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February 26, 2024- I have only been here for 8-weeks, but I have recorded numerous species of birds on Greer Lake.

Long Legged Wading Birds

Sandhill Cranes: These are the same two from a few years ago when I live a few miles away. Below is the male I named Brutus.

Below is the female I named Harriot

Below is a second new male, not BrutusA Bittern (below)

Limpkin (below) are basically the same thing as a Sandhill Crane, but a bit smaller and browner. They sound and behave the same. Roseate Spoonbill (below)October 6, below

October 13, above. October 20, 2024, below. ____________________________________

Wood Stork (below)July 3, 2024- (below) It has been four months since I have seen these Wood Storks. The rains after the drought are bringing all of the birds back.

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May 13, 2024- (above) Mother and baby Great Blue Heron

May 8, 2024- (above) Wow. This is the best photo of a bird I have taken. The reflection is great. It looks like I used a filter to give it an oil painting look, but I did not.

Full-sized Great Blue Heron (below), which is different from a Little Blue Heron. This one also could be more in the birds of prey category.

September 24, 2024- Either the juvenile that’s now adult or the original adult, I got this close-range photo (below)

Green Heron (below) spotted on June 7, 2024- The apps say it is rare. It has a very strange grunting sound, like an alligator. This bird is like a larger heron except it has shorter legs and neck, like a Least Bittern.

July 7, 2024 (below)

Night Heron: 8-16-2024

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Little Blue Heron with Snowy Egret (below)

Above, Little Blue Heron juvenile in transition foliage (June 10, 2024)

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September 1, 2024- Adult Tricolored Heron (above), and video (below)

November 11, 2024- Tricolored Heron, below, swallows a 1-pound bassSnowy or White Egret with Tricolored Heron (below). They seem to be the same species but with different plumage.

The Great Egret (below) has never landed on Greer Lake. It lives nearby on its own lake. The smaller Snowy or White Egret (below)

Glossy Black Ibis (below)

American White IbisAmerican White Ibis (Left, below, with Snowy Egret)American White Ibis (Left, below, with Little Blue Heron)

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November 20, 2024

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Greater Yellowleg (below), in the Sandpiper class (could also be a Lesser Yellowleg)

Below, a Greater Yellowleg snapped on November 11, 2024, after being gone for the hot summer

Spotted or Least Sandpiper, not sure which (below)Killdeer(below)Killdeer, Snowy Egret, Greater Yellowleg, Limpkim (above, left to right)

Black-necked Stilt (below)June 29, 2024- (Below) because of a many-month-long drought, the fuel source, fresh water molluscs, had gone away. The rains have returned allowing the molluscs to grow back. Today, I saw at least five different species of wading birds.

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September 12, 2024- by Steven Greer

This is a new species. The Pied-billed Grebe. It looks like a duck or a loon, but it is most closely related to a Flamingo.

“The most widespread grebe in the New World, and the most familiar in most temperate parts of North America. Far less sociable than most grebes, almost never in flocks, sometimes found singly on small marshy ponds. When disturbed or suspicious, it may sink slowly until only head is above water. Rarely seen in flight. Often secretive in the breeding season, hiding in marsh, making bizarre whinnying, gobbling, cooing noises by day or night.”

Birds of Prey (Water Divers)

Great Cormorant (below). This could be more in the birds of prey category.May 6, 2024- The video below seems to show two parents teaching their new adolescents how to swim.

February, 2024- Below, a female Anhingas. It appears to be a juvenile. September 1, 2024- adult Anhinga (below)

Birds of Prey (Air Divers)

Osprey (below)

This Loggerhead Shrike (below) is a rare bird and actually a miniature raptor. It is barely bigger than a hummingbird. It sits alone at the top of trees like a hawk. It eats lizards and then stabs them into sticks to store the food on a pike. August 7, 2024- It has been many months since I saw a shrike. There might be two of them now. I think I saw a pair. They might also be juveniles hatched this year.

Buzzards and VulturesDucks

Mallard (below)Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (below)

Smaller Song Birds

Northern Mockingbird (below)

Palm Warbler (below)

Or it might have been a Sedge Warbler is this one, below, is

Morning Dove. This common small bird was hard to shoot. It is skittish. Eurasian Collared-Dove (below)

Crows and Similar Birds

Boat-tailed Grackle (below)Fish Crow (below), looks like a Grackle, but is larger and more intelligent. It travels alone, unlike Grackle. American Crow (below)

Black Bird, male and female (below)

Sea Birds

Seagull (not pictured yet, but witnessed)

What They Eat

It is March 11, 2024 and I just now learned what these birds eat. There are countless empty freshwater mollusc shells. The big shell is an Elliptio. The smaller one is a purple clam.

Reptiles

Painted Turtle4-12-2024- Florida softshell turtle (below)

Interspecies Turtles Seeming to Hang Out

Alligator

This one is about 10-feet. The neighbors called the FWC “nuisance alligator” hotline and the contract bounty hunter came out. But this one escaped death by leaving. Instead, an unlucky 5-footer was executed. Below, on 4-2-2024, this one showed up in my driveway. It has a crooked tail from trauma. It behaves like it is unafraid of humans. August 15, 2024- Smaller alligator

Frogs are not reptiles. I know.

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October 24, 2024- a Southern Banded Water Snake came into my house through the gap in the sliding door, I presume

Mammals

Rabbit

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Bees and Wasps

Mud Wasps- August 13, 2024

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October 25, 2024- Mud wasp family grows

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Arachnids (Spiders)

Gray Wall Jumping Spider- Metaphidippus chera is a species of jumping spider in the family Salticidae.

I’m pretty sure this is the same one that was a fraction of the size and living inside my house a few feet away from this plant. They can crawl under the sliding glass door. Now, it is 1.6 cm long. I’ve seen it on my window catch bugs. His name: Jumpin Jack

Interestingly, the Internet says it is a Southwestern Sonora desert spider. This is Florida.

Jumping Spider Gets a House Fly