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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kibet" data-source="post: 3538875" data-attributes="member: 126488">Day 6 Thursday 9th MarchPhilippe Park – Moccasin LakeThe Ranger at Brooker Creek Preserve had mentioned about going to Shelter 2 of Philippe Park for nesting Great Horned Owl. Despite getting what I thought was a nice photograph the day before, it was not the highest priority, so did not head to the site directly. The first bird out was the Little Blue Heron, out on the water as the sun was coming up. A pair of Brown Pelican on a post further out, and a small group of 20ish Lesser Scaup. The Blue Jays were out in force today making a racket, and there was a Pileated Woodpecker demolishing a tree. A Muscovy Duck flew in and landed on a tree. I was not expecting that as I knew nothing about the Muscovy and so had not realised they were tree dwellers.And then we were at the Great Horned Owl tree, just like that so was closer than we imagined. The tree was between Shelters 2 and 7, with viewing on the shelter 7 side and probably gave the best views of the large female. The nest was obscured and the Male was so high, he just appeared as a round ball. There was regulars there, one of which had brought a small lens, as his larger lens was missing the flight shots of taking the rats stored from the night hunts, to feed the owlet during the day. We watched the Female going from sleeping to watchful of a Pileated Woodpecker getting too close to the nest.A Tufted Titmouse appeared in the tree behind, which I took another snap before taking a final picture of the GHO and moving on. A group of seven ravenous White Ibis went as a gang to the bottom of the trees near the Native American Mound, going into the soil at some force in a feeding frenzy. A Cardinal sat in a tree and moved away from us, showing that it was not getting fed in this park. A tortoise moved along an open field as we walked following the treeline around. The South part was closed, and we got another Little Blue on the way back, but no signs of many warblers. Our next site was Moccasin Lake, and despite it not looking like you are going in the correct direction through the residential streets, the entrance was where the GPS had said it was. The trails are accessed through the Nature Center, and they have cages of rescue birds before the trails. I thought I went by an empty cage at one point, but later found to have five Eastern Screech Owl (not bold as in cage).It was the land of Yellow-Rumps once more, and only a few Ruby-Crowned Kinglets. I assumed we were the first on the trail as we walked along the boardwalks into cobwebs. It was not cobwebs, but silk threads from Oak Leafroller Caterpillars, dropping down from the trees. They were everywhere and you could not help but walk through them. On Day 4, I mentioned about the flash experience of the Swallow-Tailed Kite, well that experience was dwarfed and seemed positively long after the next experience. We were in the middle of the woods and as we turned a little corner in the path, a Barred Owl launched itself down, flying a couple of meters towards us before banking to it left and flying away. No photographs of that, just simply the magnificent memory of the wings outstretched as it soared down in those fractions of a second. It was a WOW moment. I assumed at first that we may have startled it as we came around the corner, but saw a Blue Jay where it had vacated. Speaking to someone later, the Blue Jays often make Hawk calls to annoy the owls (sounds like a Corvid to me).The remainder of the walk to the lake was uneventful after that experience. When we got to the lake, we saw some Florida Turtles sunning themselves on the bank on the far side. As soon as we stepped onto the pier, they all moved into the water. It was not clear on if they could hear us or see us, as they were easily 30+ meters (100 feet) away. Then my first real Alligator came along, and it was a large one. I am still working out a way to scale it based on geometry, but it had to be longer than 2 meters (6 foot), with the wake it was leaving behind. An Anhinga flew across the lake, followed by a couple of Limpkin. And that was all that showed up at the Lake itself. There was a small reclamation pond, and having a quick look, there was only Anhinga, a fishing Snowy Egret and a Ring-Necked Duck that refused to move for the Snowy. Due to a blockage, we had to trace our way back along the boardwalks. The Owl experience made the trip to the lake made this walk rather memorable.Photographed New Species – 42/60</blockquote>

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