Red-tailed hawk nest

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Great blue heron nest cam 2

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Great blue heron nest cam

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I saw this Wilson's Plover in St Augustine in December 2011.

Swallow-tailed Kite

This past summer I saw this beautiful bird twice. I was caught off-guard by the shape and size of it. It is one of the most graceful birds that I have seen.  I hope you get to see one too.

Birds of Fort Island, Crystal River, Fl

Bird-watching with a 2 year old can be challenging. We had a great time and I added 5 new entries to my Life list. My son enjoyed it thoroughly until it was time to head home an hour and a half later. He did not want to leave the beach. All he wanted to do is throw sand into the ocean, and walk in the water knee-high with his shoes on.

I tried to get him to chase the black ringed gulls who was populating the beach, and that got him out of the water, but when I stopped to take a close up picture of the gulls that was sitting on the roof of a building, my son started to play in the sand. At least it was dry sand this time. I had to drag him away. He stopped screaming by the time we were back in the van.

We saw a belted Kingfisher (that actually caught a fish), a Northern Cardinal, Brown Pelican, American Crows, Sanderlings, Black ringed Gulls, and Black Skimmers. The Black skimmers reminded me of seeing the African Skimmers skimming the waters of the Nile, below Murchison Falls, in Uganda. These Black skimmers must have skimmed earlier that day, cause they just sat there on the white sand.

My life list for North America

I have created a list of birds that I have seen in the wild since my return from a visit in South Africa. My brother Hennie is a avid bird watcher, and has done it for years. I went out a couple of times with him, and so the bug bit me.

It is great fun. My wife and kids gave me the "Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America". I am enjoying the book a lot. It list around 730 birds that can be seen from Northern Mexico to Canada and Alaska, as well as 200 miles of the American coasts.

Out of desperation, I bought myself some binoculars. Its a Tasco 12x25. It works...

It payed off very soon. I spotted a Ruby-crowned Kinglet soon after I got it. I would not have been able to i.d. it without my precious Tasco!

I will update my life list as I go along. I do not think it will take a year or two, more like 2 decades to list all the North American birds.

Please feel free to comment on the list.

You can email me at curtsbirds@gmail.com