Bill correctly identified this bird as a Hooded Merganser in his non-breeding plummage. All the birds were very skittish and we couldn't get near any of them.

This was a Northern Harrier, a hawk which I hadn't seen before so that was a nice treat.

I liked the pose of this Great Egret high in this old tree!

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