All Work and a Little Birding, at Least

I finished work late in the afternoon, the Toronto Blue Jays having won their first Spring Training game of 2012, right here in Dunedin.  Not much time to go anywhere, but Possum Branch is close and well, why not?

I think I am truly getting tired of listening to the Red-winged Blackbirds.  They drown out almost everything, well everything except the Blue Jays.  I also saw the Green-tailed Towhee and got my first photo of the year of a Song Sparrow, a bird I had seen earlier in the year, but only through binoculars.  There were also doves, but no white wings.  I drove to a couple of streets in St Petersburg, as the sun went down, where they are said to congregate, but only saw a flock of doves flying above a building and in the twilight was unable to discern the white wings.  Another try will be made at sunrise in Clearwater.

I have time tomorrow, so will go for a Lark Sparrow back at Fort De Soto, followed by a try for a Yellow-headed Blackbird at Mayakka River State Park in Sarasota.  Both were confirmed sightings.  I will stick to only confirmed reports, as twice I have gone when only one sighting was reported but not confirmed by others, and failed to find a bird, as may have been the case yesterday when I went looking for a Curlew Sandpiper.  I may have seen it, but no one has confirmed the original sighting so I am erring on the side of caution, in this case.  I did spend a lot of time on the bird with my scope, but the sun was setting behind the bird and I really couldn't swear on a stack of Sibley's Field Guides that I really did see it.

So I remain stuck on 212 Big Year Birds, but with lots of Birding ahead of me, in including South Florida and Arizona a month from today.