Recap - Sweetwater/La Chua Trail

I've learned my lesson, I don't wear shorts anymore on cold mornings. But it seems someone has yet to learn his. It was cold, but 6 of us braved the weather to get our fix of birds for the day. It was a bit slow at first, but as the sun warmed the tops of the trees, a mix of birds appeared.

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Ken Spilios took the photo to the left. His caption goes like this:
Fred: Where did you see an Anhinga?
Tim: Ahh.......right here.....

We had seen a Snail Kite, but knew of more at La Chua Trail. They didn't disappoint. There were more than 10 flying over the water on the boardwalk. We spent quite a lot of time getting good photos.

Love is in the air. A Great Blue was busy adding sticks to her nest Actually there were two different blue's building nests in the same small cluster of trees.

We spent about 15 minutes watching as this Northern Harrier had an altercation with a Limpkin. We really couldn't figure out the reason the Harrier would dive down and a Limpkin would jump at the Harrier. This went on for quite some time until the Harrier decided that it wasn't getting any results and decided to take to the skies in search of an easier meal. The total species for Sweetwater was 43.

This patch of water plants was striking in that the sun seemed to have just beamed down  to make them a bright spot in the darkness.