Birding with Madeleine

David's sister-in-law Risa suggested that, while we were in Clearwater, we should catch up with her best friend Madeleine, who lives in the area.  We did, and Madeleine picked us up bright and early to go birdwatching in the area.  We were not to be disappointed!

We started the morning at John Chestnut Senior Park, on the shore of Lake Tarpon, north of Clearwater.  We had barely started walking when we stumbled across this pileated woodpecker, pecking for bugs in a dead stump at eye level:

Another surprise was a tricolor egret with his mating plume, walking along the shores of a pond:

We also saw a wood stork, fishing by stirring the shallow water with his foot to scare the little fish into his waiting beak:

After exhausting the wildlife along the trail, we walked out to the lake's shore and spotted a moorhen paddling along:

No sooner did we spot the moorhen, then several coots swam up and displayed their fishing talents:

We continued our walk along the lakeshore, and bumped into a great blue heron who, while he was not happy we were nearby, did not flee as we approached:

Finished with our first walk, Madeleine retrieved her car, while Kathy and I enjoyed the pleasure of early azaleas:

 Madeleine drove us over to a second boardwalk in the park, where we spotted a swarm of bees, looking as if they were establishing a new hive at the crook of a limb of a tree overhead.  In this photo, you can see the swarm - a brown mass in the left center of the photo below, with many individual bees buzzing around, most visibly in the far right of the photo below:

 Having satisfied our curiosity about the park near Lake Tarpon, we drove to the Dunedin Brewery to join Madeleine's husband Al for lunch and a brew or two.  We must say the beers were very tasty and we would recommend the brewery, not only for the selection of beers, but also for the tasty food.

It was enjoyable chatting with Al about his current writing project, and about chess, travels in Austria and the Alps, and all sorts of whimsical things.

After lunch, Madeleine took us out to Honeymoon Island State Park, were we hiked the Osprey Trail.  This trail was NOT inappropriately named.  We spotted ospreys everywhere, and osprey nests perched every 100 yards or so all along the trail.

We had the luck to encounter a confident little armadillo, nosing his way through the grass digging up bugs for his midday meal:

THEN WE HIT THE JACKPOT!  We happened upon a large group of people pointing their binoculars and cameras up into a nearby tree.  Following their gaze, we spotted two Great Horned Owls - a mother (presumably) --

 -- and her young fledgling:

The two, though aware of all the attention they were garnering, nevertheless perched regally above us and allowed us to take in their beauty.

Walking on, toward the Gulf, we saw several osprey nests all very close to one another, and one had an osprey clearly perched on it:

We spotted other birds, but just couldn't get the camera out fast enough to take their photos:  eagles, vultures, Carolina wrens, downy woodpeckers, titmouses, warblers, cardinals, jays - and, oh yes, some very forward squirrels that tortured us for handouts (no, we did not feed them).

What a satisfying day of birdwatching!